History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts (by N. B. Sylvester), with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers

Preface

. The History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, which has been in course of preparation during the past twelve months, is at length completed, and placed in the hands of the people. The compilation of a work covering such a large extent of territory, and treating of events trans piring through the lapse of two hundred and forty-three years, as can be readily understood, is a labor of extraordinary magnitude, involving a heavy outlay, and requiring a vast amount of research, the exercise of impartial judgment, and the most critical discrimination. The subjects treated cover a wide range, — from the adventurous life of the pioneer of 1636, through every branch of human experience, industry, and knowledge, to the wonderful physical and intellectual development of the present day. Materials for the work have been abundant.

Several of the towns in the Valley possess excellent published histories, while the preserved files of newspapers and the various records constitute a mine of wealth which can scarcely lie exhausted. The entire region abounds in rich treasures of local history, and such works as the excellent " History of Western Massachusetts," by Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland, the numberless volumes in public and private libraries, colonial records, family genealogies, and biogra phies of eminent men and women, are accessible at every turn. The people of the Connecticut Valley are pre-eminently intelligent and widely alive to all which pertains to the history of their indomitable ancestors, and always ready to assist in the production of meri torious works which may, in any manner, shed additional light upon the past.

The aim of the publisher of the present work has been to make it as full and reliable a compendium of the history of this beautiful and interesting region as a lavish expenditure of money, time, and talent could produce; and it is believed that no similar work has ever been published in this country which could compare with it, either in magnitude, variety and interest of subjects treated, or in the number and beauty of its illustrations, which amount to not far from five hundred, all excellent specimens of the engraver's art. The plan of illustrating local histories is one which the people themselves have inaugurated, and which has so enhanced the appearance of each successive volume, and so increased the general interest therein, that it has been permanently and successfully adopted by the publishers.

The testimony of a most respectable majority of the citizens, wherever such publications have been introduced, and especially among those most prominent and best capable of judging, is ample proof that portraits of those who have been or are citizens of a county at the date of publication; who by their enterprise, integrity, and public spirit have materially aided its growth and prosperity, and whose lives have been worthy ex amples, may very properly appear upon the pages of such local history. Ex-Governor Seymour, of New York, remarked of the history of his own county, that the portraits therein of its deceased and living citizens greatly enhanced its value in his estimation. Dr. Holmes, PUBLISHER'S

PREFACE.

. State Librarian of New York, considers the illustrated portion, including personal sketches of prominent citizens, a feature which will become more interesting with the lapse of time, and one which gives additional value to the work. The illustrations of each town, like its written history, are distinct and complete in themselves, and are selected as fair representatives of its worthy citizens, independently of any comparison with those of any other city or town. The highest ideal is not always reached, but the endeavor has been to handle this department with due regard to the rules of propriety and consistency, the tastes and desires of the people of the Valley, and the true interests of the publisher and the community. This explanation is rendered necessary by the fact that there have been those who criticised without thoroughly understanding the system adopted, and without giving the subject due consideration.

Every effort has been put forth to render this work as complete in all departments as possible, and to bring it fully up to the expectations of those who have so liberally indorsed it, with the confident belief that they will appreciate the labor and patient research necessary in the production of a work which contains, among other items, a hundred thousand proper names, and at least one thousand biographies and per sonal sketches. Perfection is impossible, but the work is placed in the hands of its patrons with the hopeful assurance that its immense array of interesting facts will be invaluable to the student and his torian, to the professional man and the mechanic, and to the farmer in the midst of his family. The writers engaged upon the work have been almost invariably treated with the greatest courtesy, and have had every facility extended which the necessity of the case required, by county and town officials ; by the clergy of all denominations, members of the bar, the medical profession, the press, the faculties of the various colleges, the principals of academies, seminaries, and schools, and by manufacturers and business men generally; to all of whom they acknowledge their sincere obligations.

They would also gratefully remember the farming community, whose members have added in no small degree to the interest and value of the work. To the following, among many hundreds of citizens, the publisher would acknowledge himself under special obligations: Judge Henry Morris, William Rice, D.D., and lady, Hon. William L. Smith, David P. Smith, M.D., C. C. Chaffee, M.D., Wm. G. Breck, M.D., P. Le B. Stickney, M.D., Gen. Horace Lee, Major Ingersoll, Paymaster United States Armory; Capt. J. K. Newell, Brewer Brothers, druggists, A. P. Stone, all of Springfield ; Hon. E. H. Sawyer, Easthampton ; J. R. Trumbull, Rev. Dr. Gordon Hall, O. O. Roberts, M.D., Hamilton J. Cate, M.D., and Sheriff Longley, of Northampton; Ex-Gov. Wm. B. Washburn, Jas. S. Grinnell, Jona. W. D. Osgood, M.D., A. C. Deane, M.D., Hon. David Aiken, Judge C. C. Conant, and Rev. J. F. Moors, of Greenfield; Dr. Roswell Field, of Gill; Hon. George Sheldon, of Deerfield; Dr. C. M. Duncan, of Shelburne; Dr. Parley Barton, of Orange; Jas. H. Waterman, M.D. and Henry Holland, of Westfield; Dr. H. S. Lucas, of Chester; and Dr. J. W. Rockwell, of Southwick!

Philadelphia, Pa., July, 1879. ERRATA. On page 65, where mention is made of a small fort erected in Blandford about 1744, it is spoken of as being in the eastern part of Hampden County ; it should read western. On page 855, Rev. A. D. Mayo is mentioned as settling in Springfield in 1874 ; it should be 1872 Since the work went to press, Charles McClallan, whose portrait and biography appear between pages 980-81, has deceased his death occurring on the 22d of June, 1879. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY IN MASSACHUSETTS AND OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY. HISTORY OF THE CONNECTI- CUT VALLEY IN MASSACHU- SETTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. — Introduction 9 II. — Civil Divisions 11 III.— Topography 14 IT.— Geological Outlines 10 V. — Indian Occupancy 18 VI. — Early Explorers, Early Patents of New England, Tin: charter of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay 22 VII.— The New England People, Origin • if tlo- English Puritans, The Pilgrim Fathers 25 VIII. — The Removal to the Connecticut Valley 29 IX. — The Founding of the Mother Towns, the Planting of Springfield in 1636, William Pynchon and his Books, tin.- Planting of Westfield in 1C40, Northampton in 1654 31 X.— The Pequot War .10 XI. — The Separation <>f Springfield from the Jariadiction <>f Connecticut 39 XII. — The Import Duty imjM.-eil hv < !onnecticnl upon Springfield in L645, Resisted hy TffnfflWi husetts. 42 XIII.— Witchcraft 44 XIV.— The Regicides 5(1 XV. — King Philip's War 58 XVI.— The French-and-Indlan Wars 01 XVII.— The Warns the Revolution 00 XVIII.— The Shays Rebellion 75 XIX.— The War of 1812-15, The Washington Benevolent Society 80 XX. — Internal Improvements 88 XXI. — Internal Navigation, Improvement us the Cniiiic-ti. ut River..

HO XXII.— Railways 97 XXIII. — Population, Industry and Wealth, Educational 100 XXIV. — Valley and County Agricultural Associations Ill XXV.— The Bar of the Connecticut Valley. 114 XXVI.— The Hampden County Bar 121 XXVII.— The Bar of Franklin County 127 XXVIII— IIorn<ropathy in Western Massachusetts 134 XXIX.— Military. History of Organizations which served during the Rebellion 1861-65. The Tenth Regiment 136 XXX.— Eighteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First .Regiments 145 XXXI.— Twenty-Seventh Regiment 14G XXXII.— Thirty-First, Thirty-Fourth, Thirty-Seventh, ami Forty-Sixth Regiments 1&1 PAGE 0. 0. Roberta, M.D 232 Josephus Crafts 232 Henry A. Lungley between 232, 233 II. K. Parsons " 232, 233 Ansel Wright 233 George F. Wright 233 Gen. John Lord Otis 234 J, Howe Demond 23.3 Samuel C Carter facing 250 Hod.

Edward Dickinson, LL.D? 261 Waitstill Dickinson 2G2 Eara [ngram slicing 202 Simeon I lark between 262, 263 Hon, E. H. Sawyer 283 Samuel Williaton 284 Horatio <;. Knight 286 Edwin R. Boeworth 286 William N. Clapp between 286, 287 Joseph W. Window, M.D facing 287 Auael Clapp " 30<i Jesse Lyman " 301 Frunk li ii Bonney, M.D 346 Eli aaai Porter between 346, 347 Lorenzo N. Granger " 346, 347 Hon. Joseph Smith " 340,347 Sylvester Smith facing 347 Joseph Carew 358 Martin W. Burnett between 368, 350 Capt Bnragbton Alvord " 358,359 Deacon Hoses Montague " 358,359 Mil. mi Smith, dei Bfised 359 Hiram Smith 359 Hon. Chas. A. Stevens 376 Epaphras Clark 384 Kingsley Underwood 385 Joeeph smith facing 402 Cyrus Miller " 420 Daniel Collins, M.D " 421 Ib. n. Hiram Naeh " 422 Elnathan Grai es " 423 Thomas tteekins " 424 Benjamin 3.

Johnson " 425 Horace Cole " 450 Hon. K. H. Brewster " 457 William D. Rlush " 478 Harvey Root " 479 Carry fifunson " • 520 Jabin B. Williams " 521 Deacon Lyman Sabin " 532 Henry Graves, Jr between 532, 5 33 Joseph R. Gould " 532,633 John II. Morgan fating 540 S. P. Bailey between 540, 541 Lynns Tourtellott 541 Charles S. Record 541 Addis, hi Grid ley facing 540 Deacon Samuel Smith 548 Capt. Wm. R. Clark 548 [Note. — For additional biogiaphkal matter, see chapters on the legal and medical professions, and also the tow n histories.] CHAPTER PAGE XXXIII.— Fifty Second Regiment 104 XXXIV.— Fifty-Seventh anil Sixty-First Regiments, Artillery and Cavalry 101 HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY. CHAITER PAGE I. — Civil Organisation 163 II. — The Courts, County Commissioners, and Cpppinty l!niMiii[»x 1C3 [H.— Representative Districts, 'ml Lists lo* IV. — Societies 17<i TOWNS ill' HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

Northampton 172 Amherst 235 Bastbamptoo -'••', Weethampton 281 Boathampton ;ip>1 Ilu.lley :117 South Hadley :«7 Ware 3S9 1 1. .Hi. hi 385 Wmiamsburg l"4 Plainfield i-p Cummington 439 Worthington 454 M i.l.ll, !l.I,] 405 I7.-I,.»ip 479 Chesterfield 192 Huntington 506 Belcbertowii 521 Greenwich ;l Granby 542 Polham 548 Presi "ii 568 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I'A'.P G. W. Swazey, M.D facing 134 Gen. Luke Lyman " 140 Dr. C. H. Smith " 162 .I....J.1, K. TpijI.pi " 163 E.C.Clark " 154 Mark H. Spaulding " 155 Itev. Jonathan Edwards 201 Rev. John Hooker 202 Hev. Soloiipppii Williams 203 Rev. Samuel P. Williams 2113 Rev. Mark Tucker, D.D 201 It. v. Ichabod Spencer, D.D ji>7 Rev. John P. Cleaveland, D.D 207 Rev. Zachary Eddy, D.D 207 L. B. Williams 2211 Luther Bodman 2311 Daniel W. Bond 231 Austin w. Thompson, A.M., M.D CONTENTS.

ILLTJSTRATI03ST S HATFIELD. PAGE Residence of Win. H. Dickinson facing 386 Smith Academy 394 Portrait of Joseph Smith facing 402 Residence of Joseph S. Wells " 402 WILLIAMSBURG. Portrait of Cyrus Miller facing 420 " Dr. Daniel Collins " 421 " Hon. Hiram Nash " 422 " Elnathan Graves " 423 " Thomas Meekins " 424 " Benjamin S. Johnson " 425 CUMMINGTON. Residence of L. J. Orcutt facing »440 W0RTHINGTON. Portrait of Hon. E. H. Brewster facing 456 " Horace Cole " 4.57 MIDDLEFIELD. Portrait of V,rm. D. Blush facing 478 " Harvey Root ,: 470 H17NTINGT0N. Portrait of Garry Munson facing 520 " Jahin B. Williams " 521 BELCHERTOWN. Portrait of Joseph R. Gould facing 527 " Deacon Lj-man Sahin " 532 " Henry Graves, Jr " 533 GREENWICH. Portrait of John H. Morgan facing 540 " S. P. Bailey between 540, 541 Residence of Estes Shumway " 540,541 " and Portrait of Lynus Tonrtellott, facing 541 Portrait of C. S. Record 542 GRANBY.

Portrait of Dr. C. B. Smith facing 152 " Joseph K. Taylor " 153 " Addison Gridley " 54f, " William B. Clark " 547 " Samuel Smith " -.17 PAGE Town-Hall 207 Portrait of Hon. E. H. Sawyer (steel). ..facing 283 Williston Seminary between 284, 285 Portrait of Sam'l Williston (steel) " 284, 285 " Horatio G. Knight (steel).... facing 285 " Edwin R. Bosworth (steel)... " 280 " William N. Clapp between 280, 287 " J. W. Winslow, M.D facing 287 WESTIIAMPTON. Portrait of Ansel Clapp facing 300 " Jesse Lyman " 301 HADLEY. Hailley in 1063 310 Portrait of Franklin Bonney, M.D. (steel), facing 340 Portrait of Eleazar Porter between 346, 347 " Lorenzo N. Granger.. " 346, 347 Hon. Joseph Smith... " 346, 347 " Sylvester Smith facing 347 SOUTH HADLEY. Mt. Holjoke Seminary (steel) facing 351 Lyman Williston Hall (steel) " 351 Carew Paper Co., Hadley Falls " 355 Congregational Church " 355 Residence of Joseph Carew " 355 Hampshire Paper Co. Mills 356 Portrait of Joseph Carew (steel) facing 358 " Martin W. Burnett between 358, 359 " Capt.BronghtonAlvord " 358,359 " Dea.

Moses Montague " 358, 359 " Hiram Smith, deceased facing 359 " Hiram Smith " 359 WARE. Portrait of Hon. Chas. A. Stevens (steel).facing 375 EXFIELD. Residence of Henry Fobes faeing 376 " J. J. Howe pp 376 " L. F. Shearer " 377 " David Blodgett " 377 " Lyman D. Potter " 382 " E. P. Smith " 383 Portrait of Epaphras Clark " 384 " Kingsley Underwood " 3S5 PAGE View of Connecticut Valley from Mt. Nonotuck (Frontispiece) facing title. Map of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts facing 9 Portrait of William Pyuchon (steel) " 31 Fac-simile of Tombstone of Mary Pynchon... 32 " page from William Pynchon's Court Record 35 " page from Pynchon's Record... 41 Portrait of G. W. Swazey, M.D facing 134 NORTHAMPTON. Portrait of 0. 0. Roberts, M.D.. (steel) ...facing 135 " Gen. Luke Lyman " 146 E.C.Clark " 154 " M. H. Spaulding " 155 Shackles of the Old Jail at Northampton 167 Central Part of Northampton in 1830. ..facing 172 1S79...

" 172 Memorial Hall ami Public Library 184 Florence Manufacturing Co. Mills 219 Portrait of L. B. Williams (Bteel) facing 229 " Luther Bodman (steel) " 230 D. W. Bond (steel) between 230, 231 " A. W. Thompson (steel) " 230, 231 " Josephus Crafts (steel)... facing 232 " H. A. Longley between 232, 233 " H. K. Parsons " 232, 233 Ansel Wright facing 233 " Geo. F. Wright " 233 Gen. J. L. Otis (steel) " 234 " J. Howe Demond (steel) " 235 AMHERST. Poi-trait of Samuel C. Carter facing 250 The Amherst College Buildings and Grounds (double page) between 250, 251 Residence and Portrait of Oren Williams, facing 251 Massachusetts Agricultural College 254 Residence of E. Hobart facing 254 W.S.Clark " 255 Portrait us Hon. Edward Dickinson, LL.D. (steel) facing 261 Portrait of Waitstill Dickinson 2G2 " Ezra Digram facing 2G2 " Simeon Clark between 262, 2G3 EASTHAMPTON.

Residence of Hon. E. H. Sawyer facing 2G4 " Mrs. Emily G. Williston... " \N MASSACHUSETTS. £mbmacing the counties of/ranklin.JIkmpshire &j{ampdin. v ,_ ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR TWS WORK v £" R m r. IN MASSACHUSETTS BY NATHANIEL BARTLETT SYLVESTER. story is told of the final division of the old, historic county of Hampshire into four counties, and of the planting of all the seventy and one towns of the three counties of which this work treats, — the last of which, the town of Hampden, in Hampden Count}-, was organized in the year 1878, just two hundred and forty-two years after the planting of Springfield in 1636.

Introduction

.

I. SCOPE OF THE WOKK. Around the valley of the Connecticut* River, where, in its course from the mountains to the sea, the stream crosses the State of Massachusetts, -f* clusters an untold wealth of historic memories. In pursuing the history of this valley through the changing scenes and the varying fortunes of its almost two centuries and a half of existence as the home of the white man and the abode of Christian civilization, we shall first see in our mind's eye the opening clearing upon the site of the city of Springfield, in the dawn of its birth-year, 1636, with the early traces of what was long its only street — now Main Street — laid out along the "town brook," and facing the long, narrow "home lots" of the settlers, which lots extended from the street to the river, while at the rude wharf is moored Governor Winthrop's little shallop of thirty tons burden, called the "Blessing of the Bay,"*)-f which of a truth might well be called the " May flower" of Springfield, in which the first inhabitants, when they started with their wives and little ones on the old Indian trail, since known as the " Bay Path," for their far-off wilder ness home, sent round by water their scanty store of house hold goods.

The long history of this valley — long for the New World — ■ begins, strictly speaking, with the story of the building, by John Cable and his companion John Woodcock, in the summer of 1635, of a solitary hut on the old Indian muck-cos quit-taj, meadow, or corn-planting ground, called Ag-a-wam, which lay along the southern bank of the Ag-a-wam River, a half-mile above its mouth, on the west side of the Quon-eh-ti cut, nearly opposite what is now the city of Springfield. Or, in a wider sense, it may be said, the history of the Connecti cut Valley, in Massachusetts, begins with the planting of Springfield itself, near Us-quaiok, on the east bank of the Quon-eh-ti-cut River, "over against" the Indian meadows Ag a-wam and Qua-na, by William Pynchon and his little band of pioneer settlers, in the early spring of the year 1636, and begins anew, as it were, with the planting of each new settlement in the valley.

It begins anew with the story of the early founding of the plantation of Northampton, in the year 1653, on the old Indian hunting-ground and meadows called Non-o-tuck ;% with the planting of Hadley in the year 1661, on the site of the Indian hunting-ground called Nol-wo-togg ;\ with the organization of the above-named pioneer towns of Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley, and certain contiguous territory, comprising half the State, as early as the year 1663, into the old county of Hampshire ; with the first occupa tion of the Indian beaver-hunting country, called Wo-ro noak, now Westfield, by the Connecticut fur-traders in 1640,|| and its permanent settlement b}' Springfield people in 1669; with the planting of Hatfield in 1670, of the laying out of Deerfield on the old Indian hunting-ground Pa-comp-tuck in 1672,f and of the reservation by commissioners for a town of Northfield at the Indian Sauak-heag in 1669;** and so the his tory stretches on through all the intervening years, until the We shall see at the infant settlements of Springfield, Northampton, Hadley, Westfield, Hatfield, Deerfield, and Northfield, as they successively spring up in the depths of the virgin wilderness, the first half-dozen log huts in the centres of little clearings, hewn out of the before unbroken forests, bordered on cither side by a hundred miles of pathless woods.

We shall see at these rude pioneer homes the father, with his gun by his side, planting his corn among the black ened logs or in the little Indian meadow on the river's banks. We shall see the mother, surrounded by her infant children, plying her daily toil within the single room of the humble log dwelling, and often casting anxious glances into the shadowy woods, which her imagination peoples with hordes of wild beasts and wilder men, and with troops of witches, goblins, and other uncanny things. We shall see in the daily struggles for the daily bread, in the hardships and dangers, in the sombre religious life of those early pioneer homes, the origin and the growth of those homely and sturdy virtues upon which the prosperity of great States has since been so securely founded. * From the Indian Quon-eit-li-cut, "The Long River." — Trundiull's Wist.

Conn. Quinniiuk, "long tidal river;" Quinnituk-id, country on either side of "long tidul river." — Col. Conn. Hist. Society, Vol. II., p. 8. We shall follow the varying fortunes of these pioneers of the wilderness and their descendants, — the people of the Con necticut Valley,— through the weary years of the witchcraft delusion, into the clearer light of more auspicious times. We shall witness their sufferings, their fortitude, their bravery, f From the Indian Mais-tchu-seag, "country thin Hide of tho mountains." — Pom null's Top. Description of North Am. Mass-adehiirsit, "near the great mountain." -Col. Conn. Hist. Society, Vol. II., p. 20. J Mass. Col. Rcc, Vol. III., p. 304. (1 Mass. Col. Roc, Vol. IV., Part II., p. 13. || See Mass. Col. Bee., Vol. I., p. 323. 1 Mans. Col. Rcc, Vol. IV., Part II., p. 558. ** Mass.

Gil. Ree, Vol. I., Part II., p. 436. si Built at Mystick and launched July 4, 1631, being tho Bocond bark built in the colony. — Young's Citron, of Mdiu., p. 185. ■_ It one and the same end, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity with peace." their triumphs, in the Pequot and King Philip wars, and through the long and bloody French and Indian wars. We shall dwell with pride upon the noble part they took in the war for Independence, and bring the story to its close in re counting the wonderful development of the last fifty years, — a progress which has made the valley to-day almost a continuous city, stretching along both banks of its beautiful river across the entire State from north to south, inhabited by almost two hundred thousand people, counting their aggregate wealth by tens of millions, enriching all lands with the material products of their countless workshops, and enlightening the world by the precious fruits of their intellectual labors.

And all this long story, from the date of the weak and weary years of the first feeble settlements in the valley, early in the seven teenth century, to the present era of its prosperity and power in the closing years of the nineteenth, — a period of more than two hundred and forty years, — is but the story of the struggles and the triumphs, the ceaseless endeavor and fruitful achiev ments, of a branch of that people which must be classed among the most remarkable the world ever produced, — the people of New England. Having thus come to the solitudes of the New World with this high end and aim in view, and having themselves passed through the fiery ordeal of religious persecution at home, in their treatment of those of different faith, who early sought homes among them, the charge of inconsistency has often been laid at their door.

It has often been urged, and with much plausibility, that they who fled from religious intolerance in the Old World should have themselves practised religious toleration in the New. But those who use this argument forget the spirit of the age as well as the circumstances under which they lived, and the high ideal of the New England fathers. The spirit of the age was distinguished by its intense reli gious fervor. The world to come, now of such dim and shadowy aspect to the bodily senses of modern men, although perhaps no less real to their eye of faith, was to the Puritan fathers, in the dim light of the imperious and awful theologic dogmas which guided their daily walk, a tangible, if not visible, reality. To their haunting visions of immortal joy or woe saddening their lives, must be added the contest with the grim wilderness, the hard, unrelenting circumstances of pio neer life.

Each age has its own methods of battling for the right and asserting justice. Each age has its own ideas, too, of what is right and just, but conscience — the desire to do right and justly — has been active in all ages, perhaps more active in the age of the Puritans than now. But this is not all. For a hundred years this valley and the mountain towns adjoining have been sending forth their full share of that mighty stream of New England emigrants over the Berkshire hills, across the valley of the Hudson, and over the Alleghanies into the ever-retreating West, carrying with them the daring enterprise, the nimble, inventive skill, the cheerful endurance, the love of liberty under law and order, the high, religious life, chastened by the traditions of suffering and sacrifice in early pioneer homes, the vivid appreciation of beauty and refinement everywhere characteristic of the New England people, until every State in the nation, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, bears upon all its institutions the unmistakable impress of its high New England parentage.

It should be remembered, also, that while religious intoler ance is wrong when it is not necessary for the public safety, it becomes a virtue when needful in self-defence and where tolerance would be public ruin. The early New England people, in order to protect their re ligious freedom, were obliged to exclude with a strong hand those in whose presence they could not live with security. They had fled from the powerful English hierarchy to the wild solitudes of America. Should they suffer it to follow them ? Divisions in their councils, in their weak and defenceless con dition, would be fatal to their peace, if not to their very exist ence. Should they suffer divisions to occur? In those days, too, religious toleration held no place among the Christian virtues. To differ from the established religion was rank heresy, and heresy was punished in most Christian countries as a heinous crime.

It was the high ideal of the New England fathers to engraft upon the new State a new form of Christian worship, subject to the same restrictions as the old. But they sought more. Their aim was nothing less than the complete sanctification of the State. To make a pure and perfect State, founded in every respect upon the sublime teachings of Holy Writ in worship and morals, was what they attempted. To. further this end, they rightly judged that to fashion and mould a State the individual members thereof must first be fashioned and moulded, and so they began at the foundation, and kept the strictest watch over every individual in the colony whether high or low. Every one's conduct was at all times and on all occasions the subject of stricture and discipline, and every infraction of law or duty promptly and severely punished.

In religious matters especially, no such thing as freedom of individual opinion existed. Heresy in every form must be nipped in the bud as a thing dangerous to both the State and the souls of men. No impure thing like witchcraft must be suffered to live for a moment. All who participated in the government in any form must be members of the visible church, and must square their every action by the Mosaic law of the Bible. There must be one common faith, one common church, one commonwealth. These facts, so often overlooked in considering their case, while they by no means justify their errors and excesses, explain their conduct. That they were zealots and Thus has this valley of the Connecticut in Massachusetts for a hundred years been lavishly giving of her best citizens to people the fertile fields of the teeming West, yet the cup of her prosperity is still full to the brim and running over.

II. THE NEW ENGLAND SPIRIT. The early settlers who came across the ocean to subdue New England, of whom the first settlers of the Connecticut Valley formed a part, were weak in numbers and mostly poor in worldly goods, but they were rich in faith and strong in spirit ; and the result has been that from the handful of feeble pil grims a mighty nation has arisen, still deeply imbued with their rich faith and strong spirit, which nation now gives sustenance, liberty, and law to the world. The avowed object of the Pilgrim and Puritan fathers in coming hither was "to advance their church, to build them selves in holiness, to convert the Indian, and to promote free dom." That this was their object and aim there is abundant evi dence. The company in its first general letter to Endicott and his council, under date of 17th April, 1629, says : "And for the propagating of the Gospel is the thing we do profess above all to be our aim in settling this Plantation.

We have been careful to make plentiful provision of godly minis ters, by whose faithful preaching, godly conversation, and exemplary life we trust not only those of our own nation will be built up in the knowledge of God, but also the Indians may in God's appointed time be reduced to the obedience of the gospel of Christ."* Again, in the preamble to the Articles of Confederation be tween the United Colonies, adopted 19th May, 1643, there is this language: "Whereas we all came into these parts with * Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 141. committed excesses in the line of discipline and punishment is not to be wondered at when we consider their views of things. Judged from their standpoint they were in the right, or at least excusable. In the broader light of modern times they were outrageously in the wrong.