Hatfield Town (part 11 of 16)

Those bills of public credit, called province bills, were first ordered to be made and emitted, by the province of Massachusetts-Bay, in November, 1702, on account of the "scarcity of money and the want of other medium of commerce." New bills were issued, or old ones reissued, almost every year, from 1702 to 1749. The treasurer paid the expenses of the province in these bills, and received the same for rates and duties. Those brought into the treasury, if not again put into circulation, were counted by a committee and burnt. There was generally a blaze of province bills once in a year. The amount of bills sent forth much exceeded the aggregate of the rates and the duties of impost and excise, and the paper money in circulation was almost yearly increasing. The inevitable consequence was a falling of the value of the bills, and the depreciation, at first hardly perceptible, in a few years became large, and continued to grow larger. The rise in the nominal value of labor, produce, goods and lands followed the reduction in the worth of the paper currency.

In May, 1736, there was an emission of bills which were to be equal to coined silver at six shillings and eight pence per ounce. One pound in these bills denominated new tenor, was to be equal to three pounds in the other bills called old tenor. In November,

1 741, bills called the "last emission," were first ordered, which were to be equal to silver at six shillings and eight pence per ounce, and one pound was made equal to four pounds of the old tenor.* The bills of this emission were sometimes named new tenor, and those issued in 1736 were denominated middle tenor.f

The neighboring colonies had bills of credit; and Rhode Island emitted great sums. Connecticut was more careful, but the depreciation of her bills did not differ much from that of Massachusetts bills.

Massachusetts expended in taking and securing Louisburg or Cape Breton, in 1745 and 1746, £26i,'joo, in last emission or new tenor bills. Great Britain granted to Massachusetts a reimbursement of the charge to the amount of ;^i 83,649 sterling, and the money arrived in Boston, Sept. 18, 1749, in Spanish pieces-of-eight or dollars, and some tons of copper coins.

The General Court of Massachusetts in 1749, passed an act to redeem the bills in circulation, with the money that was expected from England. After the 31st of March, 1750, the possessors of bills of credit were to receive silver at the rate of one pieceof-eight for forty-five shillings in bills of the old form and tenor; and one piece-of-eight for eleven shillings and three pence in bills of the new form and tenor, and of the middle form and tenor.J Each was to take some copper. All debts after March 31, 1750, payable in old tenor, were to be paid in silver at the rate of a dollar for 45 shillings; and debts payable in middle or new tenor, at the rate of a dollar for lis. 3d. All bargains after that date, were to be understood as in silver at 6s. 8d. per ounce, or in Spanish milled dollars at 6 shillings.

-j-The sum total of each kind of province bills, printed, signed and sent out by Massachusetts, (not including old bills reissued,) from 1702 to 1749, '^-^^ ^^ follows, according to treasury accounts, and the papers of Col. Israel Williams: -

Of these, there remained in circulation or unrtdeemed in 1749, making an allowance for some outstanding taxes that would bring in a portion of them.

jThe holders of old tenor bills received two shillings and eight pence on a pound, and the holders of new tenor bills, ten shillings and eight pence.

History Of Hadley 303

Our Histories and Records in Massachusetts, relating to the first half of the i8th century, or from 1702 to 1750, cannot be well understood without some knowledge of the value of the province bills. They were for a few years, or from 1702 to 1707, esteemed equal or nearly equal to proclamation money or to dollars at six shillings, or to Troy ounces of silver at six shillings and eight pence or seven shillings. Before 17 10, an ounce of silver was worth from 7s. 6d. to 8s. in bills. The following table shows what amount of old tenor bills was equivalent to a Troy ounce of silver, in different years, from 17 10 to 1749.*

The bills had fallen to one-half their nominal value in 1722; to one-third in 1732; to one-fourth in 1737; and to one-sixth in 1746. In 1747, they were estimated at seven and a half for one in silver, and they were redeemed at that rate in 1750. They sunk still lower between 1747 and 1750. Old tenor bills were, however, but a small part of the paper money in circulation after 1744. Most of the money from England was paid to redeem middle and new tenor bills, at ten shillings and eight pence for a pound.

The price of wheat in this vicinity for some years after 1702 was from 2s. 8d. to 3s. per bushel. It rose as the bills depreciated until it was 27 or 28 shillings per bushel, and sometimes 30 shil-

*I liavc four of thetc old estimates or scales uf depreciation. That in Felt's Massachusetts Currency is the most complete. No one of them can be deemed strictly accurate. They all profess to give the value of an ounce of silver in bills.

The tables of depreciation were calculated for Boston. In the country, or in Hampshire, the fall in the value of the province bills was slower, and often from 15 to 25 per cent, less than in the tables, and the rise in produce and labor corresponded.

lings, before 1750. After 1750, the price in specie currency, was from 3s. 6d. to 4s. The prices of other kinds of property and of labor experienced similar changes.

Besides the bills of credit issued to pay public charges, the province made four loans of bills, amounting to 260,000 pounds. 1st. By an act of 17 14, ;^50,ooo were put into the hands of trustees to be let out, on good security at five per cent. 2d. In 17 16, ;^ioo,ooo were received by county trustees, to be let out at five per cent, for ten years. The proportion of Hampshire was £\(^^J, and this was lent to many men in the county, who mortgaged their lands for security. 3d. In 1 721, ;^50,ooo were received by the towns, and loaned by town trustees, payable before June, 1730. The share of Northampton was ;^486.i5.o; Hadley, ;^286.i5.o; Hatfield, £2t,t,.\^.o. Hadley chose Westwood Cooke, Experience Porter and John Nash, trustees to let out the money. The town had the interest. 4th. In 1728, ;^6o,ooo were loaned by trustees of towns for ten years. The towns had two per cent, of the interest, and the province four per cent. Northampton received ;^488.io.o; Hadley, £290.10.0; Hatfield, ;^238.io.o. The Hadley trustees were Eleazar Porter, Luke Smith and Job Marsh. These four loans seem to have been all paid.

Many were injured by the falling of the paper money; debtors and some others were benefited. Some ministers suffered from the depreciated paper; this did not often take place where harmony and good will existed between the minister and people. In Hadley, Hatfield, South Hadley and Amherst, there was no difficulty between the minister and people on account of province bills. The people of Northampton, in the midst of their warm controversy with Rev. Jonathan Edwards, paid him 750 pounds, in old tenor, for a year's salary, which was equal to any salary he had received from them. In these towns, the rise in salaries did not keep up with the depreciation of bills in Boston, but it appears to have been equal to the rise in produce and labor.

Old Tenor. - It is a little remarkable that the old tenor currency of 45 shillings for a dollar, or seven shillings and sixpence for one lawful shilling, should have continued in business transactions and book accounts, so long after 1750, when dollars at six shillings were the legal currency. Very many farmers and not a few traders and professional men kept their accounts in old tenor, from 10 to more than 20 years after 1750. Dr. Crouch of Hadley, kept his account book in old tenor, until his death in 1761.

History Of Hadley 305

Many towns kept accounts in old tenor, some years after 1750.* The taxes of the town and old precinct of Hadley, were in old tenor down to 1 759, but Josiah Pierce, the treasurer, kept his accounts in lawful currency. He thus entered the taxes of the precinct: -

Mechanics' bookswereinoldtenor. Theaccount book of Eliakim Smith, of Hadley, a joiner and cabinet maker, from 1757 to 1770, is extant, and is in cumbrous old tenor, 45 shillings to a dollar.

The Shad and Salmon Fishery. When the English established themselves on the banks of the Connecticut, there was in the river and tributary streams, in the proper seasons, a great abundance of shad, salmon, bass and other fish, such as the Indians had long used for food. The shad, which were very numerous, were despised and neglected by a large portion of the English, for near 100 years in the old towns of Connecticut,! and for about 75 years in these Hampshire towns above the falls. It was discreditable for those who had a competency to eat shad; and it was disreputable to be destitute of salt pork, and the eating of shad implied a deficiency of pork. The story which has been handed down, that in former days, the fishermen took the salmon from the net, and often restored the shad to the stream, is not a fable. Poor families ate shad, and doubtless some that were not poor, and they were sometimes put

*The people of Boston complained of great taxes in 1758. The five highest taxes in Boston that year were - Charles Apthorp, £540.13.1; Thomas Hancock, £418.19.10; F. Borland, £329.11.10; James Smith, £312.19.10; Thomas Greene, £301.8.10. These taxes must have been in old tenor.

It may be well to remark that the sum of province bills issued by Massachusetts, on page 302, does not include those of the four loans, on page 304, amounting to 260,000 pounds.

Account of the County of Middlesex, Conn., 1819, (Middletown, Haddam, &c.) says there was such a prejudice against shad and some other fish, because they were so generally used by the Indians, or from some other cause, that "little effort was made to take them for more than a century after the county was settled. Within the memory of persons living, there was very little demand for salmon, and as for shad, it was disreputable to eat them."

A story is told in Hadley of a family in that place, who were about to dine on shad, when it was not reputable to eat them: - hearing a knock at the door, the platter of shad was immediately hid under a bed.

There is a minute in John Pynchon's account book, which shows that shad were not slighted by all who were in good circumstances, in the 17th century. In 1683, he sold a fish-net and agreed to receive for pay some shad packed for market, and "50 shad for my family spending at times."

The first purchase of shad, found in any account book in these towns, was made by Joseph Hawley of Northampton in 1733; he gave for 30 shad one penny each, which was not equal to half a penny in good money. Ebenezer Hunt gave i| penny for shad in 1736, 2 pence for "good fat shad" in 1737, and 2 and 3 pence in 1742 and 1743.* These prices were all less than a penny in lawful money. The early settlers of Pelham bought many shad. After the specie currency in 1750, shad were usually one penny each. Josiah Pierce of Hadley bought 100 shad at a penny each in 1762, 90 shad at a penny in 1763, and shad at a penny in 1764, '65 and '66. Oliver Smith of Hadley gave a penny each for 30 shad in 1767. For forty years after 1733, the price did not exceed a lawful penny. From 1773 to 1776, the price was 2 coppers each or i^ penny; from 1781 to 1784, from 2 to 3 coppers; in 1788, 2h and 3 pence; in 1796, 3I and 4 pence; and in 1798 and 1800, 4 pence half penny. The dams across the river and other impediments diminished the number of shad, and they gradually advanced in value to 6 pence, 9 pence, one shilling and higher prices, and men ceased to buy shad to barrel for family use.f

Salmon were used but wiere seldom noticed in records in the 17th century. Salmon nets began to appear before 1700, and some salmon were salted in casks by families, before and after 1700. They were seldom sold, and the price in Hartford in 1700, was less than one penny per pound. Fish were so plenty in the Connecticut and its branches, that laws were not necessary to regulate fishing for a long time. There was a law in Massachusetts against erecting wears or fish-dams in rivers, without permission from the court of sessions. Petitions for liberty to erect wears to catch fish, in the Hampshire streams, began in 1729, and there were several after 1760. These wears were chiefly for the purpose of catching salmon. In Northampton, salmon were

*Ebenezer Hunt bought bass, suckers, pickerels and common eels. No trout are mentioned. He says of shad in 1743, "shad are very good, whether one has pork or not."

became reputable thirty years before the Revolution. Shad were caught plentifully in many places in Connecticut before 1760, and were sold at one penny and one and a half penny each, some years later. They were carried away on horses. Some thousands of barrels of shad were put up in Connecticut for the troops from 1778 to 1781.

Shad never ascended Bellows Falls at Walpole, nor could they ascend the falls of Chickopee River. Salmon passed up both. In 1739, Brookfield petitioned the General Court for liberty to make a passage for shad through the bars of rocks across Chickopee River in Springfield, so that they might come up the river into their ponds. Springfield opposed, and liberty was not granted.

History Of Hadley 307

sold from 1730 to 1740 at a price equal to one penny per pound, in lawful money, and some at i|^ penny. The price in 1742 was i^ penny; and from 1750 to 1775, it was commonly 2 pence per pound. - Josiah Pierce of Hadley bought salmon from 1762 to 1765 at 2 pence, and some at is. 6d. old tenor, or 2f pence. He bought some years above 70 pounds of salmon. Oliver Smith bought 27 pounds of salmon in 1773 at 2 pence, and Enos Smith 57 pounds in 1776, at 2 J pence. The price was from 2 to 3 pence from 1781 to 1787, 4 pence in 1794, and it advanced to 7 or 8 pence in 1798. The first dam at South Hadley about 1795, impeded the salmon, and the dam at Montague was a much greater obstruction, and salmon soon ceased to ascend the river. Few were caught after 1800. - Some of the prices of shad and salmon noted, were retail, barter prices.

Fishing Places. - There were at least three in Hadley. One was below the mouth of Mill River, on Forty Acre meadow. A more important one was a little east of the lower end of the street, when the river flowed near the street. There was another in Hockanum meadow. Opposite to the two last, Northampton men had fishing places.* The late Elihu Warner remembered when 40 salmon were caught in a day, near the lower end of the street, about 1773, the largest of which weighed between 30 and 40 pounds. t

In South Hadley, there was a noted fishing place near the mouth of Stony brook, and another above Bachelor's brook, against Cook's hill. Many salmon were taken at those places; 24 are said to have been caught at one haul, near Stony brook, weighing from 6 or 8 to 40 pounds. $ There were other fishing places in South Hadley above the falls.

The falls of rivers were great fishing places in New England, for the Indians and the English. The falls at South Hadley, called Patucket by the Indians, were one of the most favorable

*The Northampton and Hadley men were often near each other, and they bantered and joked abundantly, and sometimes played tricks and encroached upon each other. These things proceeded not from ill-nature, but from a propensity for fun and sport. - In those days there were many coarse jokes, and some harsh tricks.

-j-Mr. Pierce and 6 others owned a seine in Hadley in 1766. The whole income of the seine for the fish season was £22.17.0, and the expenses were £14.12.10, leaving for gain £8.4.2. Shad were then one penny each.

jTlie brown, gambrel-roofed house of one story, easterly of the mouth of Stony brook, owned by Emerson Bates, was first built by John Smith, father of Major John Smith of Hadley, about a hundred years since. It was enlarged by John Stickney, and after 1773, he kept an inn a number of years in this solitary house on the plain. It is said that he was induced to do this, because his house was thronged by people who came to the fishing places. Some of the lumbermen on the river visited his inn.

places on the Connecticut for taking fish. Though there is no intimation in any old writing, that the Indians resorted to that place for fishing, and very little is found recorded which indicates that the English frequented it for that purpose before 1740, yet it cannot be doubted that the Indians caught fish there in early days, and the English before 1700.*

The following account of the fishery at the falls, after the Revolution, was derived from two aged men, in 1848, Joseph Ely in his gid year, and Justin Alvord in his 85th year, who had often caught fish at the falls, and from others since 1848.

Fishing generally began between April 15 and May i, very seldom as early as April 15. The best fishing season was in May. Shad were caught in seines below the falls, and in scoop-nets on the falls. Boats were drawn to places on the rocky falls, fastened, and filled with shad by scoop-nets; then taken ashore, emptied and returned. A man in this manner could take from 2000 to 3000 shad in a day, and sometimes more, with the aid of a boatman. These movements required men of some dexterity. There were some large hauls of fish at the wharves below the falls. The greatest haul known was 3500, according to Ely, and 3300,f according to Alvord. It was not often that 1500, or even 1200 shad were taken by one sweep of the net.J Salmon were taken on the falls in dip-nets, and below in seines with shad. Before their day, salmon had been taken at the foot of the falls in places called pens. Ely had never known a salmon taken at the falls that weighed above 30 pounds; some weighed 20, and many from 6 to 10 pounds. They were always few in number compared with shad. The river seemed to be full of shad at times in some places, and in crossing it, the oars often struck shad. Ely and Alvord, like other old men, related that fishermen formerly took salmon from the net, and let the shad go into the river again, but not in their time; and that people in former days were ashamed to have it known that they ate shad, owing in part to the disgrace of being without pork. Alvord sold thousands of shad after the Revolution for three coppers each, and salmon were sold from two to

*In 1685, when Northampton and Springfield settled the line between them, west of the river, it was agreed that Northampton might catch fish at the lower falls, below the line. The fishery was then thought to be of some importance.

Connecticut archives contain an account of 3000 shad taken at a haul in the cove at East Haddam, before 1766. The number in these great hauls is probably exaggerated.

jMorse's Geography, 5th edition, says there were as many as 14 fishing wharves at the foot of the falls in 1801, and that they sometimes caught 1200 fish at one haul; it was reported that one company cleared 48CX3 dollars in one season.

History Of Hadley 309

Some bass were caught with hooks after shad time. Sturgeon were taken on the falls with spears. Lampreys, called lampreyeels, had long been plenty on the falls, and many were taken at night by hand, by the aid of torch-lights. Some were eaten in a few towns in old Hampshire, but most were carried to Granby, Simsbury and other towns in Connecticut.*

Shad seasons brought to the falls, on both sides of the river, multitudes of people from various quarters. Some came from Berkshire county. All came on horses with bags to carry shad, except a very few who had carts. Some, intending to purchase two loads of shad, led a horse. For some years there were only two licensed inn-keepers at the falls - Daniel Lamb and widow Mary Pomeroy, but every house on both sides of the river was full of men, and some lodged in shelters and out-houses. Horses filled the stables and many other places. It was estimated one day, that there were 1500 horses, on both sides of the river; this estimate is not reliable. A great number of the men brought victuals with them; many cooked shad, and others bought food at the houses. Many were detained one day or longer. They indulged in plays and trials of skill. Where there were so many men, and rum was plenty, there was of course much noise, bustle and confusion. The greater part were industrious farmers, and after leaving the falls, they wound over the hills and plains with bags of shad, in every direction. They were plainly dressed, according to their business. There was another class at these gatherings, composed of the idle, the intemperate and the dissipated. They came to drink and frolic, and some to buy shad if their money held out.f

came above the falls in great numbers, and entered the streams that run into the Connecticut, until the Holyoke dam was built in 1849. They were very numerous in Fort River in Hadley, below Smith's mills, and were caught by the light of torches, sometimes several hundred in a night. Men waded into the stream, and grasped them with a mittened hand and placed them in a bag. Sometimes the lampreys in the night crawled into and about the flutter-wheel of the mill, and into the throat of the gate, in such great numbers, that the wheel could not be turned in the morning until they were cleared away. - In Northampton Mill River, below the lower mills, lampreys were caught in the same manner as in Hadley, and in other ways. In a dark night, men might be seen in the river, clasping now and then with one hand a squirming lamprey, and holding in the other a birchbark torch, which threw light on the river and on all objects on its borders. Very few were cooked in Northampton and Hadley; many were given to hogs. Some were conveyed to other towns in Massachusetts but most to Connecticut. None are now caught above Holyoke dam.

-j-There were great gatherings at Amoskeag falls, on the Merrimack, in the fishing season, more than a century since. In 1742, Rev. Joseph Secombe gave them a discourse, which was published. Judging from the title, it must have suited the merry-makers.

Many thousands of shad are still taken annually at South Hadley falls, though none can ascend the river above the Holyoke dam. Instead of a penny each, w^hich was paid one hundred years ago, men now pay at retail for shad brought from these falls and from Saybrook, from 25 to 40 cents, and sometimes 50 cents.

Chapter Xxviii

Second Meeting-House in Hadley - Sounding-board - Square glass - Seats and pews - Seating - Spire - Clock - Weather-cock - Bells - Horse-blocks - S t o v e s - Plan of the lower floor.

At a town meeting Jan. 5, 17 13, Samuel Porter, moderator, it was voted to build a new meeting-house* 50 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth with a flattish roof and a balconyf at one end; to be set as near as conveniently may be in the middle of the town street, against the town lot; Mr. Samuel Porter, Lieut. Nehemiah Dickinson, Sergt. Daniel Marsh, Peter Montague and Samuel Barnard to be a committee to carry on the work. The committee were "to buy glass, nails and other necessaries, let out work by getting clapboards, shingles, &c., and hire workmen for money, improving our own inhabitants as much as conveniently may be, and leveling all the work at money price." On the 2d of March, the town voted that the new meeting-house should be plastered with white lime, both the walls and overhead, and " that they will have joiners' windows." On the 2d of December, 1714, Capt. Aaron Cook, Esq.lj: Ens. Chileab Smith, Mr. Samuel Porter, Esq., Jonathan Marsh, Daniel Marsh, sen'r, Deac. Nathaniel White and Deac. John Smith were chosen to seat persons in the meeting-house. The house was then ready for use though not entirely completed.

*This second meeting-house stood 95 years, or until the last week in October, 1808. It was built in the street opposite the town lot, that lot on which three ministers have lived - Williams, Hopkins and Woodbridge. The first meeting-house was used only about 47 years, and the galleries had been built only 13 or 14 years in 1713. It was too far north to accommodate the people, and there may have been other reasons for a new house.

-j-By a "balcony at one end," they meant a steeple buUt from the ground, or tower, belfry and spire. The "flattish roof" would now be considered steep. The lower part of the steeple was 13 or 14 feet square. This was the first steeple in Hampshire that was built up from the ground.

History Of Hadley 311

Jan. 7, 1 71 7, the town voted to make pentices over the meetinghouse doors, and to do something to prevent the belfry from leaking; to make two pews on the north end and two on the south end, to complete the seats in the gallery, to case the seats in the alleys and to color the front of the gallery and desk.

The house was plastered according to the vote. The posts were all visible and not cased, and the upper part of each post was connected with a beam by a long, wide brace, which was also in sight. These posts and braces were made smooth and painted. The plastering covered the beams overhead. There was a strip of plastering on the outside, under the eaves.

In March, 1738, the old precinct gave Eleazar Porter liberty to build a new desk at his own cost; and voted to lath and plaster under the galleries, and to color the facings of the galleries. - Mr. Porter built a pulpit and a canopy or sounding-board over it, and some who remember them, affirm that they were handsomely wrought, and more elegant than the pulpit and sounding-board at Northampton and Hatfield. On the canopy were the letters and figures "M. R. H. 1739;" the letters were for March.*

"Jan. 7, 1 75 1. Voted that the meeting house shall be repaired the ensuing summer with sash casements and square glass." It may be concluded from this vote that the windows were then of diamond glass set in lead. The sashes with square cornered glass were put up in the house in 1752. The "joiners' windows" in the vote of 17 13 seem to refer to the frames around the diamond glass. There were twelve windows below, and thirteen above, besides those in the steeple. The pulpit had no window.

Seats and Pews. - The meeting-house was at first furnished with seats, long ones in the gallery, and shorter ones below. There may have been one or two pews on the west or pulpit side of the house. Pews were afterwards added from time to time, but not without opposition. A pew was considered more honorable than a narrow seat or slip, and many disliked to have the town build pews for the principal families while others sat in seats. When a motion to build a few pews was carried, the vote was usually reconsidered. The pews voted in 1717 and others in 1719 were not built for many years. Col. Eleazar Porter and Rev. Chester

*Such a structure over the preacher and pulpit was named sounding-board and canopy in England. In this country it was several feet high, had a peculiar form, with several sides and angles, and was generally of very nice workmanship as well as the projecting front of the pulpit. It excited the attention of children and they gazed upon it with wonder, as many who are now elderly persons can testify. It projected from the wall, and seemed to them to be hung up, with little to support it, and to threaten to come down with a crash.

Williams each built a pew before 1748, having liberty from the town ; more were built some years later, but not without contention. A vote, Jan. 4, 1762, to build four pews, "two on the men's side of the body, and two on the women's side," was reconsidered, but it shows that in 1762, men did not sit with their wives.* The number of pews was increased until only four narrow seats remained on the lower floor, in 1783, and these were on the west side or front of the body. The seats in the pews were fastened down, and there was none of that clattering of seats, which was heard in many meeting-houses. Those who sat in a pew faced three or four ways. - Before 1772 there were two pews in the men's gallery and two in the women's gallery. Some years later, there were high pews over the stairs, and one was called the "Swallow's Nest." Previous to 1790 there was a row of pews next to the wall on the three sides of the gallery. Contrary to the common practice, the females in the gallery were on the right hand of the minister, and the males on the left hand.

Seating. - The Hadley records give no information as to the respectability of the seats, or the rules observed by the seating committees. It appears from the records of other towns, that the seaters had before them an estimate of the dignity of the seats or pews, and that in placing persons in them, they regarded three things - age, estate and places of trust, as expressed in Hatfield; age, estate and qualifications, in South Hadley and Amherst; and age, estate and usefulness, in some records. Seating persons in the meeting-house, sometimes produced warm contentions in Hadley as elsewhere. It was difficult to please all, and it was not uncommon that some were dissatisfied with their seats or seat-mates. In 1760, there was open opposition to the doings of the seatefs, and for a time, sundry persons refused to take the seats assigned them, and crowded into higher seats, to the disturbance of the congregation. In later years, the reports of seating committees in Hadley were generally approved or rejected by the town, and when a seating was much disliked, the town chose a second committee, or added men to the first one, and alterations were ordered, or a re-seating. The fore-seats in the gallery were regularly seated before they were occupied by singers, and were very respectable seats. On the 13th of April, 1772, the town gave directions to the seaters of the galleries, "that the fore-seats in

*It is not known when men and women begun to sit together. It was soon after 1762. The young males and females in the galleries always sat apart, and they ascended by different stairs. Howitt says men and women are still separated in the churches of Germany. The sexes sit apart in other parts of Europe, and in many places in the United States.

History Of Hadley 313

the side galleries shall be left for the singers." This is the first notice of the separation of the singers from the congregation in Hadley.

The deacons' seat was before the pulpit and opposite the broad aisle. The top of the partition, next to the aisle, was wide, and the christening basin stood on this, and the minister entered the deacons' seat when he baptized a child. In front of this hung a leaf like that of a table, and this was raised up, on sacramental occasions. The table, and the bread, wine and cups upon it, were covered with snow-white cloths.

The tradition in Hadley and most other old towns, that formerly there were benches in some of the aisles for little children, appears- to be true.* In 1738, Northampton voted benches for children before some seats and pews.

In 1750, the colored people sat in back seats in the gallery, and one of them, named Ralph Way, had liberty to take into his seat such negroes as he chose; but in 1772, any of the negroes might be seated with Ralph Way. After 1783, the high pews in the corners over the stairs, which were very conspicuous, were assigned to the colored people, that over the boys' stairs to the males, and that over the girls' stairs to the females, and they occupied them as long as the house stood. f

The tithingmen in Hadley sat in the gallery, and when one observed children or young people behaving improperly, he rapped on the top of the seat or pew, and then pointed at them. Sometimes he led playful children from their seats and placed them near himself. In two instances, a child was led down the stairs, and left near the parents or guardians.

*The life of a little hoy in Hadley was endangered on one of these benches about a century ago. Isaac Selden had turns of derangement, and when sitting in or near an isle on the Sabbath, he rose up, seized a foot stool, and was about to strike a little boy who sat in the aisle; the minister observed his motions and instantly gave an alarm, and the blow was so far averted that the boy was not seriously hurt. A great excitement was produced, and Selden was led away.

Joshua Boston. - Among the negroes who sat in the pew for males was Joshua Boston, a son of Boston; both belonged to Col. Eleazar Porter, previous to his death in 1757. Joshua Boston is represented by those who knew him well, as tall, erect and portly; he was well dressed, gentlemanly in his manners, and there was much native dignity in his appearance. His dignified aspect attracted attention in the street, and when he entered the meeting-house. On the day of his funeral, after those who attended had left the grave-yard, a singular curiosity led the sexton to descend into the grave, open the cofBn and gaze once more upon the countenance of Joshua, and he declared that it was still dignified and majestic. Joshua could read and write, sustained a good reputation, and was a member of the church in Hadley. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary service. His color was that of a negro. He died December, 1819, and his age was said to be about 79. This man in 1758 was a chattel, and was valued at 20 pounds.

At a meeting, Jan. 15, 1753, the precinct empowered Eleazar Porter, Esq. and Messrs. Jonathan Smith, Nathaniel Kellogg, Enos Nash and Samuel Smith, to cover the body of the meetinghouse with quarter-boards* and color it,f to raise the steeple to a proper height; to put in new sills where needful, to rectify the underpinning and lay gravel and sand about it, and to shingle the west side of the roof if necessary. This committee might make sale of the clock J in the meeting-house and procure another, or get it rectified and mended.

It is evident that the spire or tapering part of the steeple, above the bell, was added after this meeting in 1753. It is said to have been neatly and symmetrically formed. The belfry or place where the bell was hung, was round, and had eight pillars, with some ornamental work. There was no communication between the steeple and gallery, but there was a passage into the space between the roof and beams. § The height of the steeple was between 90 and 100 feet.

The Cock, which still surmounts the steeple of the third meeting-house, is believed to have been put up when the spire of the second house was added, not long after 1753. He has kept his lofty station, and shown the direction of the wind, for a century, and was removed from the west to the middle street on the steeple in 1841.II

were narrow boards. The third precinct of Hadley, (Amherst,) voted Oct. 8, 1735, to cover their meeting-house "with quarter-boards of spruce." White pine was often misnamed spruce. In 1749, Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, bought "Scx) spruce quarter-boards," which were narrow, sawed boards of white pine. All these quarter-boards seem to be sawed clapboards, but some intelligent men in Hadley think the old meeting-house was covered with split clapboards, and that sawed ones were not used there as early as 1753. This may be correct, but before the end of the century, sawed boards superseded the cloven-boards or true clapboards, and received the same name, in this vicinity.

j-There was a vote in March, 1771, to color the meeting-house, if a committee, after examining it, reported that the timber would answer the cost of coloring. It was colored, but in its latter days most of the color was gone. Formerly the word color was used instead of paint.

jThis is the first notice of the clock. It is not known when or by what means it was obtained. There was a vote to repair it in 1759 and in 1803. It had only one dial and that was on the north side of the steeple. It is said to have been a pretty good time-keeper in the last century, but has long been silent and useless.

yWhen the cock was first placed at the top of the steeple, Zeb. Prutt, a young colored man, ascended to the summit, sat on the copper bird, and imitated the crowing of a rooster. Soon after this weather<ock was elevated to the top of the present steeple in 1808, two young

History Of Hadley 315

In 1763, the meeting-house had spread, and it was necessary to take up much of the floor with the seats, in order "to get the meeting-house together and secure it from spreading." The difficulty was apparently in the underpinning and sills.

Bell. - Such a bell as was at Northampton was to be purchased in 1690, (page 44.) March i, 1731, the town voted to buy a bell, and left it with the selectmen to procure one. This seems to have been the fourth bell used in Hadley. This bell of 173 1 was broken by five young men in a ringing frolic, and the town, January 3, 1785, voted to get the bell repaired [recast,] and to add to the weight, which was 336 pounds, so much as to make it 448 pounds. The five persons who broke the bell were to pay four dollars each. The bell was sent to New Haven to be recast. - The bell of 1785 was cracked in July, 1808, in attempting to toll it by the strokes of a hammer, and the present bell was obtained from Medway.

In 1743, curtains were voted for the west windows and three on the south end. In 1766, as many curtains were voted as the selectmen judged needful. There were curtains at the windows most exposed to the sun as long as the house stood.

Horse-blocks to aid old men and females to mount and dismount, were necessary near meeting-houses, as well as dwellinghouses, when men and women rode on horses. They were less needed at the meeting-house in a village like Hadley, than in towns where the inhabitants lived more scattered on farms; and there were family horse-blocks in Hadley on each side of the street. In 1762, Eliakim Smith built a horse-block for the town, near the meeting-house; it took 191 feet of boards and required near a day's labor, and cost 8s. 8d., besides the slitwork.*

Iron Stoves were first employed to warm the meeting-house in Hadley in the winter of 1 730-1 731. Foot Stoves were previously used by the women and small children to warm their feet. Foot men, for mischief and sport, climbed the steeple in the night, lifted the vane from the spindle, brought it to the ground and hid it. They were found out, and were required to replace the cock on the spire. - Bailey's Dictionary, id Vol. 1737, says, "the cock is generally placed on the tops of steeples in England, and is called the weather-cock." The cock was common on steeples centuries before.

*Horse-b]ocks, or platforms with steps, were made of boards and slitwork, or of a large, solid log, or of stone. In towns, where most of the females rode to meeting on horses, there was a lively scene about the horse-blocks, after the congregation was dismissed. Young women easily alighted from a horse without the aid of a horse-block, and when necessary, they readily sprung upon a horse from a fence.

Stoves do not appear in Hampshire county and other parts of Massachusetts until about 1730. For a long time, most of them were made of wood, and partly or wholly lined with tin, and the coals were placed within, in a small iron vessel. Towards the close of the last century, tin stoves, confined in a neat, wooden frame, became more common.* Heated stones, bricks or pieces of plank may have been used long before stoves. The people of former generations in these and other towns were hardy, and inured to the cold, and they suffered much less in the meetinghouse in the winter, than some persons imagine. The ministers were hardy also, and their sermons in cold weather were seldom very short. f

Neither the first nor second meeting-house in Hadley was formally dedicated, and there were no unmeaning ceremonies at the laying of corner stones. Meeting-houses in New England were not dedicated for more than a century. They were "opened" with prayers, and sometimes with a sermon. The people of New England were too knowing to believe that any ceremony or solemnity could make wood, brick or stone holy, and they did not esteem their meeting-houses too holy to be used for useful civil purposes. The people of Hadley held town meetings in their meeting-houses near 150 years, though more often perhaps in the school-house. J

In Hadley, persons were appointed to sweep and take care of this second meeting-house, and ring the bell, but they are not named in the records.

On the north post of the eastern door, was the place for publishments, and many persons as they entered the house, stopped on the steps long enough to see who were going to be married.

*Eliakim Smith of Hadley, made wooden stoves, from 1757 to 1775; they were perforated with holes, and entirely or partially lined with tin. The price of a stove was from zs. to 2S. 8d., and of the lining from is. to is. 6d. Samuel Gaylord also made wooden stoves lined with tin. Tin stoves were sold in this vicinity in 1793, from 5s. 6d. to 6s. Stephen Kellogg, who died in Hadley in 1738, had a stove which was valued at two shillings, the only one noticed in Hampshire before 1745. Roxbury meeting-house took fire from a foot-stove in 1744, and was burnt. - Foot stoves were derived from Holland, where the women still carry them into the churches.

writer attended meeting in houses not warmed, until he was 33 years old, and is not conscious that he and those about him were seriously incommoded by the cold, except on a few Sabbaths. There were a few keenly cold Sabbaths in the winter, when young men and boys in the gallery knocked their feet together and made some noise. The experience of some Hadley men has been similar to that of the writer.

J"The idea of a special sanctity transfused through the boards and timbers of a meetinghouse by the mystic ceremony of a dedication, or by the grace of priestly benediction, to make it a sacrilege to use it for any other purpose, is repugnant to common sense and the simplicity of Christ." N. T. Evnngelist, July 17, 1851.

Plan of the Aisles, Pews, &c. On the Ground-floor of the second Meeting-house in Hadley, as they were after 1788. No old plan is found; this is made from information derived from elderly people.

Many of the pews were nearly square; some were smaller than the square ones, and a few were larger. Two pews on the west side were denominated the "Great Pews," and lo or 12 persons sat in each. There was a chair in each of these, and in some other pews. There were four narrow pews or slips on the west side of the body; in two of these, next to the middle or broad aisle, sat two of the most wealthy men in Hadley, about 1800, viz., Charles Phelps and Oliver Smith. The pewg were all high-backed, and in the upper part were nicely turned, little balusters, which children were fond of handling. It is hardly necessary to say that the aisles and pews were uncarpeted, and the seats uncushioned.

Chapter Xxix

The second, third and fourth Ministers of Hadley - Ordinations - Inscriptions on the Gravestones of four Ministers - Texts and Sermons - The Lord's Supper - Baptisms - Lectures - Whitfield - Ministers' wood.

The town of Hadley voted, Aug. 27, 1693, to send two messengers to procure a minister; they desired one to come "upon trial for some time." Not long after this, Mr. Samuel Moody* was preaching there, and Jan. 11, 1694, a rate was voted to pay him. Almost eleven months later, Dec. 3, 1694, the town voted to give Mr. Moody £^5, in wheat, peas and corn for his labors. These votes indicate that he preached there a few months in 1693, and a longer time in 1694. Mr. Simon Bradstreetf began to preach in Hadley in the early part of 1695, and April 26, 1695, a committee was appointed to treat with him about settling as their minister, and there was a vote about his pay to that time. No agreement was made with him.

Mr. Isaac Chauncey began to preach in Hadley not far from July, 1695, and on the i6th of October, 1695, the town earnestly desired Mr. Chauncey to settle among them as their minister, and offered to him the homelot of about ten acres and buildings, that belonged to their former pastor, Mr. Russell, and twenty acres of meadow land, to be to him and his heirs forever, and a salary of 70 pounds for three years "in provision pay," and after that, 80 pounds per year in the same pay. It appears from subsequent votes that he was to be supplied with fire-wood. These fair propositions were evidently accepted. His acceptance and the time of his ordination are not recorded in the town records. $

Mr. Chauncey's salary of 80 pounds in provision pay, was not equal to 60 pounds or 200 dollars in proclamation money. His houselot of ten acres and the buildings with 20 pounds for repairs, and twenty acres of meadow land, were worth in money about 700 dollars, and the getting of his wood cost the town six or seven pounds. He was well provided for and never complained. Jan. 5, 1713, after province bills were in circulation, Mr. Chaun-

*This Samuel Moody is supposed to have been a son of Rev. Joshua Moody, of Portsmouth and Boston, H. C. 1689. j-This was a son of Rev. Simon Bradstreet of New London, H. C. 1693. H^ settled in Charlestown.

jThe church records were burnt in 1766. - The date of his ordination, in Allen's Biographical Dictionary, is Sept. 9, 1696; this seems too late.

History Of Hadley 319

cey requested the town to pay his salary in money, that is, in province bills, and said he would accept of ;^6o in money instead of ;{^8o "in pay." The town consented to do this for ten years. The value of the bills had fallen some before 1713, and ;{^6o did not equal 200 silver dollars.

As the province bills continued to depreciate, the town increased his salary to £']0, £^0, £%^, and from 1720 to 1725 to ;^ioo, he providing his own firewood; and to ;{^iio the next three years. In 1729 they voted ;^I20, adding ;^io, "in consideration of the difficult circumstances of his family." In 1730, they voted ;^I30. In 1731, the town granted ;^I20, and added £\o "for the support of two indigent persons in his family."* In 1732, 1733 and 1734, they gave him ;^I20, and £^0 more yearly, on account "of the ill circumstances of his family," or "of the indigent persons in his family," and in 1735, they added £i^o "in consideration of his son, &c." In 1736, they added, ;^20 for his son.f In 1637, the precinct granted ;(^I70, and in 1738 and 1739, ;^i6o. After Mr. Chauncey ceased to preach, his salary was reduced to £'j^ in 1740, ;^6o in 1741, and ;^70 a year for the succeeding years of his life. This reduction was apparently made with his consent.

Mr. Chauncey is represented as studious in his habits, and attentive to his duties. He evidently led a peaceable and quiet life with the people of Hadley. There is no intimation that there was ever any difficulty or misunderstanding between them. When he made a request, it was reasonable, and they readily complied. Several short letters from him are recorded, in which he expresses his satisfaction with what the town had done. Very few events of his ministry are known. Four of his sermons were published, viz., A Sermon at the ordination of Rev. William Rand at Sunderland, May 20, 1724, from 2 Cor. xii. 15. A Sermon on the death of Rev. John Williams, at Deerfield, June 12, 1729. A Sermon preached at Hadley upon a Lord's day, 1731, on the

*There is some uncertainty regarding the "two indigent persons" in Mr. Chauncey 's family. One may have been his distracted son. There is an error on 234th page; Mr. Chauncey's son is not mentioned as one of the indigent in 1735, though he seems to have been one of them.

-[-Mr. Chauncey's son Israel graduated at Harvard College in 1724. He taught the grammar school in Hadley, and preached acceptably in several towns. He preached in Northampton nine months previous to August, 1726. He was invited to settle at Glastenbury, in March, 1727, but declined. Norwalk sent for him in 1727. He preached atHousatonnuck. The Boston Weekly Journal of Dec. 7, 1736, thus notices the derangement and death of this promising young man. "At Hadley something over a week ago, a small outhouse of Mr. Chauncey was burnt, and in it one of his sons, who was liberally educated and had preached some time, but of late was distracted, and was confined in the building consumed. He used frequently to cry fire, in the night, and for this reason, his cry now was not heeded till too late."

vanity of superficial religion, from Joshua xxiv. 19. A Lecture- Sermon preached at Hadley on the i6th of February, 1732, on the loss of the soul, from Matthew xvi. 26; this was delivered on a week-day.* Mr. Chauncey assisted at the ordination of Rev. Robert Breck, of Springfield, and gave the charge, Jan. 26, 1736, after a previous council of ministers from Hampshire had refused to ordain him, because they thought him to be heretical.

Rev. Isaac Chauncey was a son of Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Stratford, Conn, and grandson of Rev. Charles Chauncey, President of Harvard College. Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey, the second minister of Hadley, was his uncle; and Rev. Charles Chauncey, of Stratfield, now Bridgeport, an ancestor of Commodore Chauncey, was his brother. Mr. Chauncey of Hadley was born Oct. 5, 1670, graduated at Harvard College, 1693, and died May 2, 1745 in his 75th year. He became so infirm as to require assistance in the pulpit, in his 69th year, and preached but little after 1738. His estate was settled without the aid of the probate court. Four of his daughters married ministers. f

After Mr. Chauncey became infirm, the first precinct paid for preaching in 1739, to Mr. Edward Billings, £^4, 15s. (he was ordained pastor at Cold Spring, May 7, 1740;) and to Mr. Hobart Estabrook, ;^39, 13s. (he was ordained at Millington in East Haddam, 1745.) In 1740, to Mr. Daniel Buckingham, £^4., (he was settled in the ministry at Green's Farms, (Greenfield,) Fairfield Co.) to Mr. Benjamin Dickinson, who resided in Hadley, ;^22, 4s., to Mr. Noah Merrick, £j, los. (he was the first

*Prof. W. C. Fowler's interesting "Memorials of the Chaunceys," mention only these four publications of Mr. Chauncey of Hadley. These are not now to be found in Hadley. Many years since, the late Dr. Brown, of Hadley, had a printed Lecture or Sermon by Mr. Chauncey, to the young people of Hadley, and he read it in a conference meeting, a century from the time it was delivered. He and those who heard it, thought it an excellent discourse. Possibly it was the same as the Lecture-Sermon, preached Feb. i6, 1732. Allen's Biographical Dictionary says Mr. Chauncey's sermon at the funeral of Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, "displays very considerable learning and taste, uncommon for the time."

-|-Mr. Chauncey, as well as his predecessor and successor, offended against right, by holding persons in bondage. Arthur Prutt and his wife Joan are said to have been slaves of Mr. Chauncey. They had seven children.

His son, Josiah Chauncey, sold the homestead of 10 acres and 14 acres of meadow land, to Samuel Gaylord, Nov. 23, 1749, for 2770 pounds, old tenor, equal to 1231 dollars. Most of the homelot is still owned by Mr. Gaylord's posterity, and the Academy and the Meetinghouse of the west parish stand on the same lot.

History Of Hadley 321

Mr. Williams began to preach at Hadley, about September, 1740, and at a precinct meeting held Nov. 3, 1740, the inhabitants desired Mr. Chester Williams of Pomfret to settle among them in the work of the gospel ministry, and voted to give for his encouragement, the town homelot of ten acres, and 300 pounds in money; and during Mr, Chauncey's life, an annual salary of 140 pounds, and the use of the town land, or instead thereof 30 pounds, as he shall choose; and after Mr. Chauncey's decease, 180 pounds in money and the use of the town land or 30 pounds in money. The salary to be made equal to silver at 28 shillings per ounce. They voted to provide a sufficiency of fire-wood.

"To the church of Christ in Hadley first Precinct, and to said Precinct - Beloved Brethren; I have before me your call to the work of the gospel ministry in this place; and your several votes respecting a settlement and support, bearing date Nov. 3, 1740, to which I would reply as follows:^! have a grateful sense of what you offer for a settlement and support during the Rev. Mr. Chauncey's life; believing it to be your duty to minister to his support as long as God shall lengthen out his life among you, and mine to encourage and assist you therein. But I am in doubt whether what you offer for an annual salary after the Rev. Mr. Chauncey's death, be sufficient to support a minister in his work, so free from the entanglements of life as would be most for his and the people's comfort and interest, as he should be. Yet being unwilling to insist on any terms that should look unreasonable or mercenary or that threaten the peace of this place, but desiring only to be supported as it shall be for a minister's honour and the honour of the people, hoping I covet you more than yours, I accept of your call upon the terms you have proposed, having confidence in your honour, justice and readiness to do for my support at all times as my circumstances shall call for, and shall appear to be your duty. Begging your united prayers, that I may come to you always in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, and be a faithful and successful labourer in this part of his harvest.

*Pay of preachers. - Hadley paid to men who preached one, two or ten Sabbaths, in 1739 and 1740, from 40 to 50 shillings a Sabbath, in the first old tenor, or from 13s. 4d. to i6s. 8d., in silver at 6s. per dollar. Mr. Josiah Pierce, the grammar school-master, preached occasionally at 13s. 4d. a Sabbath; in 1754, the precinct gave to him and others 20 shillings each Sabbath. Northampton paid to preachers, for three years after the dismission of Mr. Edwards in 1750, from 7 to 10 pounds a Sabbath, in old tenor, or from 18s. 8d. to 26s. 8d. in lawful money.

Mr. Benjamin Dickinson, a native of Hatfield, and Mr. Josiah Pierce, anativeofWoburn, men of collegiate education and licensed preachers, resided in Hadley most of their lives. They often supplied vacant pulpits in Hadley and the towns around.

Mr. Williams was ordained* Jan. 21, 1741, "to the great satisfaction of the people," says the Boston News-Letter. His salary of 180 pounds, payable in province bills at the rate of 28 shillings for an ounce of silver, did not exceed 150 silver dollars, or 45 pounds in the specie currency of 1750. He consented to the moderate salary proposed, trusting that the people would give more for his support, if necessary. His confidence was not misplaced. The precinct paid him almost every year, more than they had engaged to pay, and he appears to have been fully satisfied. As province bills fell, his salary was increased until it was ;^385 in old tenor, for 1747 and 1748. In 1752 and 1753, it was £^^ in lawful money. The precinct continued the salary to his family through the year 1753, though he died in October, and they gave to his widow the use of the precinct land which he had occupied, for the year 1754.

It is not known that any thing was published by Mr. Williams. Tradition attributes to him energy of character, and earnestness as a preacher. He is said to have used plainness of speech, both in the pulpit and in conversation. f He evidently lived in harmony with the people, and was highly esteemed by them.

In the controversy that took place in Hampshire, respecting the qualifications for communion, Mr. Williams was conspicuous on the lax side of the question, and was opposed to the sentiments

*Ordinations were very rare in the last century, in most towns; there were only two in the old parish of Hadley in the whole century. They were commonly on Wednesday. They were occasions of joy and festivity, and there was a great collection of people from many towns. An ordination dinner was provided at the expense of the town or parish, for the ministers and many invited guests. These entertainments were quite expensive in many towns. After the installation of Mr. Gumming, in the Old South, Boston, in 1761, the guests at the feast were so numerous, that it required two houses to hold them. The people of Hampshire were more moderate than those of some other counties. Northampton expended at Mr. Hooker's ordination, Dec. 5, 1753, 52i)43, including 19 shillings for wine. At Mr. Williams's ordination, June 4, 1778, the expense was really less, though nominally more; 106 pounds of beef, pork and veal were provided for the dinner. Thetown paid for no liquor. There is no record of ordination expenses at Hadley, but it may be concluded that they did not exceed those at Northampton. In some places the young people had a supper and dance in the evening after an ordination. Miss Caulkins, in her History of New London, says "an ordination ball was as common as the ordination itself." There was sometimes dancing in Hampshire after an ordination. After Mr. Wells was ordained under the oak trees at Whately, Sept. 25, 1771, some gay, young men came back to Hubbard's inn at Hatfield, and had a supper, succeeded by fiddling and dancing. It is believed that dances after ordinations have been very few in this part of the country since 1800.

-j-He is said to have told a parish tale-bearer who came to his house, that if he came as a tell-tale, there were two doors in the room, and he might take which he pleased.

Mr. Edwards of Northampton, was sometimes led astray by the exaggerated reports of officious persons. Some of his troubles in regard to the young people in 1744 came from this source.

of Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton on this subject, as were ahnost all of the Hampshire ministers. Mr. Williams was a member and the scribe of the Council, that dismissed Mr. Edwards, and he and Mr. Enos Nash, the delegate from Hadley, voted for his dismission, June 22, 1750. He and those who acted with him were of opinion that the Lord's Supper was a converting ordinance, and that persons believing themselves to be unconverted, might be admitted to the Lord's table. Mr. Edwards did not believe that the Lord's Supper was a converting ordinance, and insisted that those received into the church should make a credible profession of piety.*

Mr. Williams was a son of Rev. Ebenezer Williams of Pomfret, Conn, and his mother's maiden name was Penelope Chester; she was from Wethersfield. His father was from Roxbury, and was a nephew of Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, and a relative of Rev. William Williams of Hatfield. Mr. Williams of Hadley graduated at Yale College in 1735 and was a tutor two years. He made his will Oct. i, 1753, being then "visited with grievous sickness" and died on the 13th of the same month in the 36th year of his age, and in the 13th of his ministry. He was buried on the 15th. f He gave his property to his wife, two sons, and three daughters - to the latter ;^ioo or 333 dollars each when 21 or at marriage. His estate as appraised, was worth £1200 or 4000 dollars, after paying his debts. There were not many so large estates in the town. Much of his property must have been derived from his father or some other source besides the parish. Some came from his wife's father, Hon. Eleazar Porter, who was the most wealthy man in Hadley. Mr. P. gave to his daughter in household stuff and in-door goods, ;^I72 or 573 dollars, and these things with the additions, were still prized at £\']'l. The library of Mr. Williams was valued at ;^55.ii.i; his homestead and buildings at ;^346; 18 acres of meadow land at ;^I40; debts due to the estate, chiefly in Connecticut, at ;^490. - He rode a

*The Hampshire ministers found it more easy to assist the disaffected in Northampton and to dismiss Mr. Edwards, than to refute his arguments. They did not attempt to reply to him in print.

The belief of the minister and the people of Hadley in regard to qualifications for communion, differed widely from that of Mr. Russell and their fathers. They had become less strict than Mr. Stone and the church at Hartford, in the preceding century. The change must have begun under Mr. Chauncey.

From the "Life of President Edwards," it appears that not more than three ministers and two churches in Hampshire county, partly agreed with Mr. Edwards as to the Lord's Supper, in 1750. He thought that only one minister was fully of his mind, and no church.

After the death of Mr. Williams, each minister of the association appears to have supplied the pulpit of Hadley one Sabbath. Mr. Pierce preached 21^ Sabbaths in 1753 and 1754. Mr. Mills preached several Sabbaths. Mr. Abel Newell preached six Sabbaths as a candidate in May and June, 1754, and the precinct requested him to preach longer as a "probationer," but he did not comply. f

Mr. Samuel Hopkins preached at Hadley the first time Sept. 22, 1754. He preached six Sabbaths, and the precinct desired him to preach longer as a "probationer." He came again and preached in December. On the 23d of December, 1754, after the first church in Hadley had made choice of Mr. Hopkins, the first precinct concurred with the church and chose him for their minister, and voted to give him a settlement of 200 pounds, lawful money, 60 pounds salary, to be governed by the necessaries of life, the use of all the precinct land, and his fire-wood. December 31st, Mr. Hopkins signified that he doubted the sufficiency of the salary and proposed that after two years, ;^6.i3.4 (fifty pounds, old tenor,) should be added. The precinct concurred with his proposal, and voted that the annual salary should be ;^66.i3.4, (222 dollars 22 cents. )$

*His horse was valued at £20 or 66| dollars. No horse so valuable is found in any previous Hampshire inventory. - His apparel was appraised at £34, los. or 115 dollars. He had a cloak, a gown, 2 great coats, 6 coats, 6 waistcoats (one was of leather,) 5 pairs breeches (one of leather,) 7 shirts, 6 neckcloths, 3 cotton hkfs., 3 bands, 5 stocks, 5 caps, 2 hats, 4 wigs, 4 pairs gloves, i pair mittens, 17 pairs stockings (2 pairs were of silk,) i pair garters, I pair boots, 2 pairs shoes, i pair moccasons, gold sleeve buttons, 26s. 8d., silver shoe, knee and stock buckles, i8s., 2 gold rings, 20s., a tobacco boi and a snuff box. Some of his garments were much worn. - He had a silver tankard valued at 22 dollars, a cane with a gold ferule, i6s. and a cane with a white head, 5s. 4d.

Mr. Williams gave to his wife, in one line, "my negro woman Phillis, my cows and sheep," and Phillis was appraised at £40, in connection with the cows and sheep.

jMr. Hopkins and the committee agreed, and the precinct voted, that the salary should rise or fall, from £66.13.4, as the following eight articles should rise or fall from the prices now agreed upon, viz., ist, English goods at wholesale, which cost ;Ci°o sterling are now £170 lawful; 2d, husbandman's labor in summer, two shillings per day; 3d, men's shoes, six shillings per pair; 4th, wheat, four shillings per bushel; 5th, rye, two shillings and eight pence per bushel; 6th, Indian corn, two shillings per bushel; 7th, fall beef, one penny two farthings half farthing per pound; 8th, pork, two pence two farthings per pound; in the town of Hadley or county of Hampshire. Each eighth part of the salary to rise or fall as each of said articles shall rise or fall.

History Of Hadley 325

"To the Church of Clirist in Hadley first Precinct, and to said Precinct. - Beloved Brethren; I am informed by some of your committee of your compliance with what I proposed to you. I have a grateful sense, gentlemen, of your generosity, and am obliged to you for the respect you have shown me, and do accept of your call on the terms you have proposed; and beg your prayers that I may come to you at all times in the fullness of the blessing of Christ, and be a faithful and successful labourer in this part of his harvest.

The town voted Jan. 6, 1755, to raise money "for charges of the designed ordination." Mr. Hopkins was ordained on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1755. His father, Rev. Samuel Hopkins of West Springfield, preached the sermon, from i Thess. 2:7 to 12, and Rev. Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, gave the charge. There was a fast the preceding week, in reference to the ordination, and two sermons. Mr. Hopkins married Mrs. Sarah Williams, the widow of his predecessor, Feb. 17, 1756, and lived in the same house. On the 2ist of March, 1766, the house was burnt, and almost all its contents. Liberal contributions were made in Hadley and elsewhere, and the people of Hadley erected a new frame in eleven days. Madam Porter, the mother of Mrs. Hopkins, was in the house on the night of the fire, and she thus notices the fire and some other events, in her interleaved almanac for that year.

"1766, March 21. A little before one in the morning, the house of Mr. Hopkins was burnt, amazingly quick after it was first discovered. The family being fourteen, had but a few minutes to escape. Most of us were almost naked, and all except Chester Willimas went out at windows." March 26. The family came together to housekeeping. March 30, Sabbath. Mr. Hopkins's first sermon after the fire was from Job. i: 21. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." April i. The new house was raised. Nov. 24. Mr. Hopkins removed into his new house.*

Rev. Parsons Cook relates that, "while, amid the consternation of the scene, Mr. Hopkins bore away from the flames the last of his rescued children, he turned and addressed the fire as a living agent, saying, 'now burn and welcome.' " His youngest child was only 15 days old.

10, 1768, Mr. Hopkins purchased the houselot of 10 acres and buildings for £266.13.4. Mrs. Hopkins previously had a right to the use of one-third. The town added half an acre in 1773. ^" '814, John Hopkins sold this homestead, called 11 acres, and buildings, to Rev. John Woodbridge, for 3100 dollars, reserving his shop on the S. W. corner. This house of Dr. Woodbridge, which is now, 1859, 93 years old, is still a fair and commodious dwelling.

salary of Rev. John M'oodbridge of South Hadley was the same many years. This sum, £66.13.4, was £500, in old tenor, turned into lawful money. Northampton gave Mr. Hooker a salary of 100 pounds after 1758.

Jan. 6, 1783, when the times were hard, the town of Hadley sent a committee to Mr. Hopkins, "to see whether he is willing to have any part of his estate taxed; or otherwise to bear any of the burthens of the present war, with his parishioners." His answer is not recorded-

Omitting the years of the Revolution, the prices of produce and labor did not advance very much between 1754 and 1789. The great rise did not begin until about 1789.

Mr. Hopkins was a son of Rev. Samuel Hopkins of West Springfield, who was a native of Waterbury, Conn. His mother, Esther, was a sister of Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton. He was a cousin of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, from whom "Hopkinsians" derived their name. He was born Oct. 20, 1729, and graduated at Yale College in 1749, where he was a tutor three years. He received from Yale College the degree of D.D. in 1802. He preached in Hadley 54 years, or until February, 1809, when he was struck with paralysis, which impaired his mental faculties. He died March 8, 181 1, and Rev. Dr. Lyman, of Hatfield, preached his funeral sermon, March 12, which was published. Silk gloves were given to the pall-bearers who are named on 241st page. Dr. Hopkins published two Discourses on the church membership of infants, 1799; and a Half-century Sermon, 1805.*

His first wife, Mrs. Sarah (Porter) Williams, the mother of his nine children, died Feb. 5, 1774. He married Miss Margaret Stoddard of Chelmsford, Oct. 1776, and she died Oct. 3, I796.t

Dr. Hopkins was a man of economical habits and a good manager. With a salary of 222 dollars aided by his settlement, &c. he brought up a numerous family, entertained much company, educated a son at college, and added to his estate.

Extracts from a communication in Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit," contributed by Rev. Parsons Cook, D.D., a native of Hadley, dated Lynn, Oct. 29, 1854.

"Remarkable as Dr. Hopkins was for facetiousness among his friends, he was never otherwise than dignified. And as he walked abroad, he carried with him such an amount of gravity and dignity, as inspired with reverence, all juvenile spectators, to say the least. The children just let loose from school, when he was passing, checked in mid-volley the explosion of their mirth, held their breath, formed a line and took off their hats for their customary token of reverence."

"His manner in the pulpit was entirely without action; his reading of his sermons was slow and drawling. His hearers had occasion to be something more than passive receivers. It needed laborious attention to draw from him what he produced. His mind was remarkable for sound judgment and practical wisdom. A distinguished lawyer, after hearing him preach, remarked that he would make a good judge.

*01d people in Hadley who knew Dr. Hopkins, always speak of him with respect. They say that his delivery in the pulpit, was dull and languid. They are confident that he did not wear a wig, and many say that he did not wear a cocked hat. His common dress was a straight-bodied coat, a vest with skirts or lappets, breeches, long stockings, and shoes with buckles. Wherever he called, he was a welcome visitor, and in some places a long pipe was kept for him. He stooped considerably in his latter years.

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In his Theology, he was Calvinistic, but he held views of the means of grace different from those which now obtain among Calvinists. He placed among the sinner's means of conversion, his attendance on the Lord's supper. He felt it to be his duty to urge all persons whose lives were not immoral to connect themselves with the church. [He held the views of Mr. Stoddard, and not those of President Edwards.]

The Half-way Covenant was not in use under his ministry. There was no occasion for it. As unconverted men found admission to full communion, it was not necessary for them to enter the church half-way, to secure the baptism of their children.

. From what I have said, it must not be inferred that Dr. Hopkins was lax in doctrine or discipline. He held the main body of Calvinistic Divinity, and he was not wont to hold back from his people, what he himself received.

One fact which contributed not a little to change the sentiments of his people against some of his peculiarities, was the frequent preaching of his sons in law in his pulpit. Dr. Emmons married his step-daughter. Dr. Austin, Dr. Spring, Mr. Worcester and Mr. Riddel - all Hopkinsian preachers, married daughters of his. These were frequently visiting him and preaching in his pulpit.

In Dr. Hopkins's day, the whole town formed but one congregation. No other sect had gained a foot-hold in it. And though there are now three congregations, they are all of the same denomination. In his day, it was a great point of interest to keep out other sects. And no small part of the minister's duty was to watch against interlopers. He had a rare sagacity in this matter.

[When it became needful for his people to settle a colleague he expressed great interest to secure the settlement of Rev. Dan Huntington, who resided in Hadley and was a popular preacher.]

Dr. Hopkins's social qualities were of the highest order. His wit and pleasantry were abundant, yet always tempered with prudence. He was an attractive companion for persons of all ages and all grades, and especially for young men. He would not unfrequently invite to dinner parties, young students and others, and of such parties he was himself the centre and life. His anecdotes and sallies of wit on such occasions were exhaustless. But his conversation, however facetious, was carefully guarded as to its religious tendency. He was remarkable for his talent at conveying reproofs when needed, in a way not to give offence.

He loved a timely joke, and it mattered little whether the laugh was with him or at him. He used to tell such as this. On visiting an invalid, he said to him - "It is a long time since you have been able to attend meeting; would you not like to have the neighbors called in, and have me preach a lecture at your house?" The invalid replied - "I should like it much, for I have not been able for a long time to get any sleep, and I know from much experience that your preaching will give me essential aid in this respect."

He used to tell a similar compliment which he received from Governor Strong. When on an exchange in Northampton, he dined with the Governor, and Mrs. S. offered him some pudding which he declined, saying that pudding before preaching made him dull. Gov. S. instantly replied, - "Did you not eat pudding for breakfast, sir?"*

He was to receive annually so many cords of good hard wood. On one occasion, a parishioner brought a load, about which he raised a question if there were not some soft wood in the load. To which the other replied - "and do we not sometimes have soft preaching?"

Another communication in Sprague's American Pulpit says: "From all that I have been able to gather, I conclude that Dr. Hopkins must have been a man of excellent judgment, of fine moral qualities, an evangelical and instructive, but not very popular preacher, a faithful pastor; and held in high estimation by his brethren in the ministry and by the community at large."

*I heard this anecdote in Northampton 30 years ago. Dr. Hopkins related it to Doct. Ebenezer Hunt the next time that he came over. It is presumed that the Governor's question was asked in a whisper, and not in the hearing of his family. Gov. Strong and Doct. Hunt were familiar friends of Dr. Hopkins.

The three oldest stones are sandstone; Dr. Hopkins's is marble. Three are upright; Mr. Russell's is a table. The inscription on Mr. Russell's is not in good taste.

Here lies interred, the body of the Rev'd Mr. Isaac Chauncey, pastor of the first church of Christ in Hadley, who was of a truly peaceable and catholick spirit, a good scholar, an eloquent orator, an able divine, a lively, pathetick preacher, a burning and shining light in this candlestick, an exemplary christian, an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. He departed this life May ye 2nd, A.D. 1745, ^^^- 74*

Here rests ye body of ye R'd Mr. Chester Williams, in whom bright parts, solid learning, unfeigned piety, happy elocution, universal benevolence, hospitality, and christian love, combined to form the exemplary pastor, the kind husband, the tender parent, the dutiful companion, and the faithful friend, who departed this life, October ye 13th, 1753, anno 36 aetat. suae.

Sacred to the memory of the Rev'd Samuel Hopkins, D. D. who in christian duty exemplary, in friendship frank and sincere, for prudence and meekness eminent; able in counsel, a pattern of piety and purity, ever upright and honourable in conduct, the epitome of the heart ; as a peace-maker blessed, as a minister of Christ skillful and valiant in the truth; having with ability and charity long magnified his holy office, and served God and his generation faithfully, fell asleep, March 8th, A.D. 181 1, in the 82 year of his age and 57 of his ministry.

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Texts and Sermons. - It appears from Madam Porter's interleaved Almanacs, between 1751 and 1770, that Mr. Williams and Mr. Hopkins preached double sermons, or two sermons from one text, about two-thirds of the Sabbaths. This seems to have been a common practice in the country. Mr. Hopkins sometimes preached three, four, and even six sermons, from one text. His exchanges were not very numerous; were most frequent with Mr. Hooker of Northampton and Mr. Parsons of Amherst.

Ministers often adapted their sermons to events and seasons. Mr. Hopkins preached two sermons in reference to the earthquake* of Nov. 18, 1755. His new year's sermons, Jan. i, 1764, were from Jer. 28: 16 - "This year thou shalt die." May 13, 1764, he preached a spring sermon from Psalms 104: 30 - "And thou renewest the face of the earth." April 26, 1 761, Mr. Parsons of Amherst, preached at Hadley a spring sermon, from the beautiful description of spring in Solomon's Songs 2: 10 to 13. f Mr. Hopkins preached about singing, April 10, 1763, from i Cor.

The Lord's Supper was administered by Mr. Williams and Mr. Hopkins six times in a year, but the intervals were not equal previous to 1770, being sometimes more or less than two months. The Sacramental Lecture was commonly on Friday. - In the 17th and 1 8th centuries, the quantity of wine used on sacramental occasions was much greater than now, for the same number of communicants.!

Baptisms were formerly administered in the meeting-house, and commonly the next Sabbath after the birth of the child. Mr. Hopkins's record of baptisms begins after the church record was burnt, March 21, 1766. For some years, a large portion of the children baptized by him were only from one to seven days old; some were older. A number were born on Saturday and baptized j-In the last century, ministers took texts from Canticles, as Solomon's Songs were called , mostly for sermons preceding the Lord's Supper. Mr. Williams of Hadley preached such a sermon, Feb. z, 1752, from Cant. 8: 7 - "Many waters cannot quench love," &c. Mr. Hopkins preached a sacramental lecture, March 20, i76i,from Cant. 2: 16 - "My beloved is mine," &c. Mr. Parsons of Amherst preached a sacramental sermon at Hadley, March 31, 1754, from Cant, i: 12. Most ministers preached sermons from texts in Solomon's Songs. - In April, 1728, Rev. Dr. Cutler, of the Episcopal Church, Boston, preached a funeral sermon from Solomon's Songs 8: 6 - "cruel as the grave."

|In Springfield from 1676 to 1681, each communicant paid a peck of wheat yearly for sacramental charges, worth from ten pence half penny to a shilling. In Northampton in 1666, each was to pay three half pecks of wheat in a year, worth about a shilling. The sacrament was administered six times in a year on Connecticut River; in some eastern towns once a month.

the next day. Mothers did not carry out their own children; the father was attended in the aisle by a female friend; sometimes by the nurse. The custom of baptizing infants so young gradually ceased, though there were a few cases in Hadley as late as 1789.*

Lectures on week-days were established in New England by the Puritans. The ministers and people in three, four or six towns in a neighborhood united, and had a lecture in one of the towns every week. Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield had these circulating lectures before and after Philip's war. They are noticed on pages 38 and 90. They must have been interrupted during the Indian wars. In the last century, Deerfield and Sunderland were added to the circle, and afterwards Amherst and South Hadley. For some years there were only six towns united, and the lectures were named "the six weeks lectures." Madam Porter notices public lectures in Hadley on Wednesdays, 1752 to 1764, and names as preachers at different times, the ministers of each of the seven towns. f

Mr. Whitefield once preached in Hadley and perhaps more than once. He first came to Northampton on the evening of Oct. 16, 1740, having preached at Hadley on the way. He visited the county 'again in 1745, and preached at Northampton June 15, and at Southampton June 17, and probably in other places. The leading men in Hatfield would not allow Whitefield to preach there, but many of the people came down to Northampton and Hadley to hear him. It has been said that when he preached in Hadley, his voice was heard in Hatfield.

*The people of New England professedly rejected the absurd doctrine of baptismal regeneration, yet many seem to have been influenced by superstitious notions in regard to the efficacy of baptism. Hence the half-way covenant, and the anxiety to have a sick child baptized, and perhaps early baptisms. The diary of Rev. Jonathan Judd of Southampton, shows that he had been called up in the night to baptize a child near its end; and that he was sometimes sent for to go to Northampton, 8 miles, after Mr. Edwards was dismissed, to baptize a sick child, as if salvation depended on the performance of this external rite.

The baptism of babes in our meeting-houses 50 years ago, was an interesting sight, especially to the young, who rose up, and some stood on seats, and gazed with delight on the infant, when the mother in the broad isle divested it of the nice, and sometimes rich, christening blanket, and the father received it in a dress and cap as white as snow, and presented it to the minister before the deacon's seat. When the minister was about to pronounce the name and sprinkle the face of the child, all were still, and the young and others listened with much curiosity for the name, and looked earnestly upon the child, which almost always started and cried, when cold water was applied to the face. In those days, ministers, instead of laying a wet hand upon the face of the child, really sprinkled the face.

-j-The widow of Silas Billings of Hatfield, born about 1747, with whom I conversed when she was 88 years old, remembered the six weeks lectures. In regard to the early lectures, she said that the widow of Rev. William Williams of Hatfield, who was a daughter of Rev. Solomon Stoddard, and born in 1676, told her that when a girl, she had often walked from Northampton to Hatfield to attend one of the lectures.

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Ministers' Wood. - The quantity of wood carried to Mr. Williams is not stated. In his latter years, the town gave for ordinary loads 25s. O. T. or 3s. 4d. and for good sled loads, 4s. In 1759, wood for Mr. Hopkins was 3s. 4d. for cart loads, and 4s. for sled loads. In 1769, his wood was 55 middling loads, at 4s. 8d.; and in 1770, 60 loads at 4s. 8d. From 1772 to 1788, his wood was fifty cords a year at 6s. a cord. The price was 8s. per cord in 1797 and 1798, but lower in succeeding years. Mr. Hopkins's family was so small, that the quantity was only 25 cords for some years after 1801.

Fifty and sixty years ago, the minister's wood was got on days appointed, and the minister furnished the flip and other drink, but not the food. These were high days for young men and some not young, in Hadley and other towns.

Chapter Xxx

The Indians were instigated by the Jesuit Rasles, to begin the fourth Indian war; he resided at Norridgewock on the Kennebec, and was slain Aug. 12, 1724. The French in Canada favored the Indians, but did not openly engage in the war. The principal attacks of the Indians were directed against the towns in Maine and New Hampshire. The towns in Massachusetts suff"ered less. The war commenced in 1722 and continued about four years, and the expenses of Massachusetts from May, 1722 to May, 1726, were not far from 215,000 pounds in province bills, of which near three-fourths were for the war. A large portion of this war expenditure was for Maine.

The war charges in Hampshire, paid by the province, may have averaged 5000 pounds a year, including the subsistence of Connecticut troops.* Garrisons were kept at Northfield and Deerfield, and at Brookfield which was connected with Rutland, and men were employed in the other towns as scouts and guards, and sometimes as garrisons. A new fort and garrison were added in February, 1724. On the 3d of that month, Timothy Dwight, with soldiers, carpenters and teams, left Northampton and went up the river; and in a few weeks they built a block house, named Fort Dummer, on the equivalent land, a mile or two below the present Brattleborough, which cost ;^256. This was the first building erected by civilized men in Vermont. Capt. Timothy Dwight commanded the garrison at this fort till the close of 1726. Capt. Joseph Kellogg, a native of Hadley, commanded at Northfield.* Capt. Samuel Barnard, and afterwards Lieut. Timothy Childs, commanded at Deerfield. Capt. Benjamin Wright,f formerly of Northampton, then of Northfield, was always ready to fight Indians, and he was at the head of several scouts and expeditions up the river and towards Lake Champlain in this war. Lieut. Eleazar Warner J was the chief officer at Brookfield, under Capt. Samuel Wright at Rutland. Col. Samuel Partridge of Hatfield, who was 80 years old in 1725, had the chief command in the county, and next to him was Lt. Col. John Stoddard of Northampton. §

Indian onsets in Hampshire. - Aug. 13, 1723, Thomas Holton and Thomas Merriman were slain at Northfield. Oct. 9, 1723, Ebenezer Severance was killed, Samuel Dickinson of Hatfield

*Capt. Dwiglit's lieutenant was Elisha Searl, of Northampton, who had been many years a captive among the Indians, and had seen the vast prairies of the west. - Capt. Kellogg had been a captive, and had seen the Mississippi.

-j-Capt. Benjamin Wright had been much irritated by Indian cruelty. He once said, that if he took a pappoose, he would dash out its brains. "Nits will be lice," said the captain.

jThis man, afterwards Capt. Eleazar Warner of New Braintree, was experienced in Indian warfare and had visited Canada. He had incurred the ill will of an Indian, who came all the way from Canada to kill him in time of peace, but Capt. Warner had notice of his approach, and contrived to shoot the Indian, and his body was sunk in a pond in New Braintree.

§The pay of men in Hampshire per week, in this war, was for captains, 35 shillings, lieutenants, 20s., sergeants, 13s. ^d., corporals and drummers, 12s., common soldiers, los. All were supplied with food at 5 shillings per week, except at Fort Dummer, 5s. 6d. Troopers leceived the same, and in addition 3s. 6d. a week for a horse, and 3s. 6d. for a horse's feed. All were paid in province bills, which had fallen in the country about one-half. The soldier received less than a dollar per week. Wages by the year were no higher for farm labor. Those sent on long scouts or to a distance received more.

In December, 1724, the Hampshire towns were required to have a number of men supplied with snow-shoes and moccasons, for which each man was to be allowed 10 shillings. Hadley was to have 30 snow-shoe men.

Col. Stoddard suggested in 1724 that it might be well to provide some good dogs to pursue the enemy. None were so employed on this frontier, in this war.

Sickness. - Col. Partridge said in a letter, April 21, 1725: - "The hand of God is much upon the several towns upon our river, in sore sicknesses and many deaths."

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taken, and two men wounded, at Northfield.* June 18, 1724, Benjamin Smith, son of Joseph S. of Hatfield, was slain, and Aaron Wells and Joseph Allis taken, when they were loading hay, about 3 miles from Hatfield village. June 27, 1724, Ebenezer Sheldon, Thomas Colton and a friendly Indian were killed, about a mile north of the present village of Greenfield. July 10, 1724, Lt. Timothy Childs and Samuel Allen were wounded in Deerfield meadow. Aug. 26, 1724, Nathaniel Edwards, 2d, of Northampton was killed and Abraham Miller wounded in the present Easthampton.f The next day a man was wounded in Westfield, and Noah Ashley of Westfield killed an Indian, for whose scalp he received ;^ioo.J Aug. 25, 1725, Deac. Samuel Field of Deerfield was wounded. Sept. 11, 1725, a scout from Fort Dummer was surprised, and Nathaniel Chamberlain of Hatfield and two others were taken, and Thomas Bodurtha of Springfield and John Pease of Enfield were slain. Three Northampton men belonging to a party of volunteers, under Capt. Thomas Wells of Deerfield, were drowned in Connecticut River, April 24, 1724.

Hadley was less exposed than other towns, and no person was hurt during the war. The records of the town do not once allude to the war. Hadley employed a few men as scouts and guards three or four months in 1724, and again in 1725, and the government paid a part of the expense. Many towns had guards in harvest time and in other busy seasons. Some soldiers from Hadley were at Northfield and Deerfield, and others were called out when there was an alarm. The cavalry of this and other towns were summoned many times. §

It was in this war that Massachusetts expended so much at Albany and Boston (more than 1500 pounds in 1723,) to engage the Maquas or Mohawks against the eastern Indians. (See page 124.) The Mohawks did not perform their engagements. Col. Stoddard believed that they were dissuaded by the Dutch and others at Albany. || j-His widow, Hannah (French) Edwards, married Nehemiah Strong and was the mother of Judge Simeon Strong. Her son, Jonathan Edwards, Hved in Amherst.

fThe bounty in this war for a scalp to those who went out at their own expense, was £100. Others received less. Lt. Gov. Dummer said in a letter to Capt. Kellogg at Northfield, July 25, 1724, - "I shall be glad to see a scalp or two brought down by some of your scouts."

§There were two companies of Cavalry in the county. The officers of the northern Troop in 1725 were Henry Dwight of Hatfield, Captain; Westwood Cook of Hadley, Lieutenant; Eleazar Porter of Hadley, Cornet; Nathaniel Coleman of Hatfield, Quarter-master. There were 39 troopers.

||In 1724, some New York Indians were employed at Fort Dummer some months. They required more food and drink than the English, and proved inefficient.