"Our county and its people" : A history of Hampden County, Massachusetts

Front matter

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*'Our County and Its People "

Chapter II Discovery And Occupation

Early European Discoveries in America — The French in Canada — The Dutch in New York — The English in Virginia — The Puritans in New England — Three European Powers Claim Sovereignty over the Territory Comprising Massachusetts — Overthrow of the Dutch in the Netherlands — Struggle for Supremacy between the French and the English — End of the French Dominion 14

Chapter III The Indians

French and Jesuit Influence Among the Indians — The New England Missionaries — Location and Probable Origin of the New England Tribes — The Connecticut River Indians — Their Habits and Characteristics — Efforts to Establish Education and Christianity Among the Tribes — Dutch Settlers sell them Guns and Rum 20

Chapter IV Colonization And Settlement

English Colonization and Settlement in America — The Plymouth and London Companies — Landing of the Pilgrims — Distress in the Colony — Massasoit's Generosity — Accessions to the Colony — Plantations Founded in the Connecticut Valley — The Colony at Agawam — Springfield Founded — Independent Government for the Connecticut River Plantations — Springfield returns to Massachusetts Jurisdiction — Four Counties Incorporated — Springfield not Included 27 xii COXTEXTS

Chapter V

Dissensions among tlie Colonists — Beginning of the Indian Troubles — The Pequot War — Narragansetts Allied to the English — Destruction of the Pequots — An Era of Peace and Prosperity — Militia Companies formed in the Valley — Construction of Fortified Houses — Fort Pynchon — Events preceding King Philip's War — The Outbreak — Nipmuck Treachery at Brookfield. The War in the Connecticut Valley — Burning of Springfield — Westfield twice Attacked — The Affair at Longmeadow — Decisive Action by the Colonies — Indians Driven from the Valley — Death of King Philip— End of the War 38

Chapter VI Colonial Wars

From the close of King Phillip's War to the End of the French Dominion — Indians ask to be Restored to their Former Possessions in the Connecticut Valley — King William's War — Indian Depredations of the Frontier — Queen Anne's War — Treaty of Utrecht — Trouble with the Abenaquis — Father Rasle and Woronoak — War again Declared Between England and France — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — War Resumed — The Hampshire County Regiment at Lake George — Troops Assembled at Springfield — End of the War — Treaty of Paris 57

Chapter X Chapter Xt Hampden County Civil List 124

CONrENTS xiii

CHAPTER XTI INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 152

CHAPTER XIII INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS— RAILROADS 175

CHAPTER XIV CONNECTICUT RIVER NAVIGATION 188

CHAPTER XV HAMPDEN COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1861-1865 198

CHAPTER XVI

EDUCATION IN HAMPDEN COUNTY 232

CHAPTER XVII

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WESTFIELD 264

CHAPTER XVIII

THE HAMPDEN BENCH AND BAR 293

CHAPTER XIX THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 338

CHAPTER XX THE DENTAL PROFESSION 390

CHAPTER XXI

THE PRESS OF HAMPDEN COUNTY— ITS HISTORY AND

DEVELOPMENT 416

CHAPTER XXII FREE MASONRY AND ODD FELLOWSHIP 464

CHAPTER XXIII

AGRICULTURE OF HAMPDEN COUNTY 499

Illustrations

Four Pynchon 42

A Relic of the Revolution 80

Entrance to U. S. Armory Grounds 82

United States Watershops 84

Outline Map of Hampden County 107

The First Court House 113

Court Square, Springfield 118

The Second Court House 120

Hampden County Court House 122

The Boston Stone 153

Boston and Albany Stage Coach 160

Old South Holy'Oke Ferry 162

The Old Toll Bridge 167

Chicopee Bridge 169

Willimansett Bridge 172

Old B. & A. Crossing, Looking North 176

Old B. & A. Crossing, Looking South 179

The Arch. B. & A. Crossing 182

A Connecticut Ri\'er View 193

Brig.-Gen. Horace C. Lee, Portrait 227

First Normal School Building, 1846 276

Normal School Building. 1860 281

Normal School Building, 1869 284

Present Normal School Building 287

Chief Justice Reiben Atwatf.r Chapman, Portrait 307

George Ashmux, Portrait 315

Oliver B. Morris, Portrait 317

William B. Calhoun, Portrait 319

William G. Bates, Portrait 321

X vi IL L ( WFRA TIONS

Col. William S. Shurtlekf, Portrait 326

Gov. George D. Robinson, Portrait 330

Dr. William Tully, Portrait 353

Dr. Thaddeus K. DeWolf, Portrait 366

Dr. Henry R. Vaille, Portrait 368

Dr. George W. Swazey, Portrait 383

Flavius Searle, D. D. S., Portrait 397

First Home of Springfield Republican 426

Samuel Bowles, Portrait 429

JosiAH Gilbert Holland, Portrait 431

Clark W. Bryan, Portrait 436

Henry M. Burt, Portrait 440

Phineas L. Buell, Portrait 447

Daniel Reynolds, Portrait 478

George W. Ray, Portrait 480

El.Il'HALET TRASK. PORTRAIT 486

Chapter I Geology Of Hampden County By William Orr

Any consideration of the geography of Hampden county must give a large place to the marked physiographic differences between the highland and lowland areas. In Hampden county the valley of the Connecticut has an average width of fifteen miles. The valley is bounded on east and west by steep escarpments, the boundaries of an upland plateau with an elevation of eight hundred to nine hundred feet above the valley floor and of twelve hundred feet above the sea.

Very striking are the contrasts between the highlands and the lowlands. In the valley there is formed a deep, rich, alluvial soil, which gives a basis for a prosperous farming industry. The ground is level and easily tilled. In some parts of the Ioavland there is an accumulation of sand and gravel, and on these tracts cultivation is restricted to pasturage and forest growth. The streams in the lowland are of slow current and meandering course. By reason of the large volume of water, these streams are important sources of power, where there is any fall in their channel. Communication is easy between the valley towns. As a result of these physiographic conditions, the important centers of commerce, manufactures, and, in a large measure, of agriculture, are found in the valley lowland. A survey of the history of Hampden county will show that Springfield, in the geographical center of the valley, was the first settlement, and next in order came the cluster of towns and cities that noAV surround Springfield. The hill towns were settled at later dates.

The upland country may be described in general terms as a dissected plateau. On the west it extends from the border of the

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Connecticut valley to the hills of the Berkshires. The elevation is from one thousand to twelve hundred feet above the sea. Alluvial soil is found occasionally in places, where the material carried down the hillsides by rain accumulates. Where the forest growth has prevailed for a long time there is formed a thick layer of vegetable mould, that constitutes a valuable soil. In the open country the soil is variable in quality, but does not as a rule approach the high grade alluvium of the valley. Unremitting industry and careful attention to detail are needed to win success in farming. The valleys are canyon-like in character, with steep sides and with slight development of river or flood plains. Bowlders, large and small, fill up the beds of the streams and mountain brooks and heighten the picturesque quality of the region. The channel slopes are steep, often abrupt, and valuable water powers abound. The main highways follow the larger valleys, while to reach the higher levels one must struggle up the hard and severe grades of the mountain roads.

A way for the principal railroad of the region, the Boston and Albany, has been provided by the valley of the Westfield river. It is by this valley that communication is established from the Connecticut river lowlands to the valley of the Housatonic. The drainage system has not been perfectly developed by reason of the comparative youth of the main rivers and their tributaries. As a result there are considerable areas of bogs and swamps on certain of the upland plateaus. But little connection can be traced between the character and structure of the rocks and the erosion of the region. The valleys are for the most part transverse and the general trend of the drainage is towards the southeast. A somewhat important longitudinal valley is that which extends northward from Huntington, but this is situated for the most part in Hampshire county.

The western highlands contain valuable deposits of minerals and extensive quarries of building stone. A most noted mineral is the emery found at Chester. Kaolin, quartz, felspar and soapstone are found in Blandford. At Mundale in the town of Westfield a quarry of a verd antique marble has been opened, and is yielding an ornamental stone of excellent quality.

The pursuits of the people on the uplands are in the main agriculture, including grazing, lumbering and general farming. There are a number of small factories located on the streams where water power is found. The development of mineral resources is another industry of importance. In the summer time the hill country is a favorite resort for city people, by reason of the clear, cool air, pure water, and attractive scenery.

Eastward of the Connecticut valley is another plateau region that extends into Worcester county. This plateau is in most respects like that to the westward. The elevation is not so great and the plan of the valley systems is in some respects much simpler. The main drainage channel is the Chicopee river, which corresponds to the Westfield river in the western plateau. There is a finely developed longitudinal valley, which follows the course of Swift river and is continued through Palmer and Monson. An accumulation of glacial material at Palmer has caused a diversion of the Swift river to the west, but the valley opens southward to the waters of the Willimantic river.

Along the valley of the Chicopee river run the tracks of the Boston and Albany railway, and this road constitutes the main avenue of communication with the east. In the longitudinal valley of Palmer and jMonson, way has been found for the New London Northern railroad. The eastern plateau is more accessible and less rugged in character than the western, and settlements are larger and manufacturing developed on a more important scale. There are several towns of large size, as Palmer and Monson. Many of the towns possess extensive water power and good railroad facilities. Farming suffers from the dil!iculties of a rocky country, where the ground abounds in stones and bowlders, and the soil is only moderately fertile. Extensive quarries are at Monson, where a high grade of building stone, known as Monson granite, is found.

It will be clear from this sketch of the general features of Hampden county that its physical geography and geology may be discussed in relation to three comparatively distinct districts ; the western highlands, the valley lowlands, and the eastern highlands. This paper will deal with the present conditions and with

OIR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

the processes by which this development of the region has been attained.

The underlying rocks of the western highlands consist of ancient crystalline schists, quartzites, gneiss with beds of amphibolite, serpentine, emery and magnetite. The older formations are to the westward, Avhere on the borders of the county there are fonnd exposures of the Becket gneiss. This rock is now regarded as Lower Cambrian in age. In the township of Tolland the Becket gneiss is wrapped around a rock of still earlier age— the Washington gneiss. The latter formation is pre-Cambrian, or Algonkian.

The Washington gneiss is rusty in color, by reason of the decomposition of its iron bearing minerals, as hornblende and pyrrhotite. It is composed in the main of quartz and biotite mica. Graphite is found in all the exposures and a blue quartz, which often gives the rock a beautiful color. In the town of Washington there is a graphite mine in this rock. The rock may be studied to advantage on the line of the railroad from Becket east towards the Middlefield line. The change to the Becket gneiss may also be seen at this point. The Becket gneiss is light grey in color, fine grained and composed of but few minerals. The gray color is caused by the biotite mica, as the felspar and quartz are colorless. Some of the Becket gneiss is a coarse conglomerate, other exposures are thin-fissile, while again it is a fine grained granitoid-gneiss— a most excellent quarry stone. It is quarried at Middlefield and in Becket and is suitable for construction and monumental work. On the east side of the Connecticut river, the Monson gneiss is the correlative of the Becket gneiss.

The Lower Silurian rocks of the western uplands are the Hoosac schist, the Kowe schist, the Chester amphibolites with emery and serpentine, the Savoy schist and the Hawley schist. Exposures of all these rocks may be found in the western part of Chester. The oldest rock of these formations— the Hoosac schist — is hydrated and is greasy in feeling, and in some cases contains garnets. There are two kinds of mica, muscovite and biotite, and the quartz grains are often cemented by crystals of albite. It is technically known as an albitic-sericite schist.

The Rowe schist may be seen to good advantage on the Chester-Becket road westward from Chester. It is a coarse, sericitic schist, soft and greasy, and often is quartzose in character and of firm texture. Professor Emerson estimates that the thickness of this rock series is about seven thousand feet.

In connection with the valuable emery deposits at Chester there are found beds of amphibolite and of serpentine. The amphibolite is a dark green rock, and has on its eastern border extensive deposits of serpentine and soapstone or steatite. The emery and magnetite of Chester are closely associated with the hornblende schist or amphibolite, while in Blandford, Osborn's soapstone quarry is found in the same connection.

The Chester emery bed was first worked as a magnetite deposit, but in 186-4 it was found that emery occurred in connection with the magnetite, and since that time a great amount of the ore has been obtained. Emery is of great value in the mechanical arts, because of its hardness and abrasive qualities. The Chester emery is of excellent quality.

After the band of Chester amphibolite, there comes next in order the Savoy schist. In Chester this formation is from one to two miles wide, but in Blandford and Russell it reaches a breadth of seven miles. It is a muscovite schist, with hydrated mica. It is light grey in color, and is soapy in feeling. The Hawley schist — the uppermost member of the lower Silurian series, is scarcely represented in Hampden county. It is a sericitic schist and in the northern part of the state contains beds of iron and manganese ores.

Under the head of upper Silurian rocks, there are placed the Goshen and Conway schists. The Goshen schist is found in Chester and Russell. The rock is dark colored by reason of graphite, and contains garnets. The Conway schists are much corrugated, and are called spangled schists, from the fact that the crystals of biotite mica show shining cleavage surfaces on a section across the grain of the rock. Beds of this rock occur in the northeast part of the town of ]\Iontgomery. Along the eastern border of the upland area there are found outcrops of an igneous rock of carboniferous age. It is known as the Williams-

OlE COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

burg granite. This rock is a coarse musoovite-biotite granite. A great miishrooni-like mass of this rock can be seen on Mount Tekoa in JNIontgomery. The rounded dome of granite can be seen in sharp contrast with the darker schists.

The Devonian period is not represented by any rocks in the area of Hampden county and there are no deposits of cretaceous age.

All the rocks of the western highlands are much altered by heat, pressure and chemical action from their original condition. The old layers have been either changed in direction by folding or else entirely destroyed and their place taken by a cleavage structure. The dip of the strata is nearly vertical, while the direction in which the strata run is approximately north and south. All the rocks of the highland country are of a much greater age than those of the valley lowland.

The eastern highlands present a similar succession of formations as those just described for the western hill country. In some eases the rock characters are not exactly the same as in the corresponding formation on the west of the river. There is, moreover, a certain parallelism of strata that is worthy of note, and a close relation between erosion and the nature of the underlying rock. On the hillside above the village of AVilbraham there is found a good example of Conway schist. This formation extends from the state line to a point about two miles north of the Chicopee river in Ludlow. The rock is coarse, light gray, and abounds in muscovite. As a result of the pressure along the eastern edge of the valley, the rock is crumpled and silicified. Along the crest of Wilbraham mountain there are found numerous bands of hornblende, of the same age as the Chester amphibolite. This hornblende is fissile and splits into thin layers. The surface shows a black, satiny appearance by reason of the interlacing needles of hornblende crystals. A small outcrop of Savoy schist is found in the south part of the town of Hampden. It is known as whetstone schist, and is a gray rock of granular structure, abounding in quartzite. To the east of the schist of Wilbraham the country rock for a distance of six miles is composed of the Becket gneiss, locally known as the Monson granite.

Then comes a succession of several formations, each represented by long narrow outcrops. By reason of the upfolding of the rocks and subsequent erosion, the succession of strata from west to east is as follows: Chester amphibolite. Savoy schist, and Conway schist as the center of the series; then in reverse order, Savoy schist, Chester amphibolite and Rowe schist. The rock which constitutes the bottom and sides of the valley from Palmer through Monson is composed of the "Monson granite"— the equivalent of the Becket gneiss, and it is in this outcrop that the well known quarries are located. The stone found at this point is of excellent quality and has been used in the construction of many noted buildings. The traveller who goes eastward from the INlonson rock passes in order over Chester amphibolite, the Brimfield schist, an equivalent of the Conway schist, the Savoy schist, and then over another series of out-crops of the Brimfield schist. In connection with the Monson granite there are several dikes of an intrusive black trap rock of igneous origin, while in Brimfield there is found the Coy's Hill granitite, a coarse porphyritic biotite granite. Another igneous rock of carboniferous age is the Belchertown tonalite, a great block of which is thrust over the boundary line of Ludlow and Palmer. Tonalite is a granitoid rock, containing quartz, plagioclase, felspar and hornblende.

In character, dip, strike and structure, the rocks of the eastern highlands bear a close resemblance to those of the west, and a close correlation has been established between the two. Both series have been subject to similar agencies, physical and chemical, and the original rock materials have been subjected to like metamorphosis.

In the valley lowland, rocks of a much more recent formation than those of the hills are found. The layers are but little changed from a horizontal position, and the amount of folding and crushing has been very slight. All the rocks can be classified as sandstone, though there are differences in composition and structure that make possible rough distinctions. The rock on the eastern and western borders is known as the Sugar Loaf sandstone. It is coarse in structure, and abounds in felspar, and is composed of angular granite debris cemented together. Outside of this deposit there occurs in Wilbraham and Hampden a portion of the Mt. Toby conglomerate, where the rock is composed of very coarse angular fragments of slate. Adjoining the area of Sugar Loaf sandstone, is found the Longmeadow sandstone, a reddish brown stone, very fine grained. This rock often shows the imprint of tracks of ancient animals, mud cracks, ripple marks and rain drops. The central part of the valley is occupied by the Chicopee shale, which is very fine grained, red and black in color, and composed of sand and clay.

As a result of earth movements the layers of sandstone have been slightly displaced. The tilting has given the formation a slight dip towards the east. This direction may be easily seen where the upper surfaces of ledges are exposed, as in the quarries at East Longmeadow and also on the banks of the Chicopee river. This sandstone extends from near the north line of the state to the shores of Long Island sound. It proves an excellent building stone, and there are extensive quarries at East Longmeadow. Data obtained from borings for artesian wells and from other sources indicate that the entire deposit of sandstone is from three thousand to ten thousand feet in thickness. In certain localities the layers of sandstone show interesting traces of the ancient life of the region. Slabs have been found with the imprints of the feet of animals that were probably akin to the reptiles and amphibians of the present day. In other cases there are the traces of insects, impressions by waves and ripples, mud cracks caused by the drying of the deposits, and rain drop impressions made by passing showers on the plastic material. Edward Hitchcock, professor of geology in Amherst college, and afterwards president of that institution, made an extensive collection of those impressions and embodied the results of his investigation in his Report on Ichnology, published in 1858.

While the general surface of the valley is level, there is one notable exception to this iTile in the ridge of hills associated with Mounts Tom and Holyoke. In Hampden county these ridges pass through the western part of Holyoke, AVest Springfield and Agawam. The structure can be well studied on the line of the

Boston and Albany railroad between Mittineague and Westfield. Two distinct ridges may be seen. There is a cutting through the eastern and lower ridge just west of the station of Tatham. The rock is igneous in origin and is known as the Holyoke diabase. It is dark gray in color, compact and crystalline. A columnar structure is apparent at places, and there is no evidence of bedding. Some of the rock is porous and spongy in character and often the cavities are filled with quartz and calcite. At the west end of the cutting the trap diabase will be seen resting on the upper surface of sandstone. Some three-quarters of a mile to the west is another and higher ridge of the trap rock. In this there has been opened a large quarry. The rock is valuable as a material for macadamizing roads. In the walls of the quarry the columnar arrangement of the material is well developed. These two ridges are the result of successive outflows of lava, during the period of the deposition of the sandstone. In all probability the lava flowed over the muddy bottom of the estuary and was then covered by additional layers of mud and sand. These in time hardened into stone and then there was a second and smaller flow of lava. This in turn was covered by sandstone. As a result of the tilting and faulting of the region, and etching out by subsequent erosion, the trap ridges now stand out in bold relief above the floor of sandstone. On the southern slopes of Mount Tom and ]\Iount Holyoke there are remains of distinct volcanic action; beds of tufa, and lava plugs, the remains of ancient volcanos have been mapped by the students of the geology of the region.

It must be understood that the rock formations as described in this paper are the foundation for surface materials as soil, sand, gravel and clay. Throughout the upland country these superficial deposits can be traced very directly to glacier action. They consist of coarse sand and gravels, and there is no evidence of stratification, nor sorting of the bowlders or pebbles. The rock fragments are not rounded or polished, but are in form sub-angular. Often the fields and pasture land are covered with great bowlders. The ledges of the country rock are in many places smoothed and scratched by the action of the moving ice sheets.

In the valleys, great masses of this glacial debris have been washed down by streams and by heavy rains. The thickness of the glacial deposit or drift varies with localities. It is sometimes piled np in rounded hills, known as drumlins, and again occurs as long ridges of gravel— called esker. McCarthy's hill in East Longmeadow is a good example of a drumlin, while a fine esker is to be seen in INIonson, east of the village and near the line of railroad.

Under the surface drift there is found, more particularly in the wider valleys, a compact deposit of unstratified clays, sands, and rock fragments, known as bowlder clay or till. In the broad valley of the Connecticut, the action of river and lake have largely rearranged the glacial material. At the close of the ice age extensive lake systems were formed and out of these there were washed by rivers deposits of stratified clays and sands, as delta formations. It is on such a delta that Springfield is situated. The fertile and alluvial meadows are the result of river action in shaping and molding the materials deposited in the glacial lakes.

In studyingthe geological evolution of the region of Hampden county, attention must be first paid to the problem of the upland country. Originally the materials of the rocks of this country must have been deposited as sands, clays and limestone in waters of sea, bay, or ocean. Then by pressure these deposits were folded and faulted until mountains of considerable height wereformed. But as soon as the rock materials were exposed to the action of air and water, those latter agents began their work of leveling down the country. In time this process of denudation reduced the region to a base level, near sea level, and there was thus produced a peneplain of denudation. This peneplain is supposed to have been the result of atmospheric agencies, rather than of wave or sea action.

After reduction to near sea level, the region was raised again, and as a result of this elevation and tilting the streams were once again given a definite slope, and then work of erosion Avas resumed. The comparatively even sky line of the hill country is an evidence of the peneplain, while the deep, narrow valleys and the frequent rapids and cataracts in the streams show that the drainage system is of recent and imperfect development. For the same reason, the brooks and rivers abound in water power facilities.

The Connecticut valley is much different in topographical features from the valleys in the upland country. It presents evidences of mature development in its broad river plain, and itsgently sloping sides. It has none of the canyon-like character of the valley of the Westfield river. The explanation of these differences, however, is not so much one of age as of the conditions of rock and structure.

At some time, long before the development of the peneplain^ the area of the valley lowland Avas subjected to a marked depression in level. As a result, the waters of the sea covered the crystalline rocks and a broad, shallow estuary was formed. In this estuary deposits of mud and sand were made. These deposits were coarsest along the eastern and Avestern slopes of the bay,, where the currents and tides were strongest, and these materials Avhen consolidated formed the present Sugar Loaf sandstone and Mt. Toby conglomerate. Towards the center of the basin finer materials were laid down and became in time the Longmeadow sandstone and Chicopee shale. In such an estuary the tides are very high and when there was low water, extensive mud and sand flats Avere exposed. There was thus given an opportunity for impressions of various kinds to be made on the fresh surface. As the mud dried and hardened these Avere preserved under the layer of deposit made by the Avaters Avhen the mud banks Avere next covered. The completed result Avas a very deep bed of sandstone rock.

In connection Avith the deposit of sandstone came the period of volcanic aetiA'ity, AA'hich gaA^e rise to the ridges of Mounts Tom and Holyoke. These trap ridges extend to Long Island sound, and constitute a most striking feature of the A^alley scenery. The outfloAV of trap occurred from certain fissures in the muddy bottom of the estuary. When the first and greatest floAA' occurred, the trap rolled sloAvly AvestAvard under the Avaters of the estuary and then cooled and hardened. INIore sandstone Avas deposited and then came a second flow, the material for the lesser ridge. The deposit of sandstone ceased with the general uplifting and tilting of the region and a period of erosion began.

Under this process the sandstones yielded rapidly because of their loose structure and lack of power to resist the weather. The trap and the older crystalline rocks yielded but slowly to the erosive agencies, and so the general level of the Connecticut valley was cut down below that of the rocks to the east and west. The trap ridges also resisted the erosion and so gained a clear relief against the level of the sandstone.

At a much later period there came a change in climate and arctic conditions prevailed in New England. Snow and ice accumulated until the country was covered with a glacier mass, like that which at present rests on Greenland. This ice mass moved in a general southerly direction in the Connecticut valley. It continued the work of erosion and scratched, scarred, smoothed or crumbled into fragments the rocks over which it passed. The drift material left by the glacier is found widely distributed over the face of the country. Bowlders and pebbles with the marks of glacial action abound, and often the ledges from which these bowlders were torn are many miles to the northward.