CELEBRATIOlsr 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INCORPORATION OF CONWAY, 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 INCLUDING A 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY REV. CHARLES B. RICE, 
 
 OF DANVEKS, MASS., 
 
 POEM BY HARVEY RICE, ESQ., 
 
 , OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, 
 
 ORATION BY WILLIAM ROWLAND, ESQ., 
 
 OF LYNN, MASS., 
 
 AND THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE OCCASION. 
 
 NORTHAMPTON: ^^ " 
 
 BRIDGMAN & CHILDS, PUBLISHERS. 
 1867. 
 
 rr 
 
 '"^■^ 
 
NORTHAMPTON : 
 
 TRUMBULL & GERE, STEAM PRINTERS. 
 
CONWAY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 The first settlement in the town of Conway was made October 
 20th, 1162. It was proposed in 1862 to celebrate the 100th an- 
 niversary of that event by appropriate exercises ; but the criti- 
 cal condition of the country at that time, and the absence of so 
 many of our young men as were then in the army, sustaining the 
 nation against a rebellion which threatened her life, caused many 
 of our citizens to feel disinclined to engage in such a celebra- 
 tion then. The town was incorporated June 16th, 1767, nearly 
 five years after its settlement. When the 100th anniversary of 
 this last event drew near, the state of things was greatly chang- 
 ed. The great Eebellion had been suppressed, peace was re- 
 stored, and prosperity smiled around us. Measures therefore 
 were seasonably taken for a public celebration to be held in June 
 1867. 
 
 The first action of the town on this subject was on the 6th of 
 November, 1866, when the following votes were passed : 
 
 Voted, To take measures for a centennial celebration of the in- 
 corporation of the town. 
 
 Voted, To appoint a Committee to make the necessary arrange- 
 ments for such a celebration. 
 
 The following gentlemen were chosen to constitute that Com- 
 mittee, viz : 
 
 Thomas L. Allis, Consider Arms, John Clary, Asa Howland, 
 l^avid C. Rogers, Alvm Dinsmore, Elijah Arms, Charles B Mer- 
 ritt, B A Andrews, Consider Field, Earl Guilford, Edwin Cooley, 
 John Bradford, Richard Tucker, Austin Rice, E. D. Hamilton, 
 Ihos. b. Dickinson, Wm. C. Campbell, R. A Coffin, Charles Par- 
 sons Wm. T. Clapp, Wm. A. Howland, and Chelsea Cook. 23 
 in all. 
 
 At a Town Meeting held March 4th, 1867, it was voted to ap- 
 propriate the sum of 600 dollars to defray the expenses of the 
 celebration. 
 
The first meeting of the Centennial Committee was held, purstl" 
 ant to a call from the Chairman, T. L, Allis, at the Town Hall, on 
 Tuesday, Nov. 13th, 1866. David C. Rogers was chosen Secre- 
 tary. It was then voted : 
 
 That Rev. Charles B. Rice, of Danvers Centre, Mass. be invit- 
 ed to deliver a historical address at the approaching anniversary 
 of the incorporation of the town. 
 
 That William Howland, Esq. of Lynn, Mass., be invited to 
 deliver an Oration. 
 
 That Hon. Harvey Rice, of Cleveland, Ohio, be invited to de- 
 liver a Poem. 
 
 These gentlemen are all natives of Conway. 
 
 Voted, That the Secretary notify the above named gentlemen 
 of the action of this Committee in respect to them. At a subse- 
 quent meeting it was announced, that letters had been received 
 from them, signifying their acceptance of their respective appoint- 
 ments. 
 
 The Centennial Committee held frequent meetings during the 
 Winter and Spring, and in order to facilitate their own action, 
 appointed the following sub-committees at different times. 
 
 On method of mviting guests. — R. A. CoflSn, E. D. Hamilton, 
 Austin Rice, W. C. Campbell, Richard Tucker, D. C. Rogers, 
 andT. S. Dickinson. 
 
 On selection of guests to be invited by the Committee. — D. C. 
 Rogers, E. D. Hamilton, T. L. Allis, Charles B. Merritt, Wm. T. 
 Clapp and Charles Parsons. 
 
 On Entertainment for the Celebration. — Charles Parsons, Rich- 
 ard Tucker, Thomas S. Dickinson, E. D. Hamilton, and D. C, 
 Rogers. 
 
 On Centennial Dinner, and place of holding the Celebration. — 
 Charles Parsons, Richard Tucker, Edwin Cooley, Wm. T. Clapp, 
 and E. D. Hamilton. 
 
 On Finance. — E. D. Hamilton, W. C. Campbell, Charles Par- 
 sons. 
 
 On Printing Circulars of Invitation. — D. C, Rogers, R. A. 
 Coffin. 
 
 Committee to invite former residents of the town who have no 
 relatives now living here. — Asa Howland, John Clary, H. W. 
 Billings. 
 
 On Original Odes. — R. A. Coffin. 
 
 On Lumber, for Tables, Seats, (£c.—T. L. Allis, W. C. Camp- 
 bell, Alvin Dinsmore, Consider Arms, Consider Field, Charles 
 
€in Singing, — H. W. Billings. 
 
 On Sentiments to he offered after the Dinner. — E. A, Coffin, D, 
 C. Rogers, E, D. Hamilton, Abner Forbes. 
 
 On Order of Exercises for the Celebration, — Richard Tucker, 
 Charles Parsons, R. A, Coffin. 
 
 On Decorations. — E. D. Hamilton, Asa Howland, Wm. T. 
 Clapp. 
 
 To carry into effect the report of the Committee on Decorations, 
 — Lucius Smith, Harvey Townsend, Henry Stearns, D. F. Ham- 
 ilton, Charles Parsons, Jr., George W. Flagg, George Rogers, 
 H. W. Billings, and Elijah Arms. 
 
 As the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town 
 would occur on Sunday, it was 
 
 Voted, That the Celebration take place on Wednesday, the 
 19th of June. 
 
 The following votes were also passed at different times : 
 
 That the Secretary be requested to correspond with such cler- 
 gymen as are natives of the town, or have been settled therein, 
 asking their attendance at the Celebration, 
 
 That the general subject of invitation be left with each family, 
 to invite and entertain such persons as they may choose, and that 
 a Committee of 6 be chosen to invite such persons as they may 
 judge expedient, who have no relatives here. 
 
 That the Committee on the Centennial Dinner, be directed to 
 confer with Amos Stetson with reference to his providing a Din- 
 ner for the Celebration. 
 
 That the same Committee be instructed to find how many tick- 
 ets for the Dinner can be sold, or guaranteed by the citizens of 
 the town. 
 
 That the Committee on Finance be authorized to draw on the 
 Town Treasurer, from time to time, for such funds as may be 
 needed from the sum appropriated by the Town for the Celebra- 
 tion. 
 
 That a Tent be procured for the accommodation of those who 
 partake of the Centennial Dinner. 
 
 That the services of the Shelburne Falls Cornet Band be pro- 
 cured for the occasion. 
 
 That the Committee on Music be directed to procure such 
 martial music as they shall deem expedient in addition to the 
 Band, and that Amos Stetson be added to said Committee for 
 that purpose. 
 
That the Committee on Order of Exercises procure the print' 
 ing of 2,000 copies of the same for distribution. 
 
 That D. C. Eogers be appointed President of the Day. 
 
 That Thomas S. Dickinson be Marshal of the Day, with power 
 to appoint such assistants as he may choose. 
 
 That the Fire Company be requested to act as Escort for the 
 procession. 
 
 That the order of the procession be left to the President of the 
 Day, and the Marshal. 
 
 The Marshal appointed the following persons as his assist- 
 ants : — 
 
 Wm. T. Clapp, Lansford Batchelder, Gorham Hamilton, Alph- 
 eus G. Bates, Edwin Cooley, T. L. Allis, Carlos Batchelder, Wil- 
 liam B. Fay, Ebenezer Ames, Jr., Lucian Eldridge, S. P. Sher- 
 man, Austin Drake, L. T. Brown, Gideon Jordan, Joseph C. 
 Wing, Nicholas L. Green, Wm. H. Kaulback. 
 
 The day of the celebration dawned very inauspiciously. Many 
 eyes watched with anxiety the dense clouds which covered the 
 morning sky, and which threatened greatly to mar, if not wholly 
 to destroy the pleasures of the day. But about 6 o'clock the 
 clouds began to disperse, and soon the sun shone out brightly. 
 The day proved to be one of the loveliest of our beautiful June 
 days. The previous rain had laid the dust, the air was pure and 
 exhilarating, the trees and the fields were arrayed in their richest 
 garb of verdure, and the beautiful grove in which the exercises 
 were held, seemed alive with a concert of bird melody. 
 
 At sunrise the bells were rung, and a salute was fired from a 
 cannon placed on Prospect Hill, near the village and overlooking 
 most of it. At Y o'clock, A. M. , a procession was formed, led by 
 the Greenfield Drum Corps, and consisting of a cavalcade of gen- 
 tlemen headed by the oldest male citizen of the town, Mr. Ama- 
 riah Thwing (90 years old,) and Gen. Asa Howland, now in his 
 80th year. Mr. Thwing was dressed in the old continental uni- 
 form, a fac-simile of that worn by Gen. Washington. Gen. How- 
 land wore the same chapeau, plume, and belt that he wore, while 
 commanding a division in 1825, and some subsequent years. 
 Both of these aged veterans rode erect and trim, and with a con- 
 fident, easy horsemanship, which would put to shame many of 
 
the riders belonging to the present degenerate generation. Fol- 
 lowing the cavalcade was a long vehicle, decorated with ever- 
 greens and drawn by two yoke of oxen. In this were a number 
 of men and women dressed in antique costume, who were busi- 
 ly engaged in various industrial employments, belonging to olden 
 times, such as breaking and swingling flax, carding and spinning 
 flax and wool, making ropes, &c., &c. This was followed by a 
 carriage with several girls in it, dressed in white, and employed 
 in different kinds of fancy work now fashionable. After this 
 came " the old one-horse sha," containing a couple dressed in 
 antique style, and next a gentleman and lady on horseback, the 
 lady seated on a pillion, and the gentleman carrying the baby. — 
 Lastly came a team, drawing an elm tree of considerable size. 
 The procession, after marching through the principal streets of 
 the village, repaired to the site of the first school-house erected 
 in town, about one-fourth of a mile south of the Congregational 
 church, and there, after a few appropriate remarks by Rev, 
 Charles B. Rice, the Selectmen set out the elm tree, which, it is 
 hoped, will live long enough to form a connecting link between 
 the first and the second centennial celebration of the town's in- 
 corporation." 
 
 At an early hour the stars and stripes were displayed at both 
 churches, and at various other points in the village. Over Main 
 street, near the Bank, hung a large flag, bearing on one side the 
 motto, " Our fallen heroes, in grateful remembrance, and our 
 living, we honor," and on the other side, " Our past glory em- 
 blem of future Faith." An evergreen arch spanned the bridge 
 near the Post OflSce, having on the east side the words, " Wel- 
 come Home," and on the west side, " Conway welcomes her 
 children." 
 
 At 9 o'clock, A. M., a procession was formed on the Green in 
 the eastern part of the village. This procession moved to Arms' 
 Grove, the place selected for the out-door exercises, in the fol- 
 lowing order, viz : 
 
 Chief Marshal. 
 
 Shelburne Falls Cornet Band. 
 
 Greenfield Drum Corps. 
 
 President and Speakers of the Day. 
 
 Clergy. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements, 
 
 Citizens and Strangers. 
 
8 
 
 The procession was escorted by the Conway Fire Department, 
 dressed in their appropriate and tasteful uniform. At the en- 
 trance to the lot leading to the grove, was an evergreen arch, 
 with the motto, " Gate to the Mysteries of a Century " on the 
 eastern side, and on the western side, " From the Past learn 
 Wisdom." At the entrance to the grove was another evergreen 
 arch, bearing the mottoes, " Love links the Ages " and " Honor 
 our Fathers." 
 
 The grove is a delightful place for such a gathering, being free 
 from underbrush, and with its trees sufficiently near each other 
 to make a pleasant shade, and sufficiently distant from each oth- 
 er to permit the growth of grass and flowers beneath them. The 
 land slopes to the east, and on the western border is a barrier of 
 rocks, 20 or 30 feet high, and nearly perpendicular. On the 
 eastern side a platform had been erected, with seats in front of it 
 extending up the slope, sufficient to accommodate over 2,000 
 persons. Over the platform the stars and stripes hung in beauti- 
 ful folds, and at the foot was an evergreen motto, " 1167, — Thus 
 far hath the Lord led us, — ISGT. 
 
 Every seat in the grove was soon filled, and a large number 
 were obliged to stand. It is estimated that more than 3,000 per- 
 sons were present. — The President of the Day, D. C. Rogers, 
 opened the services by calling on Rev, David Pease, the oldest 
 living ex-clergyman of Conway, to offer prayer. Mr. Pease not 
 having yet arrived, an appropriate and earnest prayer was offer- 
 ed by Rev. M. G. Wheeler, the next oldest ex-clergyman. A 
 brief introductory address was then made by the President of the 
 Day. The citizens of Conway, he said, have long wished to 
 have a family gathering of this kind. It was proposed in 1862, 
 but the troubles connected with the late war prevented the ac- 
 complishment of the design. We have now decided to celebrate 
 the hundredth anniversary of the birthday of our town, and have 
 accordingly invited all her sons and daughters to be present. 
 We are happy to see so many here, and extend to them all a cor- 
 dial welcome. Some, who went from us a few years ago to aid 
 in the defence of our common country, now lie buried in the sun- 
 ny south, and many hearts are sad at the thought that we shall 
 meet them no more on earth. Others have returned enfeebled 
 by disease, or shattered by wounds, to die at home, and we have 
 had the mournful pleasure of consigning their mortal remains to 
 the tomb in the midst of old friends and acquaintances. Others 
 
9 
 
 still have returned in safety, and now gladden many hearts by 
 their presence here. This day will long be remembered by us 
 We greet you all with a hearty welcome. 
 
 The following Ode, written by R. A. Coffin, A. M., was then 
 sung by the audience, accompanied by the Band : — 
 
 Children of Conway, far and near, 
 
 Tour mother calls you home : 
 From east and west, from north and south, 
 
 She bids her children come ; 
 And lo, responsive to her call, 
 
 Ye come from many a clime 
 To meet her smiles once more, and view 
 
 The scenes of oldentimes. 
 
 <!hobus.— We welcome you ! we welcome you ! 
 Our hearts and hands we join ; 
 God bless you all, as we recall 
 The days of " auld lang syne." 
 
 Te come from where the Atlantic surge 
 
 Beats on the sounding shore : 
 From where, o'er wild Niagara's verge, 
 
 The western waters pour. 
 And who can tell what varied thoughts 
 
 In different hearts hold sway. 
 As this expectant, gathering crowd. 
 
 Assembled here to-day. 
 
 Chorus. — We welcome you, &c. 
 
 Some, on whose brows the star of hope 
 
 Shines sweetly, brightly down. 
 And some who've drunk of sorrow's cup 
 
 And met her sternest frown ; 
 Some, like a ship by furious winds 
 
 And angry tempests driven, 
 And some who calmly wait the hour 
 
 Of peace and rest in heaven. 
 
 Chorus.— We welcome you ! &c. 
 
 The same proud hills around us rise, 
 
 The same bright waters flow. 
 As when our grandsires trod these fields 
 
 A hundred years ago ; 
 We'll tell the tales of other days, 
 
 We'll talk of years gone by. 
 And blend with many a sainted name 
 
 Hopes that will never die. 
 
 Chorus. —We welcome you, &c. 
 
10 
 
 We'll speak of those whose virtues shine 
 
 Far down the lapse of years, 
 Like stars, to guide our onvrard steps 
 
 To brighter, holier spheres ; 
 We'll bid the voice of fervent prayer 
 
 Rise, — with the thankful strain. 
 That all the blessings that we share 
 
 May not be shared in vain. 
 
 Chobus. — ^And thus on this centennial day 
 Our hearts and hands we join : 
 God bless us all, as we recall 
 The days of " auld lang syne." 
 
 Tliore was then delivered the following Historical Address, by 
 Charles B, Rice, of Conway, preacher in Danvers, Mass.: — 
 
MR. RICE'S ADDRESS. 
 
PKEFATORY NOTE. 
 
 Not more than half of what is here printed, was made use of on the day of the 
 public commemoration. But the form of the address has been preserved ; 
 and references to the place of assembly, are retained. 
 
 It is a matter of regret to the wi'iter of this sketch, that he has not been able 
 to prepare it in greater fullness. For its accuracy, as it is now put forth, he can 
 only say that he has endeavored to use faithfully all the materials of knowledge 
 that could be found. It is too much to hope that no errors have crept in. But 
 the reader will not, perhaps, set down at once as erroneous, every statement which 
 may at first appear so. 
 
 As to authorities, next to the Records of the town, the most valuable written 
 documents bearing on its history, are the half century sermon of Rev. John Emer- 
 son, preached in 1819, and a historical address delivered in 1845, by the late Capt. 
 Otis Childs, before an "Association of farmers and mechanics." The latter es- 
 pecially, is of very great value. And with the consent, and according indeed to 
 the wish of the respected author, often expressed to me, I have drawn from it 
 with freedom, as will appear, for the use of the present occasion. 
 
 Persons now Living, too numerous to mention, have also in various ways con- 
 tributed much. 
 
 I 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 The settlement of Conwaj was begun in 1T62. Most of 
 tlie adjoining towns were entered upon before that time. 
 Deerfield, which had then been occupied nearly one hundred 
 years, owed its early planting to the attraction of its rich 
 meadows, uncovered of forests and ready at once for cultiva- 
 tion. It was possible also there, and in the other meadow 
 towns, to establish settlements sufficiently compact to offer 
 some defense against the Indians. The savage war cry, ring- 
 ing through the valley for nearly all that hundred years, and, 
 but just then ceasing to be heard had kept back the peopling 
 of the hill country westward. And for the occupation of 
 some towns at the north and west at dates a little earlier than 
 that of Conway, it was due to the greater efforts of those 
 township proprietors to give value to the lands they owned by 
 establishing settlements upon them. 
 
 At the time of its settlement, this region now bearing the 
 name Conway, was included within the limits of Deerfield. 
 The first record we have relating to it occurs May 28, 1712. 
 At that time the general Court for the State, in answer to a 
 petition of Eev. John Williams, enlarged the territory of 
 Deerfield by allowing it to extend " nine miles westward in- 
 to the western woods." The nine miles were not wholly in 
 the new grant, but included the previous width of the town 
 from east to west. Before this, the west line of Deerfield 
 was what it is now. The territory thus conveyed was nearly 
 the same that is now embraced in Conway and Shelburne. 
 The southern portion of it came to be known as " South 
 West District," or ''South West;" and it was also some- 
 
14 
 
 times called "Deerfieldcominoris." Arrangements were made 
 in 1753 by the township proprietors lor the division ot the 
 district into lots, preparatory to its settlement. The survey 
 was made beginning on the western or Ashheld line ; and the 
 town appears at hrst to have been divided by tour parallel 
 "roads," stretching from JNorth to tSouth across its entire 
 length, into eight ranges, each 200 rods in width, which 
 ranges were to be sub-divided by jEast and W est lines, 
 l^othing came ol these "roads," which were laid out six 
 rods wide; and the w-hole survey underwent such readjust- 
 ments that the lots, as finally ottered tor sale, were 210 
 rods in length from Last to IVest, and 100 rods in width, con- 
 taining 150 acres. 
 
 There was much controversy with Huntstown, now Ashheld, 
 concerning the western boundary. Twice the Deertield and 
 Oonway men got the worst ot the matter in law, and were 
 compelled to di-aw in their lines. They never felt easily as to 
 the way this business was settled, and unquestionably we 
 ought to believe that tbey were wa'onged. The owners on 
 the West side who sulfered loss received compensation in oth- 
 er lands. It is observed by r'liny Arms, Esq., of Deerheld, 
 who touches on this point in his valuable Historical lecture, 
 that the Hoosac larm, now owned by Consider Arms was 
 probably acquired by his grandfather Consider in this way. 
 
 in December of the same year, 1753, appears the tirst sign 
 looking towards actual settlement in Conway, The proprie- 
 tors made a grant to J ohn Blackmore of ten acres of laud for 
 a mill spot " at a place just before the crotch of JSouth Kiver •" 
 there being a condition that he should build within tw^elve 
 months. But it can not be learned that John Blackmore pro- 
 ceeded any further with this enterprise. The j)lace itself 
 where he meant to build, any one tamiliar with the course 
 of South River and the force of prepositions may be compe- 
 tent now to discover. 
 
 In 1754 a county road was laid out across the District 
 from East to "West. This road, to which further reference 
 will be made, had respect at this time solely to the use of the 
 Huntstown settlers. It remained for years a mere path. 
 
IS 
 
 In 1763 it was voted by Deerfield to raise four pounds 
 " towards building a bridge over South Kiver, and making 
 the County road adjacent to the same." A rude bridge 
 was probably soon thrown across, and some work done on 
 the banks to make it accessible. 
 
 After South-west began to be peopled, we find that an al- 
 lowance was made for the schooling of the children M^ho lived 
 too far away to attend at the " Town Plat." 
 
 Early in 1767 the inhabitants had become numerous enough 
 to wish for a separate organization ; and they petitioned to 
 that effect. Deerfield agreed to the petition, and proposed 
 the boundries of the new town as follows : " East upon the 
 seven mile line, so called, until it comes to Deerfield River ; 
 West, upon Ashfleld bounds, or the west line of Deerfield ; 
 South, upon Hatfield bounds," (where Whately and Williams- 
 burg now are), " JSTorth, partly upon Deerfield line, until it 
 comes to the North-west Division, so-called ;" (that is, until 
 it strikes the Shelburne line,) " and thence by said North-west 
 Division until it comes to the West line of the town."* 
 
 On the lltJi of June in the same year Conway was incor- 
 porated by act of the General Court. It is this event the 
 hundredth anniversary of which we celebrate to-day.f 
 
 * The South line of North-west Division, or Shelburne, was not then as now on 
 the Deerfield river ; which, indeed might be inferred from the above record. It 
 was a straight line, crossing the river near Bardwell's Ferry, (some distance below 
 the new railroad bridge now building, and below the now projected County 
 bridge,) and passing westerly with a deviation to the South, over Bear river, 
 near Charles Macomber's, and South of Consider Field's to the Ashfleld line ; 
 embracing thus in Shelburne a section of Bloomshire and nearly all of Shirk- 
 shire. This territory was annexed to Conway by act of General Coui-t, Feb. 19th, 
 1781. The South bank of Deerfield river is now the north line of Conway. 
 A part of the North-west section was given to Buckland in 1838. 
 
 It may here be added that the notch on the South-eastern comer of the town 
 was made by the setting off from Deerfield of certain lots in 1791. 
 
 t -The date has been heretofore given erroneously June 16th. The act, though 
 "passed " the day before, did not receive the signature of the Governor and be- 
 come of force until the 17th. This error had not been discovered when the pre- 
 liminary arrangements for the celebration were made. And because June 16th 
 fell on Sunday, and for the convenience also of a day near the middle of the week, 
 Wednesday the 19th, was chosen. 
 
16 
 
 The town took its name from Gen. Henry Conway, then a 
 member of the British ministry, and popular in the Colonies 
 as having been government leader in the House of Commons 
 at the repeal of the Stamp Act. Gen. Conway was a 
 brave soldier, and a well meaning, though not an able states- 
 man. 
 
 The General Court had authorized Elijah Williams, " One 
 of His Majesties' justices of the peace for the County of 
 Hampshire," to issue his warrant " to some Principle Inhabi- 
 tant " of Conway, requiring him to warn the qualified voters 
 to meet for the choice of town officers. This warrant bears 
 date Aug. 8th, 1767 ; and is the first document appearing on 
 the records of the town. 
 
 The first town meeting tlius provided for was held on Mon- 
 day, Aug. 24tli, at the house" of Thomas French, Innholder. 
 The following is the list of the officers elected : Consider 
 Arms, Moderator and Town Clerk ; Cyrus Kice, Constable ; 
 Thomas French, Consider Arms, and Samuel Wells, Select- 
 men and Assessors ; Consider Arms, Town Treasurer ; Israel 
 Gates, Thomas French and Joel Baker Surveyors of Highways ; 
 David Parker, Tythingman ; Elisha Amsden, Warden ; Thom- 
 as French and Simeon Graves, Fence viewers ; Silas Pawson, 
 Scaler of Leather ; Ebenezer Allis, Sealer of Weights and 
 Measures ; Joseph Catlin and Joel Baker, Hog-reefs ; Cyrus 
 Rice, Deer-reef; James Gilmtre and Josiah Boyden, Hay- 
 wards ; David Parker and Ebenezer Allis, Surveyors of Lum- 
 ber. — The deer were soon gone from the forests, and the offi- 
 cial list has been otherwise somewhat changed, but since that 
 day the soil has never ceased to bring forth men willing to 
 fill these stations ; and the succession has not failed. 
 
 Having thus reached a spot where the town has an organi- 
 zation and a name, we may properly stop to gather up some 
 facts of interest with respect to its earliest inhabitants. 
 
 The town, as was to have been expected, was first occupied 
 upon its eastern border and within the district now known as 
 " East Side." Here, upon the slope of the hill looking to- 
 wards Deerfield, was the farm and dwelling house of Cyrus 
 
17 
 
 Rice, the first settler of Conway.* Mr. Rice was from Barre. 
 
 His house was upon the south side of an old and now unused 
 road that led from the vicinity of John Field's, past the place 
 lately occupied by Bradley Packard, to the present county 
 road a little distance above the old tavern stand long known 
 as the Hawley place. The first house was about twenty-five 
 rods southeast of the spot now marked by an ancient cellar 
 with bricks and rubbish, on which the family afterwards lived. 
 A mound of stones has lately been raised on the original site.f 
 Here, as already mentioned, occurred the fibrst death in our 
 town. Here also was born the first child of Conway — Beulah 
 Rice. The family had also sons ; one of them, Stephen, became 
 the father of the poet of this occasion, who is thus a lineal de- 
 scendant of the first man. 
 
 Other settlers soon followed. A half mile south of Mr. 
 Rice was Israel Gates (Barre):]; on a spot now occupied near 
 the house of Cephas May. Still southward was the first 
 
 * There is a conflict of authorities as to the time of his coming. Mr. Emerson 
 puts it in 1762. Capt. Childs makes it to have been in 1763. I was once led by 
 some indications to follow him, and fix upon in later years. It is upon my state- 
 ment to that eftect that Dr. Holland gives the date in his " History of Western 
 Massachusetts." But besides the weight due to the authority of the older witness, 
 there are facts incidentally mentioned by Mr. Emerson that seem decisive. He says 
 that the wife of Mr. Rice died soon after his coming to Conway, that she was bur- 
 ied in Deerfield, and that his daughter Beulah, was the child of a second wife . 
 Now Beulah is known to have been born Jan. 10, 1764. If, therefore Mr. Rice 
 was not in Conway previous to January of 1763, we must suppose, first, that he 
 moved here in the dead of winter ; and second that within the first quarter of that 
 year he went through, besides the removal itself, with the sickness, death and burial 
 of one wife and the courtship and mai-riage of another. Either of these supposi- 
 tions is too unlikely to be easily credited. 
 
 Since writing the above I have been shown a communication in the Conway 
 " Farmers' Register," giving the date Oct., 1762. This confirms the already well 
 settled conclusion. The probability is that Mr. Rice came early in 1762 ; cleared 
 land, planted crops and prepared a house, — brought his family in the fall, and Mrs. 
 Rice soon dying, married again in the following spring. 
 
 •f- Mr. Alonzo Rice of Deerfield, a grandson of Cyrus Rice, was able to point out 
 the exact spot ; contributing thus, as many others whose names can not be men- 
 tioned, have been forward to do, to the preservation of these ancient memories. 
 
 J The place from whence the settlers came, when known to me, will be given in 
 parenthesis. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 house of Josiah ^oyden (Grafton), a revolutionary soldier, and 
 probably the second man to come. His son David was the 
 first boy the town had. And a daughter Mary, born Aug. 
 24th 1767, — the day of the first town meeting, and afterwards 
 the wife of Medad Crittenden, is still living among us and is 
 the oldest inhabitant of Conway. Not far ofi* were John 
 Wing and Elijah May, neither of them of the very earliest; 
 and also, probably, David Parker. Half a mile west of Cyrus 
 Rice, where John Field now lives, was James Dickinson 
 (Somers). Northwest from him was John Bond (Grafton), 
 and farther on westerly, at the top of the hill, Jonas Rice 
 (Grafton), where his descendant Joel still lives. South of 
 Jonas Rice, on a road now closed, was John Boyden (Grafton), 
 a revolutionary soldier. And northwest again from James 
 Dickinson was Joseph Catlin(Deerfield), near by the present 
 Josiah Boyden's. In his barn Mr. Emerson preached his 
 first sermon. And here, still earlier were baptised at one 
 time seven infant children. 
 
 North of this eastern district, and where is now the great 
 elm he planted, and at the place now occupied by Madison 
 Stearns, lived Lieut. Robert Hamilton (Barre), long a soldier 
 in the Revolution,* Beyond, over the Hoosac hill, Consider 
 Arms owned the land and sent his son Henry later to live 
 upon it, where another Consider, grandson of the first, now 
 is. Northwestward was George Stearns, father of all the 
 Stearnses. Further on Dea. Caleb Rice, moving afterward to 
 the top of Arms' hill, and to Genesee ; and beyond him Silas 
 Rawson. And still westward, Dea. Joel Baker (Sunderland) 
 building soon, for Dennis Childs of the present time, what is 
 now the oldest and what was probably the first framed house 
 in Conway. Here is the oldest apple tree and the first tree 
 in the town to bear fruit, which oldest tree is also found in 
 other locations. South of Joel Baker, where Dexter Bartlett 
 now lives, was Adoniram Bartlett, father of many Bartletts and 
 authors of much wit ; moving afterwards to the east of Rob- 
 
 * Robert Hamilton planted his elms in 1770. One has long since fallen, struck 
 with the lightning. The tree still standing is now 18 feet in circumference, and 
 it spreads its branches over a circle of more than 100 feet in diameter. 
 
19 
 
 ert Hamilton. And next towards the center Dea. Jonathan 
 Root (Montague) and Daniel Stow, prominent but not early 
 settlers. Half a mile north, near Morris Brown's, was John 
 Thwing (Bristol, R. I.). Northwest from thence at John 
 Clary's, Benjamin Pulsifer soon lighted for a little before 
 his later settlement at the east side. A little below was Tim- 
 othy Thwing, son of John, planting apple trees for his own and 
 the Broomshire orchards on the place which the family still 
 keep. Amariah, son of Timothy, is with us to day, the old- 
 est man in our town, having his mind yet clear, and with his 
 natural force not spent. 
 
 Beyond the river, in Broomshire, was Israel Rice (Grafton), 
 where Austin Rice now lives, and northward in the order of 
 the present houses Timothy Rice (Grafton), Theophilas 
 Page (Conn.), Wm. Warren (Grafton), John Batchelder, on 
 the town farm, and a half mile beyond, where a cellar now 
 remains, Nathaniel Goddard (Grafton). East of Israel itice 
 were John Broderick and Michael Turpey (Ireland). And 
 southeast for a time, John Sherman (Shrewsbury), father of 
 Caleb and John, where John B. Stearns now lives. 
 
 Israel Rice and Wm. Warren were the first of these set- 
 tlers. Mr. Warren with the father of Mr. Rice .explored the 
 neighborhood and bought lands in 1762, the year of Cyrus 
 Rice's coming. Two years later William and Israel undertook 
 to visit their estates, but losing the former track up the Deer- 
 field and striking the sharp banks of the South River at or 
 below the point of Hoosac they could not cross and went back 
 disconcerted. The next jesn' they efl:ected a landing, cross- 
 ing near the present bridge, and prepared, Mr. Rice the 
 frame, Mr. Warren the logs, for a house. In 1766 they brought 
 their families. One hung sheets over his frame for his bed- 
 room, the other spread bark over his logs, whereupon it rained 
 twelve days. 
 
 Jumping over Broomshire hill to the north end of "West 
 street," we find Samuel Newhall (Leicester) where Joseph New- 
 hall now lives. South towards the four corners, David Harring- 
 ton, with his son Jason, a Revolutionary soldier. West by Wm. 
 Stearns, Jonathan Smith (his son living later by the Broom- 
 
20 
 
 shire ferry). Westward still over the hill, Dea. Caleb Allen, on 
 a fine slope that keeps his name ; and northwesterly James 
 Warren (on the Tobey place). Returning to the main road, 
 at the Harding place was Daniel Newhall (Leicester), popu- 
 larly called "Wig Newhall," revolutionary soldier, father of 
 the Daniel of stories and humorous memory, and of other 
 Daniels in long succession, though gone from Conway. 
 Westward again, Capt. Prince Tobey, and over the brow of 
 the hill, where Rodolphus Rice now lives, Jabez Newhall 
 (Leicester). South again on the main track from Daniel 
 Newhall were Horton, David Whitney, (Grafton or LTpton) 
 gone to be first settler of Phelps, IST. Y., and later, perhaps, 
 Benjamin Wells, where George Stearns now is. 
 
 Rising the hill by the old road, we pass on the left the 
 spot on which John Emerson built his house and set his elms 
 in 1770 : — we may find Abner Forbes, Esq., sitting under the 
 shadow of his trees. And if now we are tired or thirsty, the 
 house of Capt. Thomas French, "Innholder," is in sight upon 
 the flat, two thirds of the way up Arms' hill before us.'^ This 
 "Principle Inhabitant " of Conway walked to the Deerfield 
 line on his own land,t went into ofiice-holding beyond any 
 other man, wrote his name in great letters, " Test. Thomas 
 French " on the town book, fell into idleness, cheated the 
 Continental government in salt, took to the lawyers, forged, 
 sat in the pillory and died a vagabond. ]S"ot waiting with 
 him, we may look up if we can his brother Tertius ; and find 
 Nathaniel Field, not far, it is to be guessed, from the foot of 
 Arms' hill, west of the Baptist meeting house. Down on 
 " the Flat," uncertain where, we may search for Asa Merrit, 
 great-grandfather of Charles of West street. On the hill beyond, 
 northeast of Charles Parsons, we may call on Jonathan Whit- 
 ney, at the house, now gone, where town meetings were often 
 held. 
 
 *This house, as Samuel Flagg has it from his father, was afterward trundled 
 down the hill to a site a little northeast of the Baptist meeting house, where it 
 now stands, occupied by Morris Brown. 
 
 tTraditionally. 
 
21 
 
 Over all the land that can be seen from this point in every 
 direction, but especially, it may be guessed, on a site a little 
 to the east of Jonathan Whitney's, lives Caleb Sharp. He is 
 half negro and half "Indian, or something else," it is said, 
 which last statement may be rested in. He is a vigorous 
 man, a builder of saw mills and grist mills ; and has already 
 before or by the incorporation of the town, a grain mill 
 running where the mill now stands. With him will presently 
 appear his successor "Black Csesar*" (Caesar Wood), in later 
 times " Saxton and Grave Diger," who also, as the ancient 
 memories tell us, "did every sort of a thing." After him soon 
 is coming, third in the line, Asahel Wood, " respected by every 
 body old and young," and again, fourth in succession, Thomas 
 Cole, who will continue to the first centennial.f 
 
 Turning south, towards where the Congregational meeting- 
 house now stands, Aaron Howe will shoe our horses, or Major 
 James Davis, if we have not passed him before by the Baptist 
 meeting-house, and if wherever he is we can find his shop, 
 will tap our boots. — A questionable matter, for he is the man 
 whose newly put on sole Adoniram Bartlett lost from his 
 foot, "Carelessly," as he said, "because he took it from the 
 stirrup." If we wait a little this Davis will leave his shop for 
 the continental army. Still southward and west of the road 
 as we go into Pumpkin Hollow we pass the log houses of Joel 
 and Elias Dickinson, the latter the owner of the " center lot " 
 and living in Jabez Newhall's garden. Elijah Wells calls to 
 us from the western hill; by H. B. Childs, and Gersham 
 Farnsworth shortly on the other ear. But hastening out of 
 this swamp, the best part of which Jonas Eice would not take 
 at twenty cents an acre, though for the rest of his lot he gave 
 a dollar, and running up Field's Hill, we pass near the summit 
 Alexander Oliver, a Lieutenant in the army of the Eevolution, 
 
 *Two negroes bore then that great name. Another lived in Hoosac. It was 
 concerning him that the story has reached us how one of the Arms family being 
 inquired of respecting the authority his brother had in Hoosac, made answer that 
 "Henry had been Governor there ever since the death of Caesar." 
 
 t This is a derivation of energy and morals,— otherwise "Tom," was a fugitive 
 slave from New York- 
 
22 
 
 and Robert Oliver, and James Oliver, a tory refugee and one 
 of the three that the town furnished that went away with the 
 British. Under the hill south is Capt. James Look (Martha's 
 Vineyard, 1768). We may hurry as best we can through 
 Hardscrabble, by Elisha Clark on the west side, and by 
 Ebenezer AUis at the Fairfield place; and beyond at the 
 southeast we will halt at the always hospitable stand where 
 John Allis now lives by the home of his grandfather, Capt. 
 Lucius, (Soraers, Conn). Here if the Davis boots have failed 
 others may be borrowed, for Capt. Allis has a pair of fashiona- 
 ble ones, or rather the only pair in the district, which he 
 lends to his neighbors when they go a journey in style. 
 
 Capt. Allis was a principal inhabitant. Besides his boots 
 he had one of the only two carts that for twenty years were 
 known beyond Field's Hill. And over and above boots and 
 cart he had some public spirit. He bought, it is said, and 
 gave to the town the common by the old church. Withal he 
 rode at first seven miles, Sundays, to the Deerfield meeting, 
 horseback, with his wife, and with a child in the arms of each. 
 And with many other Conway men, he helped take Burgoyne. 
 
 A half mile southeast were Elijah Wells and Matthew and 
 Simeon Graves (Whately). And a like distance, more to the 
 north, James Gilmore, where Israel and Thomas L. Allis, of 
 the Capt. Lucius stock, now live. Still beyond, on the edge 
 of Whately, at the Foote place, Samuel Wells, where was a 
 hotel. Westward again a mile from Capt. Allis, and on the 
 present Whately road, was Amos Allen, " Capt. Barefoot." 
 He fought in the war of the revolution. He needed to borrow 
 no boots. He got his commission and his title coming from 
 the army over the Green Mountains with bare feet in four 
 inches of snow. 
 
 Passing west to Cricket Hill, we find Capt. Abel Dinsraore, 
 a revolutionary soldier, where his grandson, Alvan Dinsmore, 
 now lives. William Gates was his next neighbor at the north. 
 Southwest was Gideon Cooley. He brought his wife and all 
 his other goods on the back of a horse ; and the wife filled her 
 bed-tick with the leaves of the wood. Not far oflT was Nathan- 
 iel Marble, Going to the Northwest we pass the farm of Dea. 
 
23 
 
 John Avery (Dedham), now uninhabited, but stoutly occupied 
 for two generations, and reach the stand of Malachi Maynard 
 (Westboro), where his daughter Lucy and his son-in-law Ze- 
 lotes Bates now live. 
 
 The town had men on the hill in those days, and later, 
 Malachi Maynard was a genuine old Kew Englander and a 
 puritan, and a good specimen of both ; strong in body and 
 in mind resolute, independent, upright, religious, staying put 
 in his place. He had but six weeks schooling, was twenty-six 
 years town treasurer, figured in his head and figured right, 
 and settled right after he had figured. 
 
 South of Malachi Maynard Was Solomon Goodale. North- 
 ward was Samuel Crittenden, in 1772, father of Medad 
 Crittenden ; a name still kept among us by the memories it 
 brings of a life manifestly growing though all its long later 
 years into the likeness of the life that is to come. 
 
 Looking from Cricket Hill toward the Southwest at the 
 date of the Incorporation, there was probably no settler's 
 house to be seen. (Indeed it may not be quite certain that 
 there was one on the Hill itself at that time. Mr. May- 
 nard came in 17^8). Isaac Nelson may probably have been 
 the earliest. Richard Collins was where Hiram Collins now 
 lives as early as 1770. Solomon Hartwell (Dedham) was soon 
 planted north of John Bradford's. Also two brothers of 
 Malachi Maynard, Moses and Calvin: one south of John 
 Bradford, the other north of Edward Bradford. Ebenezer 
 Tolman was here in 1772. Twenty years later there were 
 farms still uncleared in the districts that have since become 
 " city." So late as that Shubael and John Bradford were first 
 occupants. Caleb Beals was early in Poland, north of the 
 Lucius Bond place. Also Jonathan Oakes upon the Chester 
 Wrisley place. And Ebenezer, another of the Maynards, 
 upon the Capt. Phillips' farm, with Reuben Hendricks hard 
 by him. And far northwest across the river, still a fifth May- 
 nard brother, Timothy, living but four years ago, ninety-nine 
 years old. 
 
 Coming down the valley we are near by at the house of Capt. 
 Consider Arms, (Deerfield) the opposite side of the road from 
 
24 
 
 the one now occupied by the Arms family. Consider Arras 
 was one of the earliest settlers in the limits of the town, one of 
 the greatest landowners, a leading public man, and everyway a 
 "principle inhabitant." 
 
 Passing again our grove and the Inn of Capt. French, and 
 over the Arms hill northwest, by the Goddard who brought 
 the boy, Eleazar Flagg, to the place where Samuel Flagg now 
 lives, and past the neighbors Stebbins, Whittemore, and 
 Woodward, all later comers, we go down upon the large farms 
 of Isaac and Elisha Amsden (Deerfield), now occupied by 
 Walter and Earl Guildford. Beyond them the settlement, 
 as at the southwest, was somewhat later, Solomon Field 
 (Surrey, W. H.) was of the first, in 1YY2 or 1773. He was the 
 man who killed the bear who gave his name to the river that 
 is called Bear River, His grandson. Consider, still keeps the 
 place, Near by him toward the south were Jesse Severance and 
 Zadac King, Toward the east Sylvanus Cobb (Deerfield) at 
 Charles Macomber's, and northward Samuel Wilder (Deer- 
 field), Aholiab Wilder, and farther on Wm, Halloway and 
 Seth Godfrey ; none of these last, perhaps, first settlers ; and 
 returning from the north school house, ISTathan Bacon, and 
 still later, though himself the son of an early inhabitant, where 
 Ryder had lived, in the center of the district and the central 
 man, Caleb Sherman. 
 
 There were doubtless some other early settlers whose names 
 are not here mentioned, but there can have been but few 
 such. On the other hand some of those whose names are 
 given, though for the most part the first occupants of their 
 farms, were relatively late in coming. Dividing the town 
 by a line from Broomshire through the center to the South 
 Part, the eastern half contains almost all that were on the 
 ground at the date of the incorporation. 
 
 The number of families was about fifty, and the whole 
 population, 'the households being then small did not much if 
 at all exceed two hundred. 
 
 These were the men, who, as Mr. Emerson writes, had come 
 in, " planted themselves down on new and unimproved spots 
 of land, and with small property but good resolution com- 
 
25 
 
 menced the arduous but honest and respectable business of 
 earning their bread by the sweat of their brow." They were, 
 with a few exceptions, very poor at their coming. They 
 were not well furnished with tools nor with animals for farm 
 work. Wm. Warren's apparatus consisted of one cow, one 
 axe, one hoe, one chain and one "bung-town copper," It was 
 usual to go to Deerfield or Hatfield to hire cattle for plowing, 
 or other team work. It was not for several years that a man 
 commonly owned either oxen or a horse. During this period 
 it was customary to carry grain to mill upon the back. One 
 bushel was the usual load. There are many accounts, howev- 
 er, of larger quantities having been carried from great distances. 
 Amos Allen (" Capt. Barefoot") brought two bushels of rye 
 from Hatfield, taking it but once from his shoulder, and that 
 at the mill where it was to be ground ; other acccounts 
 resolutely put it at three bushels. Malachi Maynard 
 also brought from Hatfield, in bags, nineteen shad and two 
 pigs, the pigs being of considerable size. He rested at mid- 
 night on the top of Popple Hill, leaning against a tree, and 
 fearing to remove his load lest he could not replace it. He used 
 to say that " he was more glad at breakfast for those shad 
 than ever after for all the income of his farm." 
 
 Our fathers made up thus in vigor and resolution for the 
 lack of means. So too did the mothers. Mrs. Joel Baker 
 built her own oven, which did good service for herself and her 
 neighbors, her husband providing stones and mortar. The wife 
 of Alexander Oliver, on the top of Field's Hill, was accustomed 
 in summer to do her washing at the brook, one hundred rods 
 north, down the steep slope. Having finished the work, 
 Capt. Childs tells us, ' she would take her two pails of wet 
 clothes, one in each hand, her baby under her arm, and her 
 wash tub on her head, and go up the hill home.' It may be 
 hoped that this was only while the lieutenant was away in 
 the army fighting for his country and his wife. 
 
 Considerably later, between 1780 and 1T90, John Sherman, 
 
 son of John and brother of Caleb, ran eight measured miles 
 
 in 56 1-2 minutes, and on a hot August day. A wager of 
 
 eight pounds had been laid that he could not do it within an 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 hour. He ran on the Deerfield road, from near the foot of 
 Arms' hill to " Eagle brook." He had previously, to make 
 the matter sure, gone over the course by night, his brother 
 accompanying him on horseback, and giving him the time at 
 every mile stake, "it being moonlight." 
 
 There is much that is common in the way of living with new 
 settlers everywhere. The condition of things here one 
 hundred years ago repeats itself now at the farthest west. Yet 
 not with exactness. Most of the men who have gone lately 
 to the new lands have not been so poor as these settlers were. 
 The age is not so poor. Materials and implements of all sorts 
 are more abundant and much better. For the prairie country 
 at the west, too, it makes less hard work than those stony and 
 wooded hills did. The whole township at the period of its 
 settlement was densely covered with timber, much of which 
 was of great size. It can hardly be said that any of the 
 original forest is still standing, to show what it was. There 
 are spots that have never been cleared, but the heaviest growth 
 has been removed A few single trees may remain. Most 
 that we see are but puny representatives of those our fath- 
 ers felled. Some of us, not old now, have found the stumps of 
 pines and chestnuts, five or six feet or more in diameter. We 
 are not likely to have come upon the largest. John Allis has 
 this year cut a chestnut upon the lot of his grandfather, Lucius, 
 full six feet across at its butt. There is one maple at least 
 standing that is 18 1-2 feet in circumference.* Others 
 larger are known to have fallen. Enormous hemlocks, 
 growing and prostrate, covered the low and level grounds 
 and blocked up the ravines and river banks. Adding 
 to this the rougli surface in many parts, it made tough work 
 and gave a hard look at first to the country. Thomas L. Allis 
 narrates it from his grandfather that about the time of the 
 setting off of the town, Eliphalet Williams of Deerfield rode 
 on horseback all day over it, as best he could, and told his 
 neighbors at night he would not give the horse he rode on for 
 the whole of it. Others judged better of its value. The 
 great trees stood for hearty soil as well as hard work. 
 
 *Oii the Timothy Rice place owned by Levi Page. 
 
2T 
 
 They made stout houses too, and substantial " back logs "— 
 such of them as were not too large. 
 
 To illustrate still further the style of living prevalent among 
 the early settlers, I will quote from the address of Capt. 
 Childs : "Many families had but one cow for some years. 
 Milk porridge was very common fare. At those seasons of 
 the year when milk failed, bean porridge was the usual substi- 
 tute. They were frequently entirely out of meat in March. 
 It was usual then to go to the river and buy a horseload of 
 shad, which might be had in any quantity for a copper each. 
 Indeed they were so plenty that they were considered not as 
 a rarity but as a drug, and were resorted to from necessity 
 and not from choice. Roast potatoes alone frequently consti- 
 tuted the entire meal. One man said to me 'I have often 
 seen the time when I would have given more for a roast potato 
 than I would now for a roast turkey.' They had no tea 
 except bohea, and but precious little of that." 
 
 The roasting of potatoes canies us back to times 
 when cook-stoves were unheard of and when enormous 
 fireplaces ventilated and occupied, if they did not warm, 
 the houses. The privation of tea may not strike us all 
 with force. And the like may be said of the necessity of liv- 
 ing upon Connecticut river shad. As to the fish indeed we 
 know that it got into bad repute not wholly on its own ac- 
 count. The ill savor it had was the taste of the lack of 
 meat. Long after, if by evil chance, a farmer was brought to 
 the buying of fish in Spring he might be likely to hear 
 inquiries after the state of his pork-barrel. It is told of one 
 in later times that, having come prematurely to the last layer, 
 he went about among his neighbors to procure a lamb, whose 
 wool he said his wife was in want of. Kot finding any, and 
 being at last in despair, he muttered, forgetfully to himself, 
 that he believed he should go and buy some codfish. 
 
 It may be remarked withal that as to food the scarcity was 
 only in the first years. Once cleared the land brought forth 
 abundantly. The fields yielded wheat, and sweet grasses 
 for the cattle were ready to cover the hills. 
 
 Reviewing thus this time Mr. Emerson declares " while the 
 
28 
 
 rank and situation of your fathers did not admit of that ex- 
 ternal polish and refinement, or elegance and luxury in living, 
 which modern fashion and taste has introduced, and prosperity 
 can now better afford, yet their comparative indigence did not 
 subject them to the extremities of want or merited contempt. 
 Providence smiled upon their honest efforts and industry, by 
 which they were rising to a state of credit and respectability ; 
 verifying the remark of Solomon that " the hand of the diligent 
 maketh rich." 
 
 The first inhabitants of Conway are described by one still 
 living, who remembers them, as " men and women of sound 
 minds, frugal and industrious habits, strict integrity of char- 
 acter and sterling worth," There is much other testimony to 
 the same efiect. They were, as a class, hardy, resolute, indus- 
 trious, endowed with strong common sense, attached to the 
 principles of morality and good order and earnest maintainors 
 of the doctrines and institutions of religion. There was, 
 however, among them, as in almost every community of every 
 asre, those of whom so much could not be said. The memories 
 that go back to the past are apt to overvalue the distant in 
 comparison with the near. If the question is put whether on 
 the whole the population of that day was superior in point of 
 character to the present, we should have need to hesitate 
 before answering that it was. There can certainly be gath- 
 ered up, in stories and songs illustrative of the social habits that 
 prevailed in some circles, and from the records of the church, 
 enough to comfort those who fear that our town is deteriora- 
 ting in the quality of its population and running hopelessly 
 into looseness and disorder. There was dishonesty, not per- 
 haps at first quite down to the average, (it may be feared in 
 in this respect we have made no gain at least,) ; there was in- 
 temperance, after a little, below the line of recent times ; 
 there was as much vulgarity of speech and of manners and as 
 much immorality, and irregularity of life in general as is usual 
 in modern times. It will not be expected that I should pro- 
 duce the proofs on some of these points. And it is not pleasant 
 to lower the estimate many may hold of those who lived here 
 )t)efore us. But waiving further comparison with the present, 
 
29 
 
 if we take the years between 1840 and 1850, it is a matter of 
 the clearest knowledge that there was never any earlier 
 period at which our town had on the whole a better popula- 
 tion than it had then. More than this, it is my decided belief 
 that, going back from that time, the levels will be found 
 dropping somewhat lower. What changes the last few years 
 have wrought I can not undertake to determine. Moreover, 
 to look fairly on the later generations is in justice, also, to the 
 fathers themselves. Then set on foot appliances of education 
 and religion upon the working of which they relied, not only to 
 maintain for their own time the power of sound principles, 
 but also to perpetuate them and to pass them down to the 
 coming generations. To place the present below the past is 
 to disparage the past ; for it was the business of the past to 
 make the present better. Our fathers meant to do it. 
 
 Previous to the incorporation of the town, religious meetings 
 had not been held with regularity. Such as were able went 
 to Deerfield ; or they attended any occasional meeting they 
 could hear of. At the second town meeting provision was 
 made for hiring a preacher. The Congregational church was 
 organized in less than a year — July 14th, 1768. It had thirty- 
 two members, sixteen men and sixteen women.* After a little 
 Mr. John Emerson of Maiden was invited to preach as a can- 
 didate for settlement. " It was," says he " in the month of 
 April, 1769, when I commenced my public labors here on the 
 Sabbath, being the 9th day of that month and year. We met 
 at a barn. It was surrounded with thick growing wood except 
 a small adjacent spot cleared, which admitted ye light of 
 heaven ; a place different indeed from those costly and splendid 
 edifices erected and dedicated to the worship of ye Most High 
 since that day , and very dissimilar," he goes on to say, em- 
 phasizing his words, " from that in ye ancient church in Brat- 
 tle St., Boston, where I had been called only ye Lord's day 
 before to preach." " On this Sabbath," he continued, "the 
 people, all 'tis supposed that were able, came to hear the word. 
 
 *The whole number of admissions into this church from the beginning, is stated 
 by Mr. Cutler, the present pastor, to be 1459, the present membership 263, and the 
 total of baptisms 1711, 
 
Natural curiosity indeed was doubtless one motive for this 
 attention. The speaker was a stranger from a distance, and 
 a youth of small stature, nothing otherwise distinguishing ; 
 only it was literally John preaching in the wilderness when 
 they came out to see and hear." 
 
 Mr. Emerson pleased the people and was ordained pastor, 
 Dec. 21, 1769. He was voted " for an encouragement " an 
 annual salary of fifty pounds, with a yearly addition of three 
 pounds until it should rise to eighty. He was also to have, 
 within two years and a half, an additional sum of one hund- 
 red and fifty pounds " settlement." 
 
 The ordaining council had dinner at Consider Arms's. 
 Tradition has preserved the story that after dinner two of the 
 ministers were unable to find their way back to the church — on 
 account of the woods. Yet it may here be mentioned that fifty- 
 eight years later, at the settlement of Daniel Crosby, it was 
 reckoned a strange thing that he should propose and insist 
 upon the entertaining of the council without liquors.* 
 
 All proceedings with respect to the support of preaching 
 were then, as for many years, had in town meetings. The 
 town was the parish. The money raised for religious purposes 
 was collected with the other taxes. 
 
 Here, also, by the town, were taken all steps for the building 
 and furnishing a meeting house. For several years no subject 
 appears more frequently upon the records. At the second 
 town meeting, held in Sept. 1767, a committee was appointed 
 to find the center of the town, with this object in view. This 
 committee discovered what they regarded as the appropriate 
 spot in the so-called " center lot ; "f the same being what is 
 now known to a few as " the old common," situated 25 
 
 *A list of ministers and of their wives for both the Congregational and Baptist 
 churches, prepared by Mr. Coffin, will be found in appendix A. And the papers 
 furnished by Rev. Mr. Cutler and by Mr. .Coffin, and herewith pubHshed, touching 
 further upon the ministry and the religious growth of these churches, have led to 
 the omission also from this history of certain other paragraphs thereby rendered un- 
 necessary. 
 
 + This was before the great addition on the northwest from Shelburne. The 
 center of the town at present can not be far from this hill on wliich we are 
 assembled. 
 
31 
 
 or 30 rods south of Mrs. William Avery's , and now owned 
 by Jabez Newhall. But the matter of locat ion was not so 
 settled. Many meetings were held, and many c onflicting votes 
 taken. A committee from abroad was called in. They re- 
 ported the true center to be seventeen rods southwest of the 
 old common spot, and not suitable for building on ; and rec- 
 ommended a site on the Elijah Wells place, a few rods east of 
 where H. B. Childs now lives.* And their report was also 
 " excepted " and the spot " established." But neither did 
 this stand. They subsequently voted to build a small house 
 near Jonathan Whitney's ; rescinded this vote, and finally, 
 in the Spring of 1769, determined " yt ye ISTole, about fifteen 
 or twenty rods north of the southeast corner of ye Center lot, 
 where is a large stump with a stake Spoted, standing within 
 ye same, be established for a spot to build the meeting-house 
 upon." The site thus fixed on was the same now occupied 
 by the school-house in Pumpkin Hollow, a third of a mile 
 east of " the old common," and within, and near the eastern 
 line of, the same center lot, which, stretching westward over 
 the hill, included both the other locations selected by the com- 
 mittees. On this " nole " was raised the house which stood, 
 a meeting and a town house, until within the memory of all 
 of us who have attained to middle age. The frame was put up 
 in the spring and summer of 1709. The first town meeting, and 
 perhaps the first meeting of any sort, was held in it, Sept. twen- 
 ty-fifth of that year.f And it was in this building that Mr. 
 Emerson was ordained, as before noticed, in December fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 It was then, and for years after, only a shell. The minister 
 took for a pulpit one end of the carpenter's work-bench, which 
 was left against times of further use. Part of his congrega- 
 tion sat on the other end. The larger portion occupied 
 benches made of slabs. The cpiestions of the sale of pew 
 ground, of the building of pews, of pulpit, gallery and porches 
 
 * The " seventeen rods southwest " brought the site from the fine swell at the 
 former supposed center, down upon a marsh, as may be plainly seen. 
 
 + Before this time town meetings were usually held at the houses of Thomas 
 French, Nathaniel Field or Jonathan Whitney. 
 
32 
 
 continued long to exercise the ingenuity and to disturb, it 
 must be feared, the temper of our fathers. The pews, when 
 thej began to be buikled, were not put in all at once, but 
 there remained a space still occupied by benches. There are 
 signs of a jealousy of the pew building as of aristocratic ten- 
 dency, and of a disposition on the part of some to stand by the 
 common benches as more suitable to a wholesome sentiment 
 of equality.* Gradually, however, the house grew into order 
 and convenience. It was enlarged in 1795 and 1796 to meet the 
 wants of a rapidly increasing congregation. Porches and a 
 steeple were built and a clock provided. In 1842 it was taken 
 down, a new house having been built a quarter of a mile 
 north, which still stands. The connection between town and 
 parish having been then dissolved, arrangements we're made 
 by which the town secured the right of holding its meet- 
 ings in the basement of the new building. 
 
 The old meeting-house was not warmed by a fire until 
 1819, fifty years after it was built, when stoves were put up 
 in it. Hot stones and foot stoves were often carried, to miti- 
 gate the severity of winter. The minister preached with 
 overcoat and gloves on. And notwithstanding what may be 
 said of the hardy habits of former generations there is abun- 
 dant evidence that they suffered much from cold. 
 
 Another provision for warmth on Sundays may also be 
 mentioned. There was a small log-house, called the " Little 
 House," perhaps also the same that is once mentioned in tlie 
 records as " the Sabbath House " which stood a few rods 
 south of the Meeting House on the flat back of the residence 
 and store of Wm. C. Campbell. Here a huge fire was built 
 on Sundays, which was resorted to at morning and noon. 
 
 * The'force of this sentiment is illustrated by an anecdote which Capt. Childs 
 has preserved of Nathaniel Dickinson, a Deerfield man, who owned land 
 and often attended meeting in Conway. He " thought himself a little above the 
 common level, " and occupied for several Sabbaths an arm chair which he had pro- 
 vided and placed near the deacon's seat and " directly by the side of Madame Em- 
 erson's chair." One day, coming late, " he found his seat among the missing," and 
 much to his own disgust and to the satisfaction of the audience, he had to take a 
 seat " side by side with the common people." A few years after his chair was 
 found " on the top of Dr. Hamihou's hill hanging in a hemlock.'' 
 
33 
 
 Here we may suppose oar fathers and mothers had their Sun- 
 day noon conversations, always on befitting topics. This 
 house was built as early, at the latest, as 1769# How long it 
 stood I have no means of knowing. 
 
 The first action of the town with respect to schools appears 
 in the record of a meeting held in September, 1Y67, at which 
 it was voted " yt they will hire a Dame to keep school 5 
 months, and yt Messrs. Nathaniel Field, Ebenezer Allis and 
 Benjamin Pulsifer be a committee to provide said Dame, and 
 appoint where said school shall be kept." The schools were 
 held in private houses. The first scliool-house was begun in 
 1773, and finished the next year. Its dimensions were 25 
 feet by 22 feet. It stood a few rods northeast of the old 
 meeting house, near the middle, but somewhat toward the 
 eastern side of the common, on a spot which would be crossed 
 by a line from the shop lately and long occupied by Phineas 
 Bartlit, Esq., passing over the common to the house of Jabez 
 Newhall. The site of this house, which through comparison 
 of various dates, has been with difficulty recovered to knowl- 
 edge, is to be marked by a century elm this morning planted 
 upon it. A living memorial, which unlike anything else of 
 all the life of the present generation, may possibly carry its 
 remembrances across the coming century the next hundreth" 
 return of the day we now commemorate. 
 
 For a few years the sum of money raised for schooling did 
 not exceed twelve pounds, but in 1774 it was increased to 
 thirty pounds. Once only since has the annual appropriation 
 been omitted. This was in 1775, and was owing to the great 
 apprehension that prevailed in view of the approaching hos- 
 tilities with Great Britain. The amount raised for schools 
 the current year is twenty-seven hundred dollars. The earlier 
 sums were not small in comparison when we consider the 
 poverty of a population of farmers, few of whom, as yet, 
 owned a horse, or a cart or a plough. Some rudiments of a 
 district system begin to appear in 1776, and in 1778 the town 
 was formally " squadroned out " for schooling. The districts 
 as we now know them are of much later date. 
 5 
 
34 
 
 For about ten years this first school house was the only one 
 in town. Schools were held to some extent in the outer parts 
 of the town. But this was the principal school. Here, 
 whenever it was in session, the older children came from all 
 parts, boys and girls, young men and women. It thus became, 
 by force of circumstances, a town high school. The branches 
 taught were reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic* An 
 effort was made in 1791 to introduce " grammar," a term 
 which seems then partly, perhaps, from its legal use in the 
 name " Grammar School," to have been confined to the study 
 of the classical tongues. It was voted that the Latin and 
 Greek languages should be taught. But the reason of this 
 was " Greek " to our fathers ; and the next year it was re- 
 scinded. 
 
 Private " select schools " have been held for many years. 
 One such was kept 29 terms, to his own credit, and to the 
 great and lasting benefit of the town, by Dea. John Clary. f 
 
 * The remark is often made, with a design to reflect on the present school sys- 
 tem, that the children of those times learned these things well, and were especially 
 better spellers than the children now are. We are not to admit this view of the 
 matter. The children then did as well as could be expected, no doubt. But, as 
 the public documents of the time show, they did not become as a class good spellers. 
 The earliest of these documents, to be sure, were written by men whose childhood 
 was not spent in this''town. But they had been children somewhere. No one 
 tracing the record need fail to see that there has been steady improvement down 
 to recent times. It is not to be believed that there was ever a time when the 
 young people of Conway could spell more correctly than they can now. Certainly 
 there was no such time in the last centuiy. The town records contain among 
 many others of the like sort, such specimens as "minits," "menchaned," " tran- 
 chent (transient)," " vew," " missus " or " miss " for Messrs. " Butments " which 
 is solid and will stand, and "sewing" for suing. We find also for the first word 
 of our national name, " Unighted." But the achievements in this direction of man- 
 kind in any age are astounding. Many of us now here have seen in an oflScial war- 
 rant for a Itown meeting, that same word rendered " Younighted." Benighted 
 sons of a benighted ancestry ! It ought however to be added that inaccuracies in 
 spelling one hundred years ago stood for less than they do now; — there being in 
 general less care even with well taught people, to conform to a fixed standard. 
 
 t Mr. Clary's school began in 1831, and extended through 12 years. The average 
 attendance was 36. The number of diiFerent scholars was 463, one third of them 
 from other towns. A very large number of these scholars became teachers in their 
 turn, and a considerable proportion have also been found in the several learned pro- 
 fessioriB. Mr. Clary, living 2 1-2 milas from the school, traveled in attendance upon 
 
35 
 
 In 1853 the Conway Academy was incorporated. The build- 
 ing then erected with money voluntarily contributed, was 
 destroyed by fire in 1803, and the present structure was raised 
 on the same spot (on the hill opposite the Congregational 
 meeting house) in the next year. Within the past two years 
 arrangements have been made by which there is here kept a 
 High School free for all the children of the town. 
 
 It is not known who was the first school-teacher in the town. 
 The first master whose memory has been preserved to us 
 was Master Cole. A teacher was famous in those days ac- 
 cording as he lifted up switches upon his unruly boys. The 
 name of Master Cole still sprouts fresh among us, like a twig 
 from a green birch tree.* 
 
 Another necessity engaged the early attention of our fathers. 
 At the same second town meeting, held in Sept. 1707, at which 
 provision was made for the services of religion, there was 
 also secured a ground for burial. Previous to this time Mrs. 
 Cyrus Rice had been buried in Deerfield ; and an infant child 
 of Silas E-awson and a child of John Thwing, three years old, 
 at a spot, not marked, a little south of Mr. Emerson's house. 
 The fij'st ground then laid out for burying was that now 
 known as the Emerson Yard, on the slope ot tiie hill east of Mr. 
 Emerson's house. The place is spoken of as lying near '" the 
 saw mill " which then stood below, upon the river, where the 
 mill dam now is. Here was brought, in December follow- 
 ing, a son of Israel Kice, one year old, drowned while his 
 father and mother forded South iiiver on horseback by 
 night, and, after an interval of fifteen months, John Thwing, 
 the first adult person buried in Conway. 
 
 In 1772 land was purchased of Elias Uickiubon for a second 
 
 burial yard westward, in the rear of the meetiug-house, which 
 
 had then been placed and built. This ground nas been long 
 
 ^unused; only the ancient gravestones are on it. In lbi5 
 
 H a distance of 9000 miles. "The five most literary names in those days," he 
 says, " as appears from the records, stood iu the order of Clarke, iiice. Arms, 
 Bartlett and Howlaud." 
 
 * He was an Irishman and a soldier, stifi' and pompous ; and he carried his 
 sword with him into the school-room. 
 
36 
 
 there was laid out, one and a half miles north of the center 
 of the town, the Pine Grove cemetery, where, since that time, 
 the most of our dead have been buried. There are also other 
 burial places in the remoter parts of the town. 
 
 Into these, the villages of the dead, which began at first to 
 be so slowly occupied, have been gathered since, sometimes 
 by rapid and ever by sure accessions, a population outnum- 
 bering that which is still found in the houses of the living. 
 
 The number of deaths recorded since 1770 — to which time 
 the account has already been brought, is in each year as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. 
 
 1770 
 
 2 
 
 1785 
 
 18 
 
 1800 
 
 19 
 
 1815 
 
 23 
 
 1830 
 
 14 
 
 1845 
 
 12 
 
 1860 
 
 36 
 
 1771 
 
 4 
 
 1786 
 
 7 
 
 1801 
 
 13 
 
 1816 
 
 21 
 
 1831 
 
 34 
 
 1846 
 
 28 
 
 1861 
 
 31 
 
 1772 
 
 7 
 
 1787 
 
 35 
 
 1802 
 
 20 
 
 1817 
 
 14 
 
 1832 
 
 12 
 
 1847 
 
 12 
 
 1862 
 
 36 
 
 1773 
 
 5 
 
 1788 
 
 15 
 
 1803 
 
 84 
 
 1818 
 
 15 
 
 1833 
 
 27 
 
 1848 
 
 19 
 
 1863 
 
 43 
 
 1774 
 
 9 
 
 1789 
 
 17 
 
 1804 
 
 13 
 
 1819 
 
 20 
 
 1834 
 
 22 
 
 1849 
 
 16 
 
 1864 
 
 28 
 
 1775 
 
 19 
 
 1790 
 
 17 
 
 1805 
 
 14 
 
 1820 
 
 12 
 
 1835 
 
 20 
 
 1850 
 
 32 
 
 1865 
 
 35 
 
 1776 
 
 25 
 
 1791 
 
 17 
 
 1806 
 
 13 
 
 1821 
 
 22 
 
 1836 
 
 24 
 
 1851 
 
 56 
 
 1866 
 
 37 
 
 1777 
 
 75 
 
 1792 
 
 20 
 
 1807 
 
 6 
 
 1822 
 
 24 
 
 1837 
 
 16 
 
 1852 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 1778 
 
 13 
 
 1793 
 
 20 
 
 1808 
 
 18 
 
 1823 
 
 17 
 
 1838 
 
 24 
 
 1853 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 1779 
 
 11 
 
 1794 
 
 27 
 
 1809 
 
 10 
 
 1824 
 
 25 
 
 1839 
 
 13 
 
 1854 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 1780 
 
 14 
 
 1795 
 
 49 
 
 1810 
 
 16 
 
 1825 
 
 27 
 
 1840 
 
 21 
 
 1855 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 1781 
 
 10 
 
 1796 
 
 16 
 
 1811 
 
 20 
 
 1826 
 
 18 
 
 1841 
 
 13 
 
 1856 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 1782 
 
 23 
 
 1797 
 
 21 
 
 1812 
 
 19 
 
 1827 
 
 21 
 
 1842 
 
 15 
 
 1857 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 1783 
 
 17 
 
 1798 
 
 22 
 
 1813 
 
 28 
 
 1828 
 
 28 
 
 1843 
 
 25 
 
 1858 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 1784 
 
 14 
 
 1799 
 
 15 
 
 1814 
 
 21 
 
 1829 
 
 19 
 
 1844 
 
 31 
 
 1859 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 Adding for the years previous to 1770 and for the part of 
 the current year now past, the total of deaths recorded is 
 2183. The yearly average for the century is thus 21 83-100. 
 Passing by the first 13 years, the average of 30 years from 
 1775 was 22 86-100. The average for the last 30 years, to 
 the beginning of 1867, has been 27 63-100. While for the 
 last 10 years it has been 33 2-10. It will thus be seen that 
 the rate of mortality has increased toward the latter part of 
 this period. This increase is due partly to the fact that the 
 town was occupied at first mostly by people who were young. 
 And like all emigrants they were doubtless more robust and 
 vigorous than the average of the population from which they 
 came. The same causes withal are now reversed in opera- 
 tion ; taking away from us the young and leaving the old. 
 
 Some allowance should also be made for omissions in the 
 registration^ which was less carefully made in former years 
 
37 
 
 than at present. And moreover it maybe observed that even 
 the greatest rate of mortality is not relatively large, being 
 only one in fifty annually of the population. 
 
 The following are lists of persons who have lived past the 
 age of ninety years ; and of such as have met their death by 
 casualties. Both these lists were prepared in part by Capt. 
 Childs : 
 
 AGED PEOPLE. 
 
 Joseph Chilson, 
 Widow Alexander, 
 Widow Stebbins, 
 Widow Marble, 
 Wm. Allen, 
 Widow Allen, 
 Widow Brewer, 
 Widow Buchanan, 
 Deacon Root, 
 Widow Parker, 
 Widow Farnsworth, 
 
 and 4 days. 
 John Wing, 
 Widow Neal, 
 Widow Look, 
 Jonas Rice, 
 Aaron Billings, 
 Lilies Dickinson, 
 James Dickinson, 
 Widow Murphy, 
 Widow Tobey, 
 Widow Dinsmore, 
 Widow Leonard, 
 Israel Rice, 
 Hiel Kelsey, 
 
 100 years, 1 mo. 
 
 Age. 
 
 
 Age. 
 
 99 Widow Hartwell, 
 
 92 
 
 99 
 
 Mrs. Newhall, 
 
 92 
 
 90 
 
 Timothy Thwing, 
 
 90 
 
 92 
 
 Widow Thwing, 
 
 91 
 
 96 
 
 John Broderick, 
 
 91 
 
 98 
 
 Widow Benjamin Rice, 
 
 91 
 
 94 
 
 Widow Joel Rice, 
 
 91 
 
 96 
 
 Anna Brooks, 
 
 90 
 
 92 
 
 Mrs. Hamilton, 
 
 98 
 
 92 
 
 Jonathan Adams, 
 
 92 
 
 10. 
 
 Benjamin Bond, 
 
 93 
 
 
 Amariah Tobey, 
 
 91 
 
 90 
 
 Medad Crittenden. 
 
 92 
 
 94 
 
 John Boyden, 
 
 93 
 
 90 
 
 Lois Baker, 
 
 92 
 
 92 
 
 Widow Noah Dickinson, 
 
 90 
 
 91 
 
 Stephen Thompson, 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 Beulah B. Avery, 
 
 91 
 
 93 
 
 Timothy Maynard, 
 
 99 
 
 94 
 
 Daniel Rice, 
 
 91 
 
 90 
 
 Anna (Dickinson) Allis, 
 
 90 
 
 92 
 
 Anna (Hosmer) Bement, 
 
 92 
 
 97 
 
 Micah Hamilton, 
 
 94 
 
 90 
 
 Content (Dickinson) Sanderson, 
 
 93 
 
 94 
 
 Total, 
 
 48. 
 
 UNUSUAL DEATHS. 
 
 1767. Child of Israel Rice, drowned. 
 
 1777 or 1778. Michael Turpey, drowned in Deerfield river. 
 
 1778. Child of Wm. Farnsworth, scalded. 
 
 1779. Child of Wm. Pearson, drowned in a well. 
 
 1782. Benoin Brunson, kick of a horse, 
 
 1783. Child of Capt. Arms, scalded. 
 
 1788. Isaac Daniels, killed by a door in the great storm. 
 
 1794. Thomas Miles, killed by a tree. 
 
 1796. Clark Beals, killed by a log. 
 
 1798. Ira Nims, killed in raising a building. 
 
 1799. Son of John Wheat, scalded. 
 
 1800. Mr. Tolman, run over by a wagon. 
 1800. Child of Mr. Halloway, killed by a horse. 
 1803. Captain Dinsmore, fall from a horse. 
 
' ' 3S' 
 
 1804. Elijah Claiy, fall from scaffolding. 
 
 1808. James Wright, well caving in on him. 
 
 1811. Child of John Boyden, scalded. 
 
 1813. Jeremiah Booth, drowned. 
 
 1814. Israel Brown, killed by a sled. 
 
 1817. Increase Briggs and Consider WUder, drowned whUe crossing Deerfield 
 
 nver. 
 
 1818. Child of Samuel Haxford, drowned. » 
 
 1827. Edward Thayer, killed by a tree. 
 
 1828. Wife of Rodolphus Wells, fall on stairs. 
 
 1828. Rodolphus Wells, fall from a tree. 
 
 1829. Simeon Merrit, fall in bam. 
 
 1829. CharlesfBaker and Oliver Warner, killed by lightning • 
 
 1830. Adolphus Bacon, kick of a horse. 
 
 1831. David Boyden, drowned. 
 
 1832. Ebenezer Clark, fall from a tree. 
 1839. John Broderick, drowned. 
 
 1841. Sally M. Murphy, burned to death. 
 
 1844. Child of Zebulon Paine, scalded. 
 
 1849. Son of Jas. Packard, scalded. 
 
 1850. Mrs. Joseph Towne, burned. 
 1850. ChUd of Austin Hopkins, scalded. 
 1852. James Groom, caught in machinery. 
 1854. Christian bummers, drowned. 
 1854. Albert Barber, drowned. 
 
 1857. Child of Walter Guildford, drowned 
 
 ]Trl' nf °; "T^ ^'"""'^ ^- ^''''' ^^'^ by lightning. 
 1852. Charles Adams, drowned. 
 
 1864. Child of Thomas Groom, drowned 
 
 !«««■ r^u '^•7'^'''' ^'' "' ^"""'^ ^''''^"^ '^ battle. 
 
 1866. Child of Martm Riley, drowned. 
 
 1867. Wm. Bigelow, kick of a horse. 
 There have also been seven cases of suicide. 
 
 In 1776 four men died in tlie army, Moses Childs and Isaac 
 
 Nelson, and a son each of Nath'I Marble and Wm. Gates. In 
 
 1777 Isaac Amsdeu lost four children in piM.f i 
 
 brother Elisl^a lost four in Zj Eudtuv ''^'"' ^"^ ^'' 
 ■fu /n 1 T^ *^*^V- -Ciiijaii iiiUmffs also lost 
 
 180. ,. ' KM ^"■"^'"'"^ ''fe° 1°^' three in ten days! In 
 1803 three children of Job Howland died within ei^hfdav 
 And m 1798, between Oct. mh, and Dec. 24th, f el dfed 
 ot one iamdy Gamaliel Glover, his wife and five children 
 
 wifhte7st rofdl^:" ''"' '^'^ ™^ -> •>« ^"-^ —ted 
 
39 
 
 It may here also be appropriately mentioned that there are 
 now living in Conway 57 persons — and the enumeration may 
 not be complete — -who are above 70 years of age. And there 
 are 18 who have reached 80 years or more. 
 
 On the day of the celebration the speaker made a pause at 
 near this point in the address, and, observing that the ancient 
 preachers often so framed their discourses that they might be 
 cut abruptly off to suit the times, proceeded to read from a book 
 of hymns published in Conway in 1198, by Elder Josiah Goddard.* 
 Franklin Childs, who has rendered many good offices to the wri- 
 ter of this sketch in its preparation, and who has long been 
 prominent as a leader of choirs, had arranged for singing in the 
 style of the olden time ; and the singers were already in their 
 places. Mr. Childs took the key of "St. Marty ns " from an 
 ancient wooden pitchpipe, and "deaconed" the lines in a musi- 
 cal tone, as the manner was. Many voices throughout the 
 assembly joined in the song. And the effect, so peculiar and 
 impressive, will long be remembered. The verses sung were 
 the following, being part of a hymn entitled, " The Slow 
 Traveller." 
 
 O happy souls, how fast yon go, 
 And leave us here behind ; 
 Don't stop for me, for now I see 
 The Lord is just and kind. 
 
 When you get to the world above, 
 And all their glory see, 
 When you are home your work is done, 
 Then look you out for me. 
 
 For I will come fast as I can ; 
 
 Along that way I steer. 
 
 Lord give me strength, I shall at length 
 
 Be one among you there. 
 
 The singing having ended, the speaker remarked that his 
 address, resembling again the old discourses, had also, unhap- 
 pily, an equal facility of being resumed, and went on with the 
 narrative. 
 
 * Elder Goddard was a man of excellent sense, of a strong mind. He was a 
 worker withal with his hands ; and he has left the reputation of being the swiftest 
 reaper the town ever produced. 
 
40 
 
 It has been commonly supposed that the first County Road 
 leading from Deerfield to Ashfield through Conway, left the 
 Mill Brook valley just above the old " Hawks' place," passing 
 up the hill to the left by Cyrus Rice's, and thence over the 
 Jonas Rice hill (where Joel Rice now is) to Pumpkin Hollow, 
 from which point it turned northward, crossing South river 
 near the post office, then rising the hill by Franklin Arms', 
 and continuing on by the Amsden (now Guildford) places 
 into Ashfield. The latter part only of this course is correctly 
 stated. The laying out of the first half of the above described 
 route in town roads can be traced on the Records. And plain 
 references fix the county road on another track. The laying 
 out of this road " from Deerfield to Huntstown " in 175i has 
 already been referred to. From the record, kept at A^orth- 
 ampton, it is only to be learned that there was then a cart 
 track leading from the top of Long Hill in Deerfield, to a saw 
 mill on Mill Brook, (which no doubt was near where the saw 
 mill below the " Hawks' place" now stands), and that just 
 before coming to the mill " the Huntstown Path " turned 
 northward from the cart track " into the woods," and that the 
 said county road was laid out ten rods in width following this 
 path through its whole course. The road kept upon the 
 hills just north of Mill Brook until it reached the spot 
 where Robert Hamilton afterward settled, (at Madison 
 Stearns') and then turned squarely to the left across the valley, 
 rising past the place of Wm. Avery Howland and passing over 
 the top of the hill, some distance to the north of the present 
 road, and descending to the old Jonathan Whitney place, 
 northeast of Capt. Charles Parsons'. The next stage alone 
 is in some doubt. The road probably bore toward the north, 
 crossing the river a little above where is now the dam built 
 by Gen. Asa Howland, near his house, and at the foot of the 
 old burying-yard hill, and from thence westerly to the neigh- 
 borhood of the Baptist meeting house; and thence over the 
 Arms' hill, as before described. The first bridge over South 
 River was probably at the spot just mentioned. But it was 
 Bwept away within three or four years, at the farthest, and 
 was never replaced— the passage remaining afterwards a ford- 
 way. The first bridge built after the incorporatioa of the 
 
41 
 
 town appears to have been not far from the Post Office, where 
 the road now crosses. The fixing of the center of the town 
 and the location of the meeting house near it drew the roads 
 more to the southward ; and led finally to the entire discon- 
 tinuance of this middle portion of the old county road.* 
 Withal as to the road over the Jonas Rice hill, from the east, 
 the same attraction to the center, taken in connection with 
 the fact that the southeastern portion of the town became early 
 quite populous, will account for its being, as it certainly was, 
 a line of much passage. The opening of the route next to be 
 spoken of may afterwards have contributed to bring, or to 
 keep, travel on that track. 
 
 A second county road, laid in 1785, led from the old meet- 
 ing house over the hill to Consider Arms' (now Elijah Arms') 
 through what has since become Burkeville, and thence up the 
 river to the large dam lately built, and then, crossing the hill 
 on the south, it struck down again upon the valley a mile and 
 a half above, and continued on to Ashfield, and beyond to the 
 county line. The gap in the valley above the dam was sup- 
 plied in 1824. It was reckoned a hard road to build ; and Dea. 
 Elisha Billings eloquently declared in town meeting that it 
 led through a gorge " into which the sun in heaven had not 
 shone since the morning of creation." Still later, in 1837, the 
 river line was completed by the road from the bridge near the 
 Post Office up the valley to the old grist mill. On the east 
 the road to Deerfield was brought down from the hills to the 
 side of Mill Brook, where it now is, in 1832. 
 
 The roads to Broomshire and South Part were laid in 1767. 
 Those to West Street, Cricket Hill and Poland in 1769. * The 
 present improved South Part road dates from 1816 ; the 
 Broomshire from 1847 ; the Cricket Hill from 1850 ; and the 
 new Shelburne Falls road from 1856. 
 
 * There is no question of locality connected with the early history of the town so 
 puzzling as this concerning the course of the first county road in passing South 
 river. There are very distinct tracss of an old road in the direction hei'e laid 
 down on the eastern side of the river. I was once inclined to think that this might 
 have been only a road made at first to reach the saw mill which stood at that point 
 on the river, and leaving the county road near Jonathan Whitney's. But I have 
 become convinced that the account given'above is most satisfactory. I will not b^ 
 further tedious by entering into the grQunds of this conclusion. 
 
 
42 
 
 The tracks at first were marked with a purpose to reach and 
 connect the settler's houses. The houses were on hills, where 
 the soil could be most easily worked ; and not in swamps and 
 gullies. So the roads kept well on the uplands. Here, too, 
 they were made with less work, required fewer bridges, 
 and were for those days really better roads than valley 
 roads could have been. Though these highways were at 
 first mere paths for horses and men, and next no more than 
 cart tracks, yet the amount of hard work done upon them 
 within twenty years from the occupation of the town must 
 have been prodigious. They seem to have been early 
 put in creditable shape for the country and the time. It is 
 related that when Dr. Samuel Ware came to Conway, about 
 ITTO, his wife, struck with the good appearance of the roads, 
 remarked that " there might some day be chaises in this 
 town ;" a womanly fancy which her husband rebuked as wild 
 and extravagant. It was not long, however, before Parson 
 Emerson had a chaise. Others followed him later. Lucius 
 Allis and Elisha Clark grew aristocratic enough after a time 
 to ride each in his "hack." One horse wagons were 'not 
 known till the beginning of the present century. The first 
 one was built by Robert Hamilton, who was a clockmaker ; 
 and a suifieiently solid man to need a carriage. He thought 
 himself the inventor of the institution; and held that there 
 was not another like it in all America. ]^ot far from the same 
 time Dr. Ware built the first single sleigh or " cutter." Be- 
 fore then the lively young people went sleighing upon wood 
 sleds,,or haply on a " pung ; " saving that it was more fash- 
 ionable to go horseback. 
 
 It may be observed that for conveying their baggage the 
 first settlers sometimes made a rack, like a broad ladder, with 
 stout side pieces between which in front they put a horse, 
 trailing the rear end on the ground. This instrument was 
 called " a car." The men who went early bej^ond ns up the 
 Deerfield river used such ; but cast them aside on reaching 
 the smoother country at the foot of the hill toward Shelburne 
 Falls. The strange looking wrecks thus left attracted the at- 
 t;ention of a phiIosoph}C3.1 traveler who repaired to a native 
 
4a 
 
 for an explanation. He was informed that Satan witli 
 part of a legion had once been traveling down the valley and 
 at this spot, not liking the looks of the road and bethinking 
 him of tlie river, he had taken to navigation and left behind 
 him his land gear. It may be added that although the ways in 
 that neighborhood have been much improved, this personage 
 has not been seen there since, — nor indeed in any part of the 
 town. Other cars more modern may this year be running 
 past the hills over which the old racks were drawn. 
 
 Some note may here be made of the names of localities in 
 our town. Cricket Hill was so called first by a party of hunt- 
 ers who were annoyed by the crickets as they camped there 
 for a night. Capt. Cliilds, in the calm and confident exercise 
 of that foreseeing faculty which belongs ever to the true his- 
 torian, declares that as " it has been known by that name from 
 that day to this " so it " will continue to be as long as the 
 hills remain." I here ofiicially reaffirm the declaration. 
 " Hardscrabble " sets forth that it is hard scrabbling on that 
 soil to live. Of Hoosac I have no satisfactory explanation. 
 Broomshire, as is well known, has its name from the walnut 
 brooms Wm. Warren made, and sold in Deerfield, one broom 
 for a pound and a half of pork. He did it because he was 
 hungry ; being out of meat for several years by winter. He 
 used to walk first to Deerfield to get a horse and "pung" to 
 carry his brooms. Concerning Shirkshire Capt. Childs shall 
 give the narration. " Old Mr. Sherman," he says — it was 
 doubtless John Sherman — " happened along as the people 
 were upon the roads, and at their request assisted them a num- 
 ber of hours, hoping tliereby to earn and get his dinner. But 
 no one seemed willing (as the services rendered were for the 
 public) to bear the burden alone, — they all sJiirked, and left 
 him to shirk for himself as best he could. Highly indignant ■ 
 at the neglect with which he was treated he left the place in 
 a state of great excitement, saying, ' let it be called Sliirk- 
 shire from tliis day forward ; ' and so it has been and will be 
 as long as wood grows and water runs." — -It is an affair of 
 seriousness; and the ordinance looks unchangeable. But one 
 
main feature escaped the historian's eye. The time was doubt- 
 less while the district belonged to Shelburne. The thing was 
 not done, as of course it never could have been, in Conway. 
 Remembering this, and considering that it is not just that the 
 children's teeth should be forever set on edge because the 
 father ate no grapes — or other dinner, I suggest that we 
 might at once propitiate the hungry and indignant shade of 
 John Sherman and commemorate the integrity and manly 
 vigor of his son Caleb, by calling that district Sherman 
 Corner ; or by fixing in some other similar manner that fam- 
 ily name upon it.* As to Poland Capt. Childs professes that 
 he knows no derivation for the name, and thinlvs it must be 
 due to the deeply planted liberty loving and slavery hating 
 instincts of its people, — allying them to the Polanders of 
 Europe. The prevalence there of these noble sentiments is a 
 matter of conspicuous knowledge, and this is the association 
 which the title should ever suggest, but tiie serious verities of 
 history constrain me to record that the name itself originated 
 in the strife of two boys over the skins of certain slain " Pole 
 Cats." I do not know but the animal may also bear another 
 name. Of " the city " no account is preserved, except that 
 two girls,^about to ^depart from it, left it the name. It ob- 
 viously comes of the great number of buildings^ the neigh- 
 borhood has — room for. Lastly, in the center is Pumpkin 
 Hollow. Into it the pumpkins once rolled from the eastern 
 if not also Irom the western cultivated slope. We hear that 
 there are those who have ventured to tamper with the whole- 
 some and savory and venerable appellation.f Let it not be 
 
 *From 1797 to 1842 Caleb Sherman was a drover. He made about 500 trips to 
 Boston. "He paid promi)tly," says Capt. Childs, "for every hoof he purchased, 
 and, as is believed, returned good weight for every one taken on drift." On the 
 first day of July, 1813, he fell through the Connecticut river bridge at Montague, 
 with his drove, and had his leg so injured that it was amputated above the knee. 
 By the next October he was again in Boston following his business. 
 
 •fThey went, with maidens, and children of the schools, and others following, up 
 the eastern hill ; and there they sang and poured libations, and called the 
 name that had not been heard before. Howbeit some part sang in the words 
 of one song and some part sang in the words of a song that was contrary thereto. 
 George Moulton Adams was Fonti/ex Maximus ; but neither were the omens duly 
 taken, nor was the deity of the place made propitious. 
 
45 
 
 done. Clothed to day with the prophetic mantle my prede- 
 cessor dropped, I make it here to be known that, so long 
 as the greatest of those vegetable orbs will roll from the top 
 of Field's or Newhall's hill the valley that lies between shall 
 be called of men Pumpkin Hollow. For the information of 
 the curious mind I will add that the locality sometimes en- 
 titled " Church Green " is in Pumpkin Hollow. 
 
 The dress worn by the first settlers and their families was, 
 as might be supposed, of the plainest fabric. Tow cloth and 
 linsey wolsey were the common materials for men and boys. 
 Some men, not of the tailors' craft, and not forced either to 
 such a resort, used to cut for themselves the garment that was 
 worn where pantaloons ought to be. Stout linen, checked or 
 striped wdth blue, was for Sunday wear. The busy wives 
 and daughters spun and w^ove it ; and wore it also for them- 
 selves. So they made table and pocket linen, very similar, of 
 which here is a specimen (displaying a checked handkerchief 
 made in the old time). No Conway man is expected to-day 
 to use one of any other description. Infant children were 
 baptised wearing dresses of this material. Our stylish girls 
 had then for winter flannel frocks, red or of butternut color, 
 which they made and dyed themselves. They became irresist- 
 ibly charming when they added a Boston ribbon for the 
 waist and neck. Silks, though not absolutely unknown, were 
 very rare. And. so, too, was cotton. For many years a first 
 class bridal suit was of calico. When the town had a repre- 
 sentative at the General Court it was often sent for by him. 
 The cost was a dollar a yard. As to the quantity required 
 there are no means at the present time for forming a judg- 
 ment. 
 
 There is evidence withal that what they had they took 
 care of. The young woman, coming on Sunday to meeting, 
 would not put on their best shoes until they were near the 
 meeting house ; wearing for the most of the way some coarser 
 covering of art — or a finer one of nature. Often, though less 
 uniformly, dresses as well as shoes were thus changed. I 
 know not what ignominious man has cut down that chestnut 
 tree near the western foot of the Jonas Kice hill that was 
 
4^ 
 
 the favorite dressing shelter of the inaidens from the East Side 
 and the South Part, As to the boys, shoes were of no account 
 to them except in the very coldest months. Bonnets were 
 prolonged " shakers." There is a South Part story that Capt. 
 Lucius Allis used to keep cider — which may be believed — at 
 some place near the meeting house to be had with the Sunday 
 dinners, and that the women attempting to take a share — 
 which is not so clear — were much embarrassed by reason of 
 these bonnets. It is not believed that the present style would 
 give occasion to such difficulties. Disregarding the cider, I 
 do not know but there maybe found those who will acquiesce 
 in the change by which the faces of the mother's daughters 
 have ceased to be so entirely inaccessible. 
 
 However this almost exclusively domestic provision for cloth- 
 ing may now please the imagination, there is abundant evi- 
 dence that it did not then adequately protect the body. Capt. 
 Childs speaks of the clothing of the early inhabitants as " utter- 
 ly insufficient ; " and facts transmitted to us will sustain his 
 statement. That the settlers were generally healthy and that 
 many of them lived to a great age, makes nothing against it. 
 Yigor of constitution supported them ; and the strength that 
 comes of working and sleeping in good air. Moreover as to 
 the children tlie healthiness of the early times is not ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 It is pleasing to be able to reflect that notwithstanding 
 poverty of dress and badness of the roads, with lack of car- 
 riages, the first people here did not neglect social intercourse. 
 Malachi Maynard used to come evenings with his family 
 two miles down the hill to call on his neighbor Consider 
 Arms. His wife carried one child, he another ; and there 
 was left for him his right hand for a burning pine knot to 
 liglit the way and keep off wolves. So they refreshed them- 
 selves after their day's work. When Mr. Emerson brought liis 
 young wife, Sabra Cobb, from Boston in 1770, almost the 
 whole town came together to the reception at the house of 
 Consider Arms. It may be guessed it was a new side of life 
 the lady saw. The report is still heard of the kisses she 
 
47 
 
 enjoyed — or endured. On this occasion her resohition to do 
 appears also to have been equal to her fortitude to suffer. Eli 
 Dickinson said the kiss he received was " the sweetest he had 
 ever had." "Whereat his wife gave him the boxing he de- 
 served. Mrs. Emerson was a lady if she came from Boston. 
 Slie had a silk umbrella ; and because there was not an 
 umbrella among her people she never carried it ; but long 
 after she made the silk into Ijonnets for her daughters. One 
 da}'- when Mr. Emerson was away a man brought to her house 
 a choice piece of pork. To her horror he told her that his 
 hoff had died that mornino; " of a sore throat." She thanked 
 him graciously, but being afraid her husband would be angry 
 — for his temper rose on due occasion — and wishing to hide a 
 matter for trouble, she threw it away with the refuse for soap. 
 Mr. Emerson, however, had heard of the gift, and came home 
 to inquire, too late, after his expected dinner. 
 
 Thus the town was entered upon, cleared and populated. 
 Man had his homes in the wilderness of the deer, and the 
 wolf and the bear. And the varied scenes of human history 
 began here to be enacted. 
 
 The revolutionary war was soon coming on. Our fathers, 
 though poorly prepared at that early day to contribute in car- 
 rying it forward, yet entered heartily upon it. They made haste 
 in 1774: to assure the Boston committee of correspondence that 
 they should join with them in " all Lawful and Salutary 
 Measures for the Recovery of those Inestimable Priviledges 
 "Wrested from us, and firmly to secure those that remain, for 
 we are sensible," — say they — " yt should we Renounce our 
 Liberty and Priviledges we should Renounce the Quality of 
 men and the Rights of humanity." They shortly directed that 
 the selectmen should provide " Two barrels of powder and 
 lead and flints answerable for a town stock of ammunition." 
 (From the first the town had kept some "stock" of these 
 articles). They "Established a Resolve," appointing a commit- 
 tee of thirteen men to have an eye on the conduct of any per- 
 sons that should " Do or speak anything that tends to Hender 
 Uniting of the People in opposing ye kings laws yt Infringed oi^ 
 
48 
 
 their rights," and to adjudge to such persons " a Certain Compe- 
 tency of Punishment to be Inflicted on them not Exceeding the 
 punishment of Contempt and Neglect ; " and they added the 
 restriction, " Yt the said Committy nor no Other person shall 
 not have power to go oat of this town Except it be to assist a 
 mob in the General Good Cause (viz.) in Prohibiting Persons 
 taking or holding Commissions under the Present Constitution, 
 Except it be for their own perticular Bisness."* This com- 
 mittee of thirteen, as at first chosen, consisted of Dea. Sara. 
 Wells, Dea. Joel Baker, Lt. Thomas French, Jonas Rice, 
 Oliver Wetmore, Cyrus Rice, Consider Arms, Robert Oliver, 
 James Dickinson, Israel Gates, Josiah Boyden, Elisha Clark 
 and Alexander Oliver. In July, 1775, the old committee was 
 dismissed, Capt. Arms and some others beginning to hold back 
 from extreme measures, and Samuel Crittenden, Jonathan 
 "Whitney, Malachi Maynard, James Gilmore, John Thwing, 
 Jonas Rice, Isaac Amsden, Capt. Clark and Israel Rice were 
 put in their stead. 
 
 On the 24-th of May, 1776, being assembled at the meeting 
 house, and having appointed a committee to frame the vote 
 they proceeded to declare that " If the Honorable Continantial 
 Congress Should think it Requisit for the Safety of the iSTorth- 
 american Coloneys on this Continent to Declare a State of In- 
 dependency of Greatbriton that we will abide By and Conform 
 to their wisdom to the Expense of our lives and fortunes." im- 
 pressed, it geeras with the weigh tiness of the occasion, the re- 
 cording officer adds : "N, B. The above menchaned meeting 
 was Called on purpose for the above business and the Town 
 Yoted Affairmative 83, Negative 6. Cyrus Rice, Moderat or. 
 
 * At about this time, Jan. 177;"), the minds of our fathers became exercised, not 
 to say unsettled, in the affiiir of a representative to the general court, or congress 
 of the colony, in which Conway and Dcerfield were then associated. The record 
 Stands "Being put to Vote whether they will agree with Deerfield in the Delegate 
 they Chose. Voted in the Negative. Voted that they will Eeconsider the last 
 Vote. Being put to Vote Wheather they will Establish the former Vote, Voted in the 
 aflBrmative. Voted they will Reconsider the last vote and Send no Delegate to 
 the Congress, Neither from Deerfield Nor Conway." It may be guessed that the 
 matter of pay to be drawn from the town entered into these reconsiderations. 
 
49 
 
 A trew coppy from the Minits, attest, Oliver Wetmore, Town 
 
 Clerk."* 
 
 They stood resolutely by this pledge through the war. 
 
 ^ The number of men they furnished is not known. It 
 was as many as was called for. The names are not 
 all preserved; many have been already mentioned. In 
 1777, when Burgoyne was marching from the north, every 
 able bodied man went out to meet him.f It was thought 
 when he sent off Baum toward Bennington, that he meant 
 to strike across the country eastward to the seaboard. 
 The alarm was beat on the Sabbath day by the meeting 
 house. Boys were sent to spread the call. One of them, a 
 son of Robert Hamilton, seven years old then, was living 
 three years ago and could tell of the errand he went on. He 
 could remember, too, how there was left in that neighborhood 
 but one, a lame man, who helped the women and boys gather 
 in the corn on the farms. Mother and boy were little ready 
 for the work. It was the year of the great sickness and the 
 maddest autumn harvest our town has ever known. One was 
 ;aken of nearly every twelve of all its inhabitants. And of 
 ;he children there must have been buried one for every three 
 
 ^r four. 
 
 The fear of invasion this year led to more apprehension con- 
 
 "cerning the resident tories. At a town meeting held Aug. 
 24th, :{: it was resolved "to proceed to some measure to Secure 
 the Enemical persons Called Tories amongst us ;" and 
 the account goes on, "then the Question was Put Wheather 
 
 '* Until the spring of this year,,Consider Arms had bsen clerk. He had wished 
 to be excused before the expiration of his term. But the town directed him to go 
 on and keep the record ; as if he liked it. He was a decided but not a violent tory. 
 His connections with Deerfield may have helped to draw him that way. 
 
 tThis turning out for a tima of all that; could bear arms has mvl2 it diffi3ult to 
 learn by the family traditions only who were the regular continental soldiers from 
 the town. Some of those named as in the war were probably only out a short 
 time. Of those called out in the fall of 1777 a part returned after hearing of the 
 victory of Stark ; while some went on to the Hudson and were present at the sur- 
 render of Burgoyne. 
 
 jSome had by this time returned from the march to Bennington ; and ther^ 
 were others remaining at home for disability, 
 
50 
 
 we would Draw a lino between ye Continent and Great 
 Briton. Voted in the affiarniative. Voted tliat all those 
 Persons that Stand on the Side of the Contanant Take 
 np arms and go on hand and hand with us in Carrjdiig 
 on the war against our Unnatural Enemies, Sueh we lieceive 
 as Friends and all others treat as Enemies. Voted that the 
 Broad alley be a line, and the South End of tlie meeting 
 hous be the Continant Side, and the jN'orth End the British 
 Side then moved for Trial and found 6 persons to stand on the 
 British Side (viz.) Elijah Billings, Jonathan Oakes, Wui. 
 Billings, Joseph Catlin, Joel Dickinson and Elias Dickinson. 
 Voted to set a gard over those Eiiemical persons. Voted the 
 Town Clerk Emmediately Desire Judge Mather to Issew out his 
 warrants against those Enemical persons returned to him in a 
 list heretofore." These six only, of the score or so of tories 
 that may have been in the town, seem to have chosen to at- 
 tend tlic meeting that day. Tliey were less malignant than 
 in some other towns. And there was little or no violence 
 used against them. A sharp eye only was kept on them at 
 critical times, and their guns were taken away. After the 
 war, Capt. Arms, by much persistence, got his gun again 
 in his own keeping. 
 
 In 1778 the town voted to accept the propositions made by the 
 Continental Congress for a union between the states. The towns 
 were of consequence in those early times. Botii in tliis case and 
 in deliberating a little later upon the adoption of a State (consti- 
 tution, tlie business was conducted ahnost as if thelocal organ- 
 ization had been an independent nation. There was no 
 returning of votes I'or and against to be counted along with 
 votes from other towns, as is now done. The town voted, 
 bodily, one way or the other on the whole proposition, or if it 
 saw fit, on each of its parts, accepting or rejecting; or advis- 
 ing to such modifications as were desired. 
 
 Throughout the revolutionary period the curiency was in 
 a very unsettled state. The government issned paper money to 
 carry on the war. This caused inflation and high prices 
 Our fathers, not wiser than others of tlieir generation, under- 
 took to check tliG rise by establiBliing fi.xed rates for work and 
 
6i 
 
 comraodities. The following are specimens, from" among 
 many, of the prices settled npon. ''Men's labor three shillings 
 per day in the summer season :" "fresh Poark of the best qual- 
 ity," three pence per pound ; " good grass fed beef," 
 two pence one farthing ; "Best Cheas" six pence ; "good 
 Spanish potatoes in the fall of the year" one shilling ; "Yern 
 Stockings of the best sort" six shillings "a pare ;" "good Sap 
 berials" tlu'ce shillings, and "all other cooper work in p)'opor- 
 tion ;" "good common meals of Victuals at Taverns Exclusive 
 of Sider" ninepence, and "other meals in proportion ;" 
 "Ilorsekeeping a Night, or twenty-foar howers" ten pence ; 
 "shoeing horses all round. Steal, tow and heal," six shillings 
 four pence ; "good yerd wide toa cloth" two shillings three 
 pence, and "other cloth in proportion ;" "a man with a sufficient 
 team to plow or drag shant exceed" six shillings per day ; "hors 
 travel" two pence "per mile ;" "to pasturing a hoi'se on good 
 feed" one shilling six pence;" a _yoak of oxen" two shillings, 
 and all other creatures in proportion." It is hard to keep the 
 stream from rising while the rain continues to fall. This leg- 
 islation did not prevent the town from subsequently paying 
 Daniel Xewhall lifteen dollars per day for "ten days riding to 
 hire money" to pay soldiers; and twenty dollars for a man's 
 work on the highway. 
 
 Near the end of the war it was voted in town meeting to 
 ask the General Court for liberty to make a Lottery with 
 Deerfield to raise money to build a bridge over Deerfield river. 
 An item which I note for the comfort of those who arc pained 
 by the corruption of these degenerate days. 
 
 When independence came it did not bring at once prosperity 
 with it. The war had made people poor; and the_y were 
 poor before. Large, sums of money had been called for. 
 •Many were brought into debt, and this, together with the de- 
 preciation of the continental money to almost utter worthless- 
 ncss, caused great distress. The times came when without 
 law a man worked a day for twenty cents in silver. Mean- 
 while, and out of these causes, arose the disreputable troubles 
 connected with Shay's rebellion. Poverty and debts brought 
 it on. The pressure of them is to be admitted in palliation. 
 
52" 
 
 But for the reason in what was attempted, impartial history 
 and all sober reflection have pronounced it tbll_y. Courts 
 were to be broken up and governments overthrown that 
 debts might not be collected. Yet the delusion bore away 
 men of clear minds and of unquestionable patriotism. Mal- 
 achi Maynard, Capt. Dinsmore, and our "Capt. Barefoot" and 
 many others, mostly from the southern half of the town, went 
 into tlie riotous and revolutionary proceedings. And there 
 was great sympathy with the movement through the whole 
 town; and a very few only resolutely opposed it. Along with 
 much other action of the same sort it was voted, Oct. 24th, 
 1785, to instruct our representative to use his influence in the 
 General Court "to have a Bank of Paper money emitted that 
 shall sink one penny a pound per month." The clearness that 
 belongs through all time to what is financial is in this. We 
 cannot wonder that, meditating on such matters, the men of 
 the south end concluded to rebel. 
 
 During all this period Conway was growing rapidly in pop- 
 ulation, both by natural increase and by immigration from 
 abroad. Of those who came in were the Rowlands — of whom 
 we have the orator of to-day — with a pedigree straight from 
 the Mayflower, the Wares and the Billinges, with Clary, Par- 
 sons, Cliilds, Field, Dunliam, Hopkins, Bigelow, Hayden, 
 Stebbins and Andrews, with very many others. The popula- 
 tion of Conway in ITUO was 2092. There were but two larger 
 towns in the county of Hampshire, embracing what are now 
 the three river counties. These was West Springfield and West- 
 field. The rank of some of the principal towns was then as 
 follows. West Springfield, 2367, Westfield, 2204, Conway, 
 2092, Northampton 1G28, Springfield 1574, Greenfield 1498, 
 Deerfield 1330. The figures for Conway throughout its first 
 hundred years may here be given. Dat > of Incorj oration, 
 estimated population 200. 1769 estimated by Mr. Emerson 
 between 400 and 500 ; 1776, 905 ; 1790, 2092 ; 1800, 2013 ; 
 1810, 1784; 1820, 1705; 1830, 1563; 1840, 1409; 1850, 
 1831 ; 1860, 1689. The number was at the highest between 
 1790 and 1800. Tlie farm houses stood tliickly over all the 
 
63 
 
 hills. Tliere were tliirtj on the road from the old meeting- 
 house over Field's Hill and Popple Hill, to the Whately line. 
 These houses were well filled withal ; ten or twelve children 
 being often foundin one dwelling. Tlie Schools also were large, 
 much beyond what they are now. In the Broomshire 
 district there were once nearly one hundred scholars ; now 
 there are scarcely twenty. As late as 1816 William A. How- 
 land kept a school of more than sixty scholars in his own, the 
 East side district, (late No. 2,) which district, having almost 
 no children, has ceased to have a separate existence. These 
 are but specimens. 
 
 At this period Conway, suitably to its position as a leading 
 town, had its newspaper. It was the Farmer's Register, pub- 
 lished weekly in the years 1798 and 1799, by Theodore 
 Leonard. It was printed first in the house now occupied by 
 Osee Adams, (then standing a little south-east of where the 
 Baptist meeting house now is, and afterwards used as a. tin- 
 shop,) and later " a few rods north of the meeting house " in 
 Pumpkin Hollow, in the building recently occuj)ied by Lucy 
 Severance. It had for its motto the lines from Thomson : — 
 
 " Here truth unlicensed reigns, and dares accost 
 Even kings themselves, or rulers of the free." 
 
 Both truth and error must in fact have " reigned " with- 
 out license or other control, in Mr. Leonard's paper. He 
 had no editorial sentiments, and published with a looseness 
 whatever came to his hand, on all sides. Part was Federal, 
 part Republican, part moral, part more thoroughly the 
 opposite than would be tolerated in any paper now cir- 
 culating among us, — which again it is hoped may com- 
 fort a little those that mourn for the times. As a spec- 
 imen of the political discussions then springing up, I give 
 here a few sentences from a " Political Dialogue," printed 
 in the Register, for 'Nov. 10, 1798, and copied from the 
 " Delaware and Eastern Shore Advertiser " ; there being 
 also printed with it a note from the " Dedhatn Minerva," out 
 of which the whole was taken, deprecating the conclusion 
 that ''the editor is advocating the sentiments therein con- 
 tained ;" — 
 
64: 
 
 " Qiies.—'Who were our late common enemies ? 
 ^?is.— The British. 
 
 g Who murdered in cold Wood our sleeping- citizens at the 
 Jruoli ; 
 
 ^.— The British. 
 
 g.-Who now courts an alliance with and hugs to their bosom 
 those same Englishmen ? 
 
 A. — The Federalists. 
 
 C-*.— Why do they do it? 
 
 ^.—Because like them they adore a kingly g-overnmont 
 
 g.— Who are the men who uniformly opposed the independ- 
 ence of t!ie United States, and aided either openly or secretly 
 the mercenary legions of George the Third, in devastating our 
 devoted country ? '^ 
 
 A. — The Tories. 
 
 (?.— Who are the men that have co-operated with those Tories 
 adopted their political principles, and in concert with them pur- 
 sue measures destructive of the rights and liberties of the 
 citizens ? 
 
 ^.— The Federalists. 
 
 (?.-VVho promised the farmers a guinea a bushel for their 
 wheat, if this same treaty was ratified ?* 
 
 A. — The Aristocrats. 
 
 (?.— Did they ever make good their promises ? 
 
 ^.— No, nor ever intended. 
 
 g._Who are the men who in their private and public conver- 
 sations speak contemptuously of a Eepublican Government and 
 are loud in applauding Monarchy and Aristocracy ? 
 
 A. — The Federalists. 
 
 (? -Who are the men that cajole, and flatter, and deceive the 
 people m order to obtain public appointments, and when in office 
 brand them with the opprobrious epithets of Ignorant Plebians, 
 Swinish Multitude, etc. ?" ' 
 
 And under many more such lieavy interrogations are " the 
 J^ederahsts made to stand. It is plain to be observed that 
 there is herein sounded tlie key-note on tlie Republican side 
 ot the long strain of controversy that followed. ' 
 
 * The " British Treaty " of 1705, negotiated by Jaj. 
 
55 
 
 News from "Washino-ton was published in Conway in twenty 
 days, and from London, sometimes in sixty, sometimes in nine- 
 ty da^ys. Tlie advertisements Averc largely of stock, lost or 
 taken np, Asaliel Wood, the negro, gave notice to the people 
 that he" proposed to discontinue ringing the bell but once a 
 day, unless some encouragenjent was given him, by subscrip- 
 tion or otherwise." The poet's corner is full of Delias and 
 Clorindas, after the dull manner of all the poetry of the 
 18th century. 
 
 Mr. Leonard also printed in 1798, the Hymn book of Elder 
 Goddard, already referred to. 
 
 With the growth of the town the Baptist Chnrchhad before 
 this time been formed. It was organized Oct. 3d, 1788, with 
 eleven male, and probably eigliteen female members. The 
 first meeting house was built in 1790 or 1791, south of the 
 Capt. Arms house, and near the spot Avliere the Conway Tool 
 Sliop a few years since stood. It was left nnfinislicd, and 
 was not occupied in winter. About the year 1810 it was 
 removed to the place where the present house stands. This, 
 the last house, was built in 1840. Amos Shevi appears to 
 have been the first preacher. But the first pastor was Calvin 
 Keyes, who was ordained Nov. 7th, 1799, and whose pastorate 
 continued more than twenty years. During his ministry 
 there were two extensive revivals, in one of which, in 1806 
 or 1807, there were added to the clmrcli fifty-five persons, and 
 in another in 1816, forty persons. The church was disbanded 
 March 21tli, 1819, and re-constituted June It^tli, 18S0. Soon 
 after this Eev. David Pease, who is with us to-day, became 
 pastor. He has been minister of the church at tliree dift'erent 
 times, amounting in all to ten years. During his first pastor- 
 ate the church gained strength, but was still feeble, seldom 
 raising m.ore than $200 a year, for support of preaching. In 
 earlier times it had withheld any fixed salary from its minis- 
 ters, as a matter of principle. For the last eighteen or twenty 
 years preaching has been sustained constantly. The whole 
 amount now raised annually for church expenses, is |1000. 
 Tiie present number of members is eighty-eight. The pastor 
 is Rev. J. J. Townsend. 
 
66 
 
 This record of the Baptist church should not be passed by 
 without reference to tlie ill feeh'ng, now happilj all gone, 
 which once existed between the Baptists in our town, and the 
 Congregahonalists, or supporters of the so-called "standing, 
 order From early colonial times the general fact in law was 
 
 Zlln '"'"T ^^'^^'^.^^^^'^^ '^' tlie support of Congregational 
 preaching. Some of the exceptions to this fact wni^soon be 
 noticed. The working of this law necessarily stirred iip bad 
 blood; especially in the later periods, when " dissenters," as 
 they were termed, began to be numerous. The Congregation- 
 ahsts having been the founders of the colony, and havin<. 
 
 r4r 1 'T1 '^'!l' ^^^^°^^ ^^^^"^^- P---°' --to 
 regard the land and the state as their own ; and thev looked 
 
 on a Baptist minister as an interloper. In the quari^els that 
 a o,e they were most in fault ; as from the nature of the case 
 they must almost necessarily have been. They have got out 
 of this business to the most discredit and real dama.e,-as 
 they deserved to. It is still remembered of that most excel- 
 lent and ordinarily well behaving Christian, Parson Emerson 
 
 in7] l"^/! r"l ^^"'''' "^"^" '^ ^'^'''' Elder was preach: 
 mg, he had to be shown the door of the house for his insolent 
 manners. It is also to be allowed on the other hand tha 
 there were Baptists wlio were not unwilling to be abased 
 for the use they could make of it in reproaches.* 
 
 Ihelaws of that period have this partial justification only 
 m tiie fact that our fathers in Massachusetts could not then 
 have been expected to have learned the lessons laid up for tlie 
 next age; and in the belief they had that religion could not 
 flourish, nor consequently the institutions of civil society be 
 maintained unless all were compelled to aid in supporting 
 public worship. ^ ^ '^ 
 
 It ouglit also to be stated, since it appears not to be gener- 
 ally known, that provision had begun to be made long before 
 for relieving the hardships of conscientious "dissenters.'' 
 
 * This has been so in all like cases, and comes of universal human nature 
 
 Toso TV?" '" T" '''™' '™°"^ "^' ""'' '^'^" s'™" '' ^'^ f^-«"^ ^1- "^-"o: 
 
 nes of Baptists; and among others, several years since, by a no less valuable 
 authority thaq the late Mrs. John Arms. ^-iJuaoie 
 
5T 
 
 From a date earlier fhan tlie first settlement in Conway it 
 has been legally j)ossiblc in Massaclinsetts for a man who be- 
 longed to a TBaptist society, and who worshipped with it, to 
 secure the payment of his tax in tliat direction. It might go 
 first, witli all the rest, into tlie hands of the town treasurer ; 
 but there were means of getting it out again. Yet it is true 
 that the bias of judges, and the prejudices of local officers, 
 might often make this difficult. Moreover there might fre- 
 quently arise a donl^t as to the legal fact of the existence of 
 the "dissenting" society, the certificate of membership in 
 which was needed. Regularity of meeting, with preaching, 
 was required. In our town this was doubtless for many years 
 the legal point of difficulty which the Baptists encountered. 
 The law of the State offered no other. In tlie neighboring 
 town of Ashfield, concerning which so much has been said, 
 this should not have existed. Morever it should be said that 
 in Conway the hardsliips of Baptist tax payers were more than 
 once relieved by direct vote of the town. That man whose 
 vindication of his 'rio;hts in his own house against Parson 
 Emerson lias before been mentioned, was one of those in 
 whose behalf this interposition was made. This much has 
 been said concerning the law on this point, in order tliat the 
 errors of the past may be only correctly estimated, and tluit 
 the good name in history of our Commonwealth may suffer 
 no farther abatement than exact truthfulness requires. The 
 successive steps by whicli the connection between town and 
 parish was loosened, until in 1834 it was wholly broken up, 
 need not here be traced. It is a sign of progress, and a mat- 
 ter of grateful recognition, that the temper of men is not now 
 so tried or exhibited, and that the fellowship of Ou'istians is 
 not so broken. 
 
 There is a story of curious interest concerning certain 
 Baptist apple trees said to have been taken in Ashfield in 
 distress and sold in Conway for non-payment of minister's 
 tax. Being led to suppose that this could not have been a 
 legal business, and that apple trees could never by right of 
 law have been taken for discharge of town taxes of any sort, 
 and wishing to be confirmed in my belief in this point, I have 
 8 
 
58 
 
 eeenred the opinion at length of my valued friend, the Attor- 
 ney General of the Commonwealth.* He is clear in his 
 statement that the law permitted nothing of the kind. Omit- 
 ting the argument, I quote only some concluding portions: — 
 " It follows as a legal consequence tJiat they could never law- 
 fullj' be distrained upon. The probability is no such thing 
 was ever done. If it was a good action in law would have 
 lain to recover damages. Since the deed was done so long 
 ago I fear under the statute of limitation no legal remedy re- 
 mains. But wo can and you shall denounce the heartless 
 tax-collector. * * * But you may rest assured 
 
 no apple-trees were ever taken. Our ancestors were not fools. 
 But even fools have an insight amounting to genius, as to 
 what is exempt from seizure for taxes and debts. It is in this 
 respect more than any other that the wisdom of the learned 
 in the law is confounded by tlie teaching of the simple." 
 
 The clearest reasoning will not undo what may happen to 
 have been done. But we are taught in what light the matter 
 is to be regarded. That ancient Ashlield man of the lost 
 apple trees is by no means deserving of our sympathy, but he 
 should much rather be blamed for suffering the public law to 
 be so violated upon himself. One of the trees reported to 
 have been thus carried off, is now standing on the grounds of 
 Horace B. Childs, Esq. I have tried the apples, and their 
 taste is as if either the tree had not been removed at all, or 
 had been illegally removed. 
 
 The population of the town, as has been said, was greatest 
 near the close of the last century. It was at this period that 
 there began the great outward flow of emigration from us to 
 the westward, which has not ceased to the present time. It 
 went first to Central and Western New York, then to 
 Northern Ohio, then beyond to Michigan and Illinois, and 
 then still further to Iowa, or wherever now the West may be. 
 How many have gone is not known. But the descendants of 
 these children of Conway towards the West must far out- 
 
 * Charles Alien, Esq., of Franklin County, who should have been born in 
 Conway. 
 
69 
 
 number those that still remain upon her soil. One may trav- 
 el over all that region and rest morning, noon, and night, in 
 the liomes of these ConAvay men. Viewed in all its results 
 the going out from us of tliis great emigration is not perhaps 
 to be regretted. We may wish, however, that it had not been 
 accelerated and indeed necessitated by the improvident hus- 
 bandry of the first generations of farmers. The soil was 
 thriftlessly drawn from and its riches spent. The steep and 
 fruitful hill-sides were plowed and sowed, and suffered to be 
 washed by the rains, often for many successive years, until 
 they wouid yield no more. The effects of this wretched cul- 
 ture are still too plainly visible. The process of waste has 
 been arrested; and it may be hoped it is being reversed. It 
 is believed that the productive capacity of the soil is at 
 present increasing rather than diminishing. As interested in 
 the prosperity of the town we must regret however that so 
 much of the best pasturing ground we have, in the east and 
 south, is passing into the possession of non-resident owners. 
 
 It is to be said, moreover, that the men of this middle period 
 of our history did not make in all cases the most profitable 
 use of what the soil could produce. Enormous crops of 
 apples were raised, which went into cider, and then into 
 brandy. It seemed to be nialdng rich those that sold, but it 
 made poor more that bought, or that drank of their own pro- 
 duction. There were pi'obably fifty cider mills and upwards, 
 and there were at the least six distilleries, all in operation at 
 the same time. One of them consumed a thousand barrels of 
 cider annually. Brandy took oft' much barn boarding, and 
 overthrew many fences and men. Parson Emerson, in 1819, 
 congratulated the town that it had " so few comparatively 
 downright sots." Yet bespeaks with earnestness against the 
 evil. And there was need that the word " compai-atively " 
 should then be introduced. The change from that time, if it 
 is not complete, is a great and happy one. 
 
 The first grist mill was built about the year 1767, by Caleb 
 Sharp. Another was built in 1770 or 1771, below the Thwing 
 place, in the north part of the town. There was also a third 
 for a few^ years on Bear river, above the Macomber bridge. 
 
Co 
 
 Every one bolted his own grist at first, in a hand-bolt. Saw 
 mills were in operation all along South river, and on some 
 other streams. There "vverc several tanneries, while the hem- 
 lock bark held ont. One establishment of this kind is now in 
 operation, located on Sonth river, near tlic Post office, and 
 owned by Wm. T. Clapp. Yery near the site of this tannery 
 Aaron Ilayden set np a " fulling mill," about 1780. About 
 1797 Dr. Moses Hayden, with (his son-in-law,) R, Wells, made 
 an addition of an oil mill. The cakes of meal rolled into 
 the river, save as the boys took them to play " grindstone." 
 In 1810 tliere was estt^blished here a broadcloth mannfactory, 
 and ai^ain a cotton mill ; and with changes and disasters the 
 concern was finally destroyed by tire, in 185G, under 
 the management of B. W. "VVriii;ht. The woolen mill of the 
 Conway Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1837, was 
 built nearly half a mile higher up tlie stream. A larger one, 
 •whicli now stands, replaced the first not far from 1840. It 
 was under the direction and subsequent ownership of Edmund 
 Burke, whose name the upper village bears. And it has now 
 passed into the possession of Edward Delabarre. Midway 
 between these two is a cotton mill, erected in 1846, by Gen. 
 James S. Whitne}^ and Ciiarles Wells, burned in 1856 wliile 
 owned by L. B, Wright, replaced, and now owned by the firm 
 of Tucker & Cook. These parties have built in 1S66 a fine 
 stone dam, making a large reservoir, a mile westward up the 
 river. Three quarters of a mile below the Post office, Messrs. 
 Tucker & Cook also own a cotton mill, erected in 1837, by 
 Gen. Asa ilowland. A large manufactory of tools was estab- 
 lished in Barkeville, under the direction of Alonzo Parker, 
 not far from 1845, about forty rods above the woolen mill. 
 The building was burned in 1851, and the company removed 
 to Greenfield. The South River Cutlery Company began 
 operations in 1851, erecting a building in Burkeville, on the 
 right bank of the river, toward tlie old center of the 
 town. Here for four or five years were made knives, 
 forks, and great losses, until the business was closed 
 np, and the buildings at length mostly removed. Besides 
 these the coiub manufacture was formerly carried on by Dea. 
 
01 
 
 Jonathan Ware, and by liis sons, at tlie place now occupied 
 bj Lemuel S. Boies. And tin ware lias been made from an 
 early period, at one time largely in Sherman Corner, and since 
 then at various establishments in the middle of the town. 
 The Conway Stock and Mutual Fire Insurance Company be- 
 gan business in 1819, The Stock Company subsequently went 
 to Boston, and to final grievous dissolution. The Mutual de- 
 partment remains and prospers. The Conway Bank has a 
 Capital of $150,000, and has been in successful operation 
 since 1851, 
 
 The first record of voting for Governor of the State, appears 
 in September, 1780, soon after the adoption of the State 
 Constitution. The record is on this wise : 
 
 Men's Names who wave Chosen for a 
 Governor. 
 
 Number of Votes for the 
 Same. 
 
 Honorable 
 JoHS Hancock 
 John Adams, Esq. 
 
 45 
 1 
 
 For many years when John Hancock, patriot and re])ubli- 
 can, was Candidate for Governor, he took almost tlie entire 
 vote ; though on other offices there was division. As parties 
 besan to form near the end of the century Conway became 
 Federalist, Tliere are strong reasons for thinking that purely 
 political considerations would not in our town, have led to this 
 result. There were tendencies, from the time of Shay's re- 
 bellion, and from the revolution, looking in the other direction. 
 But the supposed, or real, pointing of the great figure of 
 "Washington was towards the Federal side. And the dread 
 especially of infidel sentiments in religion associated witli the 
 name of JefiPerson, proved decisive here, as it did throughout 
 most of Xew England. Yet there were Kepublicans in re- 
 spectable numbers.* In 1801 the vote stood, Federal 134, 
 
 * They did not apply to themselves the term Democrat, 
 
62 
 
 Kepnblican 63.* In 1808 Gore, (Fed.) had 142 votes for 
 Governor, and Snllivan, (Rep.) 123. In 1812 Strong, (Fed.) 
 received 181, Gerry, (Rep.) 136. These figures represent tlie 
 ordinary relative strength of the two parties. The town rep- 
 resentatives were all one wa3^ The first gap in the Federal 
 succession occurs in 1821:, when John Arms was chosen. 
 But this was after the lines were broken, and while we were 
 " All Republicans, all Federalists." 
 
 During the earlier years, embracing the period from the 
 beginning of the century to the close of the war with Eng- 
 land, the contest was carried on, as it was over all the country, 
 with great zeal. There was also a degree of personal animos- 
 ity which has not been equalled since, so far as relates to our 
 town or this section of the country, in the history of our 
 politics. Political feeling entered then far more than now 
 into the relations of social life. . Opposition of party between 
 some families at times seriously disturbed neighborly inter- 
 course. Political agreement, on the other hand, aided more 
 powerfully perhaps than it has since, in the formation of 
 friendly connections.f 
 
 Mauy incidents are preserved from those times, illustrating 
 the liveliness of political feeling that then existed. AVhen 
 either party raised a " liberty pole," it was not an easy thing 
 to keep the flag on its statf. Upon the day before a Fourth of 
 July the Republicans lifted one in and above the elm tree by 
 I he Baptist meeting house. That flag they declared should fly 
 undisturbed ; and that the thing might be made sure, they set 
 an armed watch through the night in the meetinghouse. But 
 Jesse Severance walked carelessly under the tree and leaned 
 
 * A property qualification being required, the number of voters was relatively 
 less than now. 
 
 t There was an instance of this in the very close friendship subsisting between 
 the three active republicans, John Anns, Col. Joseph Eice, and Dr. Wm. Hamilton, 
 with their families ; and of which many recollections still remain. Wm. Hamilton 
 died young, but not before he had shown himself conspicuously, both in his profes- 
 sion and beyond it, a man of mark. Joseph Rice lived also to but little beyond 
 middle ago. But John Arms was long among us, with his strong will and quick 
 perceptions and unfiling memory, — one of the most remarkable men for native 
 endowment that the town has ever produced. 
 
63 
 
 against it, and Levi Parsons ran up from his shonlders, where- 
 after what seemed tlie one man walked leisurely away. Bat 
 with the morning light the republican watchers saw not the 
 flag of their country. 
 
 The adventure also of the old Deerfield gun into 
 our town at this period, should be recorded. This gun 
 is a legacy that the town had from the Indian wars. It ap- 
 peared to some of our younger Eepublicans that, since 
 Conway was early a part of Deerfield, and since Deerfield 
 had become Federal, and since before in the revolution it was 
 always near to being Tory, — it appeared to them that the can- 
 non should be allowed a breath of difterent air. The unusual 
 circumstance of the election in Massachusetts of a Republican 
 Governor* greatly confirmed them in this impression. So it 
 was that year that on the morning of the " old fashioned 
 Election," or Inauguration Day, the voice of the gun was 
 heard, deep and strong, and frfiquent, from the Conway hills. 
 The Deerfield men listened and comprehended. But they 
 also disapproved. They armed themselves and swarmed out 
 in great anger upon the Conway road, Gen. Hoyt being mili- 
 tary leader, and all together the posse of Sheriff Saxton. 
 The report of the coming invasion spread, and a crowd was 
 collected to hold the gun ; or to see how the matter would go 
 on. But the business grew serious, and the end was near to 
 have been made in blood-shed. The cannon was carried 
 into Wm. Rcdfield's boarding house.f " Bill Redfield " was 
 of violent temper, and stood at nothing ; and there were oth- 
 ers with him o+^ the same sort. They were ready to try keep- 
 ing the house and the gun against all the Federalists of Deer- 
 field. But the law looked the other way, — and so after re- 
 flection, did the more sober men of the party.' The piece was 
 finally surrendered ; but with a distinct agreement that it 
 should not be fired by the Deerfield men within the bounds of 
 the town. So the old cannon went sullenly back along the 
 
 * Either Sullivan or Gerry. 
 
 + Now part of the long house on the hill, opposite and south-east from the 
 Baptist Meeting House ; and standing then on the same spot. The boarders 
 were mostly workmen in the tin shop across the way. 
 
64: 
 
 road over whicli it had passed as it came up with a brisk step 
 and sounding clieer.* 
 
 The contest over this gun has been continued in more 
 recent times by the young men of Greenfield, whicli town 
 Avas also formerly included in Deerfield. The right of the 
 matter is clear, and has happily become well fixed by time. 
 The ownership of the gnn belongs with Deerfield only; and 
 Deerfield has a right to keep it, while Conway and Greenfield 
 have no right except to remove it whenever they can from 
 Deerfield. f 
 
 The second war with England made little stir among us of 
 a military sort, except that in 18] i, when there was an^'alarm 
 of British invasion on the coast, there went down a regiment 
 from this section. Tlie late Gen. Thomas Langley of Hawley, 
 was in command as Colonel, and Gen. Asa Howland, of our 
 town, Avas Major. Tliis was "Gov. Strong's war." The 
 British prudently determined to have no part in it. 
 
 "= There arc various accounts respecting the personal influences among the re- 
 publicans, by which the keepers of the gun Avere at last, and with the° greatest 
 difficulty, prevailed on to give it up. The truth is that no single person secured the 
 final result. Jose])h Rice had been sent for at (he beginning of the trouble, anJ 
 had urged that the laws should be respected. John Arms concurred ; yet there was 
 that in him to which giving up came not most naturally; and it is clearly remem- 
 bered that something of that quality came to light on this occasion. The oppor- 
 tune coming up at a later hour of Wm. Hamilton, decided the balance, inclining 
 before, but still tremulously, towards peace. Altogether the escape from hard 
 fighting was a narrow one. 
 
 t It was thought of as desirable that tliis ancient arm should be here with us 
 to-day, to take a part in our celebration. It is due to the Deerfield authorities to 
 say that they have spoken courteously of us in this connectie,-, and are understood 
 to have been willing to grant us the loan of the piece. It is allowed also that the 
 gun has been well cared for by them, having been sacredly kept in the bottoms of 
 rivers, and in the sub-soil of old fields. Notwithstanding it is reported to have 
 gotten into rust, and to be like to split. It was said not to be best for this reason 
 to ask for its use to-day. But the soul of the historian has nothing of rest, unless 
 he passes down all that is true to the coming time. I must therefore record that 
 it was reckoned by us a small matter that the instrument should bo here, except it 
 were honorably brought, according to the due manner of the gun. But, occupied 
 as we were, and embarrassed also by the uncertainties incident to the before men- 
 tioned pious care with which the weapon is preserved, to proceed in that rightful 
 order did not appear to be convenient. We must all hope that with the next return 
 of our centennial commemoration, this failure of our present observance may be 
 appropriately repaired, 
 
65 
 
 When new political connections began to be made in the 
 times of John Qnincy Adams, and of Jackson, the town 
 swung to the Whig side. Yet there was again a strong mi- 
 nority with what had then become the Democratic party. 
 Questions growing out of the Temperance reform, entered 
 here also largely into town politics. And between 1830 and 
 1840 the choice of representatives was influenced by these 
 nearly or quite as much as by national politics. The voice of 
 the town in the Legislature for most of these years was given 
 against the reform. But in this respect that was an excep- 
 tional period. In 1840 the Presidential vote stood, Harrison, 
 (Whig,) 171 , Yan Buren, (Dem.) 134. In 1844, Clay, (Whig,) 
 147, Polk, (Dem.) 119. In those years respectively. Dr. E. 
 D. Hamilton and Capt. Otis Childs represented the town in 
 the Legislature. In 1848, Taylor, (Whig,) had 133, Cass, 
 (Dem.) 89. In 1852 Scott, (Whig,) 181, Pierce, (Dem.) 131. 
 
 Our townsman. Gen. James L. Whitney, whose presence 
 we miss to-day, was on this Democratic electoral ticket. Ho 
 had been representative in 1850, and he was chosen again in 
 1853. Saving these years all had been Whigs since 1838. 
 
 These were the days of " the Coalition," a species of union 
 which I am not now able very exactly to describe, made in 
 Massachusetts between the Democratic party and the " Free 
 Soil " party, then rising in numbers. For several years our 
 town was more evenly divided between Whiggery and Coa- 
 lition, than it has ever been before or since on any other 
 political issue. And as the choice of Governor frequently 
 devolved upon the Legisl'ature, no one having the popular 
 majority then required, the contest for representative became 
 active and exciting. There may be some of ns still living 
 who have faint recollections of those times. We may have 
 heard also, of committee meetings late and early, of diligent 
 study of the voting list, of hunting trips and cattle driving 
 expeditions, planned for election day for patriotic young men 
 and others, and of various reported chicaneries, said to have 
 been devised for effect upon the doubtful ballot. Tliose and 
 such like things, — being unwilling to rest upon mere report, — 
 I record^uot. But I willingly recall ^these traditions, and 
 9 
 
66 
 
 the memories also of mTic]i Whig and Coalition feasting and 
 merriment, in the narrow halls of tlie Conway Hotel, be- 
 cause there was good temper in it all; and because, looking 
 back upon it from across the sterner days we have known, the 
 sight is pleasing. May there be in the coming times contests 
 for principles and laws and policies, or even for men, but 
 not struggles for government and national existence itself. 
 The passage of the " Nebraska Bill " in the spring of 1854, 
 destroyed the national Whig party, weakened before, and 
 brought into life the modern Eepublicanism. In 1856, Con- 
 way gave to Fremont, (Rep.) 139 votes, to Buchanan, (Dem.) 
 81. The vote for Grovernor for the same year stood, Gardner, 
 (Native American, or "Know Nothing,") 129, Quincy, (Rep.) 
 104, Beach, (Dem.) 81. In 1860 all was Republican, Lincoln 
 receiving 218 out of 260 votes. And at ]iis re-election in 
 1864 there were given him 223, and to Gen. McClellan 62. 
 
 It needs not here to be marked that these were the years 
 of war for the Union, and for Freedom. The shock of the 
 opening fight, the shouts of the early enthusiasm, the days 
 of gloom, the alternations of fear and of hope that followed, 
 the steadfast purpose that did not change, the noise at last, ' 
 crash after crash, as the rebellion fell, and ringing over all 
 the mighty sound of triumph for Liberty and Union, proved 
 to be inseparable, and both made certain to abide,— all these 
 are hardly yet as of yesterday. 
 
 The names of the brave men who went forth from among 
 us are here given, as they stand upon the Records of the 
 Town.* 
 
 Date Enlistment. 
 June, ISfJl. 
 
 Name. 
 J. Dickinson Allis. 
 Alonzo H. Warren. 
 AVelcome F. Cone. 
 Wm. H. Adams. 
 Horace W. Graves. 
 E. G. Haj'den. 
 
 John P. Clark. 
 Edward R. Gardner, 
 
 Reg. 
 Mass. 10th. 
 
 Remarks. 
 Died in service Jan. 5, '63. 
 
 Killed in battle May, '64. 
 
 Wao;oner. 
 
 Discharged on account of 
 
 sickness, 1861. 
 Re-enlisted in 1864. 
 Killed at battle of Fair 
 
 Oaks, May 31, 1863. 
 
 * Tiis list was furnished by H. W. Billings, Esq., Clerk of the town. 
 
67 
 
 l)ate Enlistment. 
 1861. 
 
 1S61. 
 Aug. 1861. 
 
 July, 1863. 
 
 Ang. 1861. 
 
 Sept. 5, 1864. 
 Aug. 1861. 
 
 July, 1863. 
 July, 1863. 
 
 Name. 
 F. E. Hartwell. 
 Alouzo Bates. 
 
 W. Rollia Smith. 
 
 Henry Bowman. 
 Geo. F. Arms. 
 Henry C. Allen. 
 Hiram A. Gray. 
 Orrin D. Remington. 
 Geo. W. Flagg. 
 
 Tyler Harding. 
 Henry J. Wilder. 
 
 Chas. M. Smith. 
 
 Baxter Harding. 
 Eliphalet L. Hall. 
 Albion F. Hubbard. 
 Geo. Austin Abell. 
 Henry A. Stearns. 
 John W. Jackson. 
 Elias F. Bradford. 
 E. A. Burnham. 
 Sam' i Ware. 
 
 Francis A. Clary. 
 
 John W. Goland. 
 
 Sj-lyester M. Ware. 
 Adelbert Bailey. 
 Pliny F. Nims, 
 Chas. F. Wright. 
 G. H. Johnson. 
 C. Geo. Wells. 
 S. H. Dyer. 
 Wm. C. Maynard. 
 Liberty Burnett. 
 Edward Metivier. 
 James Johnson. 
 John Island. 
 Patrick Hayes. 
 Fred. D. Howland. 
 S. R. Walker. 
 James F. Hunter. 
 John White. 
 Geo. W. Dinsmore. 
 
 John Lannigar. 
 
 Fred. Wrigley. 
 Ciias. Richardson. 
 Silas N. Peterson. 
 Ira N. Hitchcock. 
 Peter Hackett. 
 
 " " enlisted in 
 
 Patrick Gallivan. 
 Geo. H. Smith. 
 J. W. Smiih. 
 Wm. H. Averill. 
 Lyman A. Bradford. 
 Sam'l Bigelow. 
 Lucius W. Merrifield 
 
 Reg. 
 Mass. 10th. 
 
 Mass. 20th. 
 Mass. 1st Cav. 
 
 Mass. 31st. 
 
 Remarks. 
 Re-enlisted '64, 37th Reg. 
 Wd. in bat. helore Rich- 
 
 m ond, 1862. Dis. Jan. 
 
 15, 1863. 
 Dis. onacc'tof sickn's, 63. 
 
 Re-enlisted Nov. 1863, 
 
 in Mass. o4th Ree\ 
 
 Promoted to 2d Lt. 
 enlisted 1864. 
 
 Re- 
 
 5th N. T. Cav. 
 
 2d N. T. Infy. 
 Conn. Reg. 
 Mass. 38th. 
 " 34th. 
 
 " 2d Cav. 
 " 34tii. 
 " 27th. 
 
 ' 37th. 
 
 Re-enlisted. Diedofw'ds 
 rec'd in bat. July 31 '64. 
 
 Pris. at Andersonville, Ga. 
 Escaped Oct. 9, 1864. 
 
 Died in serv. June 19, '63. 
 
 Died at Andersonville, 
 
 Ga., Sept. 1864. 
 Killed at Port Hudson, 
 
 La., June 14, 1863. 
 Re- enlisted 1864. Died 
 
 April 24, 1865. 
 
 Re-enlisted 1864. 
 
 1864. 
 Dis. July 17 '63, disability. 
 Re-eulisied 1864. 
 
 1804. 
 
 Re-enlisted 1864. 
 
 1864. 
 
 " 1864. 
 
 " 1864. 
 
 Died pris. at Belle Island, 
 
 March, 1864. 
 Killed at Hanover, Pa., 
 
 June 30, 1863. 
 Killed at Battle Antietam. 
 Dis. 1863. Re-enlisted. 
 Died Nov. 10, 1862. 
 
 Dis. Dec. '63. Disability. 
 Jan. 1864. 
 
 Dis. April 7 '63, disability. 
 
 Died Jan. 9, 1865. 
 
 Dis. April, '63, Disability, 
 
68 
 
 Date Enlistment. 
 1862. 
 
 Jan. 1864. 
 April 6, " 
 
 June 3, 186.3. 
 Sept. 1862. 
 
 Jr. 
 
 Name. 
 Fred. E. Kowe. 
 
 OlisF. Childs. 
 E. A. Blood. 
 
 Geo. C. Jolmson. 
 Sumner Warner. 
 John Connelly. 
 James H. Clapp. 
 Horace Dill. 
 Fred M. Patrick. 
 Horace Hosford. 
 O. P. Edgerton. 
 Wm. Townsend 
 E. W. Richardson. 
 H. G. Scott. 
 
 Alonzo O. Sikes. 
 
 John W. Bradford. 
 E. W. Hamilton. 
 Manley Guilford. 
 
 Wm. D. Sanderson. 
 M. S. Jenkins. 
 Henry C. Munson. 
 Patrick Manning. 
 Chas. E. Crittenden. 
 Chas. A. Holcomb. 
 William Watson. 
 Geo. F. Crittenden. 
 Wilson G. Field. 
 George Sheppard. 
 A. Jndsou Andrews. 
 Franklin B. Lee. 
 C. G. Townsend. 
 Nathaniel Bartlett. 
 
 Geo. D. Braman. 
 Jas. S. Stebbins. 
 
 Henry Nye. 
 Wm. D. AUis. 
 
 Wm. H. Clapp. 
 Marcus Howland. 
 
 Oscar Richardson. 
 Henry F. Macomber, 
 Medad Hill. 
 Charles Macomber. 
 
 Reg. I Remarks. 
 
 Mass. 87th. 'D is. June 30,1863, disa- 
 bility. 
 Dis. 1863. Disability. 
 Taken pris. May 6, 1864. 
 Supposed to be dead. 
 
 Killed May 5, 1864. 
 Promoted to 2d Lieut. 
 
 " 57th. 
 " 32d. 
 7th CO. H. Art. \ 
 
 Mass. 52d. JCapt. Res'nd Oct. 29, '63. 
 Promoted Capt. 1862. 
 2d Lieut. 
 
 Died at Baton Rouge, La. 
 
 July 10, 1863. 
 Died at Baton Rouge, La., 
 
 Feb. 11, lb63. 
 
 Died at Baton Rouge, La., 
 April 22, 1863. 
 
 Died at Baton Rouge, 
 June, 1863. 
 
 Died at Baton Rouge, La. 
 Aug. 3, 1863, 
 
 Came home sick and died 
 Aug. 18, 1863. Never 
 mustered out of service. 
 
 Died at Baton Rouge, 
 La., Jan. 31, 1863. 
 
 Of men not residents, hired to send on the quota of the Town of Conway, there 
 were 31. 
 
 In addition to the above, five men were furnished by the state, from the colored 
 men, enlisted in Rebel states, on the quota of this town, and their bounties paid 
 by the town. 
 
 The quota of the toAvu was filled as called for. On the 1st Dec. 1864, the town 
 Lad a surplus of five men, above aU calls, and at the close of the war a surplus 
 of eleven. 
 
 Of comiaissioned ofacers Conway famiBhed fiye. 
 
69 
 
 The citizens ol^the to^vn, — though political divisions still 
 subsisted, — were united, with only here and thei'e an excep- 
 tion, whichi forbear to name, in the maintenance of thesfov- 
 ernment and the defence of the national life. The patriotic 
 determination approached nearer to unanimity than even in the 
 first great w^ar of independence. The women of Conway are 
 meant to be included in these general statements. They were 
 not behind those of any part of the country in abundant 
 labors for the soldiers in the field, or in efforts of any sort to 
 sustain the high and steady tone of public feeling and to keep 
 the great purpose fixed. 
 
 To complete this review of our political history lists are 
 here given of Representatives to the General Court, and also 
 of the Town Clerks and Treasurers. These lists, though they 
 have been re-examined in nearly every part, were made out as 
 far as 1844 by Capt. Childs. 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 1776 
 
 Cyrus Rice. 
 
 1811. 
 
 John Williams. 
 
 1777. 
 
 "u a 
 
 1811. 
 
 David Childs. 
 
 1779. 
 
 Jonathan Whitney. 
 
 1812. 
 
 Williams & Childs. 
 
 1780. 
 
 u u 
 
 1813. 
 
 Elisha Billings. 
 
 1780. 
 
 Oliver Wetmore. 
 
 1813. 
 
 David Childs. 
 
 1781. 
 
 Lucius Allis. 
 
 1814. 
 
 Billings & Childs. 
 
 1782. 
 
 Prince Tobey. 
 
 1815. 
 
 (i a 
 
 1783. 
 
 H 11 
 
 1816. 
 
 David Childs. 
 
 1785. 
 
 ii ii 
 
 1816. 
 
 Samuel Warren. 
 
 1786. 
 
 Robert Hamilton. 
 
 1818. 
 
 Joel Parsons. 
 
 1787. 
 
 u u 
 
 1821. 
 
 " " 
 
 1788. 
 
 Consider Arms. 
 
 1824. 
 
 John Arms. 
 
 1791. 
 
 William Billings, 
 
 1826. 
 
 Ira Amsden. 
 
 1792. 
 
 " " 
 
 1827. 
 
 John Arms. 
 
 1793. 
 
 11 (1 
 
 1828. 
 
 Joseph Avery. 
 
 1794. 
 
 a 11 
 
 1829. 
 
 u u 
 
 1795. 
 
 Oliver Root. 
 
 1829. 
 
 Samuel Warren. 
 
 1796. 
 
 a a 
 
 1830. 
 
 Charles E. Billings 
 
 1797. 
 
 (1 u 
 
 1831. 
 
 " a 
 
 1798. 
 
 William Billings. 
 
 1832. 
 
 C. E. Billings. 
 
 1799. 
 
 Malachi Maynard. 
 
 1832. 
 
 Darius Stearns. 
 
 1800. 
 
 u a 
 
 1833. 
 
 Billings & Stearns. 
 
 1801. 
 
 (1 a 
 
 1834. 
 
 '< u 
 
 1803. 
 
 Reuben Bardwell. 
 
 1835. 
 
 C. E. Billings. 
 
 1804. 
 
 U If 
 
 1835. 
 
 John Arms. 
 
 1805. 
 
 u a 
 
 1836. 
 
 C. E. Billings. 
 
 1806. 
 
 Capt. Bannister. 
 
 1837. 
 
 Phineas Bartlett. 
 
 1807. 
 
 " " 
 
 1838. 
 
 Christopher Arms. 
 
 1808. 
 
 li li 
 
 1839. 
 
 E. D. Hamilton. 
 
 1809. 
 
 John Williams. 
 
 1840. 
 
 " <i u 
 
 1809. 
 
 Isaac Baker. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Otis Childs. 
 
 1810. 
 
 John Williams, 
 
 1843. 
 
 <( a 
 
70 
 
 1844. 
 
 Nathaniel P. Baker. 
 
 1855. 
 
 Edwin Cooley. 
 
 1846. 
 
 John Clary. 
 
 1856. 
 
 E. A. Coffin. 
 
 1847. 
 
 U (1 
 
 « 
 
 
 1850. 
 
 James S. Whitney. 
 
 1857. 
 
 Wm. C. Campbell 
 
 1851. 
 
 Otis Childs. 
 
 1861. 
 
 Emory Sherman. 
 
 1852. 
 
 E. Fisher Ames. 
 
 1862. 
 
 Franklin Tease. 
 
 1853. 
 
 James S. Whitney. 
 
 1866. 
 
 Austin Rice. 
 
 1854. 
 
 E. Fisher Ames. 
 
 
 
 From its Incorporation to the end of town representation in 
 1856 the town failed to send a representative in 24 years, in- 
 cluding 8 years before 1776. For many years the town, and 
 not the state, paid its representative ; a circumstance which 
 doubtless had weight in deciding the question whether to send. 
 
 1767 to 1775. 
 1776 to 1783. 
 1784 to 1800. 
 1807 to 1826. 
 1827 to 1836. 
 
 TOWN CLERKS. 
 
 Consider Arms. 
 Oliver Wetmore. 
 Oliver Root. 
 David Childs. 
 Elisha Billings. 
 
 1837 to 1841. Otis Childs. 
 
 1842. 
 
 1843 to 1851. 
 
 1852 to 1854. 
 
 1855. 
 
 1856 to 1861. 
 
 Otis Leach. 
 James S. Whitney. 
 E. F. Ames. 
 Eurotas Wells. 
 Franklin Childs. 
 
 1862 to 1867. H. W. Billings. 
 
 TOWN TREASURERS. 
 
 1767 to 1775. 
 1776. 
 
 1777 to 1783. 
 1784 to 1796. 
 1797 to 1799. 
 1800 to 1811. 
 1812 to 1815. 
 1816. 
 
 Consider Arms. 
 Elisha A m.sden. 
 Benjamin Pulsifer. 
 Malachi Maynard. 
 John Williams. 
 Malachi Maynard. 
 Elisha Billings. 
 Malachi Mavnard. 
 
 1841 to 1845. 
 1846 to 1849. 
 1850 to 1851, 
 1852. 
 1853. 
 
 1854 to 1855. 
 1856 to 1863. 
 1864 to 1867. 
 
 1817 to 1840. Phineas Bartlit. 
 
 Anson Shepherd. 
 Wm. C. Campbell. 
 Gurdon Edgerton. 
 T. S. Dickinson. 
 Gurdon Edgerton. 
 T. S. Dickinson. 
 +Gurdon Edgerton. 
 H. W. Billings. 
 
 The Physicians living and practising in Conway have been 
 
 as follows : Doctors Moses Hayden, Samuel Ware, 
 
 Kittredge, R. Wells, Halloway, Wm. Hamilton, George 
 
 Rogers, Washington Hamilton ; and E. D. Hamilton, who is 
 now in practice. And of the homoeopathic order : Dr. H, A. 
 Collins, Dr. Wilson ; and Dr. D. T. Vining, who is still practis- 
 ing. There have gone abroad from us, Dr. Joseph Emerson, 
 
 * At this point the "District System" was introduced, to the great injury, it is to 
 be feared, of the smaller towns. The names that follow are of District representa- 
 tives, residents in Conway. 
 
 t Public money failed here to be accounted for. 
 
71 
 
 6on of John Emerson, and Doctors Eben "Wells, Elislia Clark, 
 Wm. Billings, Lyman Bartlett and Oliver D. Root.* 
 
 Of resident lawyers the town has had Wm. Billings, father 
 and son ; Albert Olark, now of Independence, Iowa ; and for 
 a short time, Edward P. Burnham, now of Saco, Me. It has 
 sent abroad a larger number. Among them are Wm. May- 
 nard, son of Malachi, and inheritor of his father's strength, 
 going to central ISTew York, and not now living ; Moses Hay- 
 den, Judge in New York, and not living ; Samuel Eliot Per- 
 kins, Judge in Indiana; Henry Billings, Judge in Illinois, and 
 first Mayor of Alton ; Israel Billings, late of Hatfield ; Caleb 
 Rice, first Mayor of Springfield; Lincoln Clark of Chicago ; 
 Harvey Rice of Cleveland, Poet of to-day ; Charles Baker, not 
 living ; Wm. Howland of Lynn, and Wm. Whitney. 
 
 The following is a list of ministers originating in Conway. 
 Those marked with a star are not, or are supposed to be not, 
 now living. (Names of resident ministers already referred to 
 in appendix.) 
 
 Of Congregationalists, Joel Baker* ; Abel B. Clary* ; Stal- 
 ham Clary* ; Dexter Clary of Beloit, Wis. ; David Dickin- 
 son* ; Harrison G. O. Dwight,* long a missionary in Turkey ; 
 Samuel M. Emerson,* son of John Emerson, and minister in 
 Heath ; Samuel Fisher, D. D.*, brought to Conway when a 
 child ; Wm. Fisher,* given to Dea. John Avery ; Joseph K. 
 Ware* and Samuel Ware*, brought to Conway when young ; 
 Daniel Rice, D. D., removed early to Charlemont, and gone to 
 Indiana ; Richard S. Billings, minister in Shelburne ; Edward 
 W. Root ; Adams Nash ; Augustine Root, Wm. F. Avery. 
 Of Episcopalians, John Avery brother of Dea. Joseph Avery, 
 and Merchant Huxford. Of Methodists, (Chester) Field and 
 Increase B. Bigelow. Of Baptists, Foster Hartwell, and prob- 
 ably others. Of Unitarians, Luther Hamilton. And of Hni- 
 versalists, W. Wilcox and Otis W. Bacon. 
 
 *I am fiiv from regarding this enumeration of men who have entered the learned 
 professions from Conway as complete. There may even be omissions of conspicu- 
 ous names. It is a matter depending in much on accidental recollection, or 
 forgetfulness. There may also possibly b3 errors other than those of omission. As 
 to death9,^especially I am without full information. 
 
72 
 
 Passing out of these professions, the remarkable men of 
 Conway are so numerous as to be beyond reckoning.* 
 
 I am, however, able to give a list of conflagrations, which 
 I hope Avill be found to include nearly or quite all that have 
 occurred. We are indebted again to Capt. Childs for a part. 
 Dwelling houses have been burned belonging to the following 
 persons : Nathaniel Marble, Heman Hitchcock, Luther Boy- 
 den, Consider Bond, Samuel Ware, Zelotus Bates, Josiah Ilal- 
 loway, Sally Murphy, S, P. Sherman ; and the boarding house 
 of Tucker & Cook, Other buildings burned have been Tucker 
 & Jones' store, two grist mills, both on the site of the present 
 mill, Christopher Arms' shop, Levi Gunn's blacksmith shop, 
 David JSTewhall's shop, Jerry Severance's blacksmith shop, 
 Aaron Colton's blacksmith shop, three school houses, the 
 academy building, Edwin Burke's first woolen mill, the Con 
 way tool shop, L. B. Wright's cotton mill, and the old fulling 
 oil, \tool and cotton mill near the post office. 
 
 There are sixteen farms that are still occupied by the de- 
 scendants of the first owners and occupants. I give the names 
 in the family down to the present owner. The farm of 
 Jonas Pice, Joel, Calvin, Joel; of Josiah Boyden, Josiah, 
 Josiah, (owned and tilled, but not lived on) ; of John Wing ; 
 (owned but not lived on by him), Isaiah, Lucius B. ; of Con- 
 sider Arms, in Hoosac (not lived on by him), Henry, Consider ; 
 of Israel Pice, Joseph, Austin ; of Theophilus Page, Levi, 
 Elijah ; of Timothy Thwing, where the venerable Amariah, 
 his son, still lives; of Samuel Newhall, James, Austin, 
 Joseph ; of Jabez Newhall, Bethia, wife of Daniel Rice, Po- 
 dolphus ; of Solomon Field, Joel, Consider ; of Isaac Amsden, 
 Ira, Minerva, wife of Walter Guildford ; of Consider Arms, 
 John, Elijah ; of Pichard Collins, (but not kept uninterruptedly 
 
 * I am not able to give a list of college graduates, nor to speak of the Conway 
 men, six or seven in numbar, who have been Instructors in Colleges. As to the 
 enumeration of natives of our town who have proved eminently successful in various 
 departments of business, it, would have been too difficult to tell where the long 
 column should end. Of civil engineers, Joseph Avery, son of Dea. Joseph, and 
 not now living, is entitled to mention as having gained distinction. Chester 
 Harding, the Painter, was born in Conway ; but no more, and the town has no 
 further claim upon him. 
 
73 
 
 in the family,) Erastus, Hiram ; of Malaclii Maynard, occupied 
 by Zelotns Bates, husband of his late daughter, Lydia, and by 
 his daughter Lucy; of Abel Dinsraore, John, Alvan ; and of 
 Lucius Allis, Solomon, John. Three or four more might be 
 added by counting those who, thougli perhaps the first clear- 
 ers and tillers of their farms, were not early either in occupy- 
 ing or owning them. 
 
 Few even of the families of the children are where their 
 fathers were. From these and from all the ancient places 
 the fathers and the mothers themselves have long since passed. 
 Of the second generation there remain witii us a few, a num- 
 ber too quickly counted, and too soon to fail from counting. 
 In the third rank are our elder men and women, looking 
 toward the declivity of life. "We of middle age are in the 
 fourth. They of the fifth and sixth generations are coming 
 swiftly on and will soon occupy alone, in their brief possession, 
 these seats of the fathers. The moral lessons that belong to 
 the occasion, and the higher reflections it may suggest, are 
 appropriately left to be brought before us to-day by another of 
 the sons of Conway. Here its history ends. Our town has 
 given to those who liave lived here before us her fresh air, her 
 clear springs and streams of water and her hearty soil. She 
 has set their homes on her pleasant hills, and has kept them in 
 plenty and in peace. She has furnished for them the opportuni- 
 ties of knowledge ; she has called them to the duties and com- 
 forts and hopes of the christian religion ; and she has taken 
 them, when their course of nature failed, to their last earthly 
 rest within her bosom. Upon those who will come after us 
 she will bestow the same, and, we may hope, enlarging boun- 
 ties of the present life ; and she will set before them with in- 
 creasing care, we may confidently think, the light of that same 
 precious faith which may bring both them and us to the land 
 that does not change the generations of its people, and from 
 whose established homes the blessed inhabitants "go no more 
 out forever." 
 
 10 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Extracts from the Diary op Ret. John Emerson.* 
 
 1799. 
 January. 
 
 1. Endeavored to begin this year in a religious and 
 pious manner, by a renewed dedication of myself to 
 God, imploring the forgiveness of my multiplied and 
 aggravated offences, thro' the infinite merits of the 
 Eedecmer, and begging for grace to live more cir- 
 cumspectly for the future. By profession 1 am a 
 Christian and a Christian minister, but Oh ! how un- 
 worthy this honor, and how inconsistent has my 
 spirit and deportment been with that high and sacred 
 character. 
 
 This day went with one of my sons to Deei'field to 
 attend the opening of the Academy erected there. 
 Mr. Lymaij of Hatfield, preaclied an ingenious sermon, 
 from these woi'ds in Prov. 12, 8 : — " A man shall be 
 commended according to his wisdom." Weather 
 cold and stormy, yet there was a large collection of 
 people from the adjacent towns. Dined at Esq. 
 Saxton's, and returned home in the evening. 
 
 2. These days attended to reading and the common 
 
 3. concerns of the family. Had many anxious and 
 desponding thoughts respecting my outward circum- 
 stances. I desire to put my trust in God. 
 
 4. Spent part of the day and evening in study for the 
 Sabbath. Visited P. M., at Benj. WelU. 
 
 ■ • 5. Spent in preparing for Sabbath; Weather clear 
 
 and extreme cold. • • 
 
 * These fragments, which will ba found in part curious, and possessed of more 
 than personal interest, were kindly furnished by John M. Emerson, Esq., of New 
 York City, grandson of John Emerson. — C. B. R. 
 
75 
 
 Preached from 1 Pet, 3: Y, — as being Heirs to- 
 gether of the grace of life, etc. Had little freedom 
 and enlargement in speaking. How much have I to 
 bewail a lifeless spirit and the want of love and zeal 
 in my Master's glorious cause. Weather remains 
 exceeding cold. 
 20. Preached at Sunderland, by an exchange with Mr. 
 
 Holman. A. M., fr. Ps. 110: 3,—" Thy people 
 shall be willing in the day of thy power." Admin- 
 istered the Sacrament. P. M., preached from Rev. 
 1: 16, — "Out of his mouth went a two edged 
 sword." Carried comfortably thro' the exei'cises. 
 Was somewhat enlivened and enlarged, Thei'e 
 appears to be a remarkable attention among this 
 people. 
 
 Attended a marriage at Julius Allis'. 
 
 Went to S, Hadley to attend association. Dined 
 at Whately, and met ministers in the evening at Mr. 
 Hayes'. 
 6. A, M., attended to questions, etc. P, M., public 
 
 lecture. It fell to me to preach, and from Prov. 2 : 
 3, 4, 5. Returned to Conway in the evening. 
 
 19. Went to Shelburne to attend the ordination of Mr. 
 Packard, The Council sat till three o'clock at night, 
 
 20. Proceeded to the ordination, which was attended 
 with decency and order. I was myself called to 
 preach the sermon, and was greatly uplifted in the 
 service. 
 
 April. 
 
 1. Attended April meeting for choice of Governor, 
 
 etc 
 16, Went to Greenfield on business. Lodged at Mr. 
 
 Newton's, About midnight was alarmed by the cry 
 of fire. Rose from bed and saw Mr. Chapman's 
 house and store consumed by the raging element. 
 Thro' the exertions of the people the furniture and 
 some part of the buildings of Mr. Chapman were 
 saved, and by the good j^rovidence of God no lives 
 were lost. 
 May. 
 
 23. Set out on a journey to Boston. The occasion of 
 
 this journey was a circular letter from the Boston 
 Association to the several Associations in the Slate, 
 inviting them to delegate one or more of their num- 
 ber to meet in Boston on the day preceding the gen- 
 eral election, to consult on the present critical 
 
76 
 
 1799 
 May, 
 
 and alarming state of our country, and to devise 
 means for the suppression of infidelity. Rode this 
 day as far as Greenwich, dined at Mr. Parsons, of 
 Amherst, and lodged at Capt. Rich's in Greenwich, 
 
 24. Proceeded on my journey, dined at Mr. Avery's in 
 Holden, and reached Harvard. Lodged at Dea, 
 "Whitney's. 
 
 25. Rose early, breakfasted at my kinsman's, Mr. 
 Emerson's, and went on as far as Concord by noon. 
 Was persuaded contrary to my intention to stay 
 with Brother Ripley over the Sabbath. 
 
 26. Lord's Day. Preached for Mr, Ripley. Had 
 some freedom and satisfaction in the public services 
 of the day. Preached to the acceptance of many, 
 and I hope some profit. 
 
 27. Set out early from Concord, and took breakfast at 
 Dr. Osgood's in Medford, and arrived at Maiden in 
 safety after a pleasant and prosperous journey. 
 Found my sisters well and living together in harmony 
 which afforded me much satisfaction. 
 
 28. Went to Boston, Called on Dr. Morse at Charles- 
 town, who received me with great cordiality and 
 christian friendship. Met with the ministers at 
 the Court House in Boston, on the business specified 
 in the letter from the Boston Association. There 
 were present nearly twenty ministers from various 
 Associations. * * Agreed on two address- 
 es, one to the people of the respective congregations, 
 and one to the General Court, and appointed 
 committee to draft said addresses, Drs. Tappan, and 
 Emmons. 
 
 29. General Election, Attended adj. meeting of del- 
 egated ministers. Committee reported draft of 
 addresses. Attended divine service at the Old Brick 
 Church, P. M., attended the Convention, The 
 addresses were largely debated, strongly opposed by 
 some and warmly advocated by others. Returned 
 to Maiden, 
 
 30. Went again to Boston. After further debate Dr. 
 Thatcher moved to address the clergy, and that the 
 address before us should be so altered as to apply to 
 them. This motion was unanimously adopted. The 
 other address designed for the Legislature was re- 
 jected. Adjourned to Dr. Thatcher's meeting house 
 where Mr. Forbes preached a sermon from 2 Cor. 6 : 
 3, 4. A collection was made for indigent widows 
 and orphans of ministers. Collected 156 dollars. 
 
Ti' 
 
 1799. 
 June. 
 3 
 
 6. 
 
 18. 
 
 September. 
 15. 
 
 November. 
 
 7. 
 
 December. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 29. 
 
 1800. 
 January. 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 Set out early on my return. Dined at Concord. 
 Drank coffee at Harvard, and proceeded to Boyl- 
 ston. Lodged with Mr. Nash the minister. 
 
 Proceeded on my journey in the morning' 13 miles, 
 and breakfasted at Rutland public house. Rode to 
 Greenwich. Called on Widow Collins and Mrs. 
 Stetson in Hardwick. Put up at Dea. Rich's in 
 Greenwich. 
 
 Rose early and proceeded on my journey 12 miles. 
 Breakfasted at Mr. Draper's. Called on Esq. 
 Strong at Amherst, and arrived at my own house in 
 Conway at one o'clock, after a pleasant and prosper- 
 ous journey. Found all well. The Lord has carried 
 me forth and returned me safely, for which I desire 
 to praise his blessed name. 
 
 Went to Northampton and put my son Charles as 
 an apprentice with Mr. Dickinson. 
 
 Lord's day. Preached A. M., from John 15 : 5, — 
 " I am the vine, ye are the branches." P. M., from 
 Heb. 11 : 7,—" By faith Noah," &c. Both old 
 sermons, not having finished my new oriies. 
 
 An ordination of a Baptist minister ^vas attended 
 to-day in town. Did not myself attend . 
 
 Went to Charlemontto the installation of my-son- 
 in-law, Joseph Field. In the evening the Council 
 convened, etc. 
 
 Attended the Installation. Preached from Heb. 
 13 : 17, — '' Obey them that have the rule over you." 
 
 Lord's Day. Preached from 2 Sam. 1 : 27, — 
 " How are the mighty fallen," on the occasion of the 
 death of Gen. Washington. 
 
 This day we had much company. Ici the evening 
 married a couple ; rec'd $1.25 fee. Mr. S. Lee 
 brought a present of a cheese, about the value of a 
 dollar. 
 
 Attended company. Bought cheese of Dea. 
 Ware, value of $1,17. Dea. Ware brought a present 
 of a piece of beef, value about 20 c. 
 
 Attended to study. Bot. Rum, 50 c. 
 
 Spent in preparatory study. 
 
 Avocations. Went to several places on business. 
 In settling accts with Dea. Ware found a balance in 
 his favor of $4,10, which he generously jgave me. 
 
78 
 
 1800. 
 January. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 
 23. 
 
 March. 
 25. 
 
 May. 
 
 5. 
 
 ard cancelled the acct. Lent $6,00 to Mr. Uussell 
 for one week. 
 
 This day was consecrated by this town to the mem- 
 ory of Gen. AVashing'ton. Great funeral honors were 
 piid by a solemn procession, &c. The people assera- 
 bfed in the meeting house, where prayer was made, 
 aid sing-ing, and an oration was delivered by Mr. 
 Simucl Fisher. 
 
 In the evening' went to Mr. Hayden's to attend the 
 mirriage of his daug-hter Sally, to L. Root, fee $1,25. 
 
 Returned from Charlemont. Married three coup- 
 les, fees, $6,25. 
 
 Visited Capt. French's family with Dea. Root, 
 wth a view to attempt a reconciliation in that fami- 
 ly where there has been great contention and 
 diiorder. 
 
 ittended the lecture preparatory to the Sacrament. 
 Afer divine service attended a Church meeting 
 where Lemuel Billings presented a paper containing 
 hisreasons why he cannot hold communion with the 
 Chirch. Labored a great while to convince him of 
 his being in an error, and to dissuade him from pur- 
 suirg his purpose of being dipt and joining the 
 Baptists, but to no purpose. 
 
 1799. 
 
 Jan. 3.- 
 
 5.- 
 
 G.- 
 
 12.- 
 
 17.- 
 
 19.- 
 
 Feb. 4.- 
 
 7.- 
 
 Aprill.- 
 
 12. 
 
 2G.- 
 
 27.- 
 
 May 2.- 
 
 20.- 
 July 2.- 
 Aug. 1.- 
 
 An i-ccount of Expenses, &c., this year:* 
 
 -Oil Cake )f Hayden, 50c. ; 3 sheets large paper, 6, . 
 -For spiunhg by Folly Nash, 12 runs, 
 -2 lbs. of hitter, 14c. ; hatchelling flax, by Scipio, 12, 
 -Pair Shoei for myself, Mr. Stow, .... 
 -Killing hcg, by Asahel, . . . . , 
 
 -Pint Rumat Bardwell's store, .... 
 -Postage f(r letter, ..... 
 
 -3 yards brDadcloth, |!3,33, , . . . 
 
 -Bot. a cor of Capt. Tobey, .... 
 -Pruning spple trees by Cajrt. Hall, endorsed on his note, . 
 -A day's vork by a woman taylor, 
 
 -Equippiig John for training, .... 
 
 -Bot. a pbugh, fi,17, pd 3, and gave note for 3,17, to be paid 
 1st of ne'xt Nov. ..... 
 
 the 
 
 -Expensss to Boston and from there, 
 2 qts. lium, 
 
 Williams, 
 -2 qts. Eum, Bardwell, 
 
 56 
 
 1 00 
 
 26 
 
 1 50 
 
 17 
 
 20 
 
 17 
 
 10 00 
 
 15 66 
 
 67 
 
 25 
 
 2 25 
 
 6 17 
 
 2 16 
 
 1 50 
 
 75 
 
 * If the items given show fairly the whole balance, Mr. Emerson was doubtless 
 enabled to dismiss the "desponding thoughts " with which he had began the year. 
 
79 
 
 Income by salary, grant, presents, perquisites, &c. 
 
 Contra. 
 
 Jan. Salary, $266 67 ; Grant, 100 00, 
 5. — Piece of beef from Benj. Wells. 
 7. — Spare rib, Isaac Baker, 
 8. — Work by team for Loomis, 
 10. — Marriage, Benj. Lee to E. Wlieat, 
 
 Present from Dea. Root, spai'e rib, 
 12. — Recommendation of A. Anisden, to teach school, 
 
 Pork, present from Mr. Stow, 
 17.— Sold 284 lbs. pork, .... 
 
 Apr. 1. — A lamb, . . 
 
 8. — Loin of veal from Dr. Ware, present, . 
 n. — Flour, Esq. Billings, present, 
 25.— Marriage, M. Nims to M. Bartlett, 
 Sold a pair of Steers, 
 May 14. — Present of a saddle from Capt. John Bannister, 
 Oct. 38 barrels cider, .... 
 
 60 bushels Indian Corn, 
 Sheep, 3 Marriages, 
 
 $366 67 
 
 34 
 
 25 
 
 60 
 
 1 00 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 50 
 
 16 64 
 
 50 
 
 34 
 
 1 00 
 
 1 10 
 
 25 00 
 
 8 00 
 
 32 00 
 
 30 00 
 
 6 00 
 
 List of Ministers who originated from Conway. 
 
 Congregational. — Joel Baker, Elisha Billings, Richard S. Billings, Abel B. 
 Clary, Dexter Clary, Stalham Clary, David Dickinson, Harrison G. 0. Dwight, 
 (Missionary,) Samuel M. Emerson, Samuel Fisher, William Fisher, John A. 
 Nash, Edward W. Root, Joseph K. Ware, Samuel Ware, William Ware, Sylvester 
 Hovev, William F. Avery, Augustine Root, Charles B. Rice, Charles H. 
 Wheeler.— 21. 
 
 Baptist. — Josiali Goddard, Calvin Keyes, Foster Hartwell, Edmund H. Smith, 
 Horace Jenkins, (Missionary.) — 5. 
 
 Episcopal. — John Avery. — 1. 
 
 Methodist. — Increase R. Bigelow. — 1. 
 
 Unitarian. — Lnther Hamilton. — 1. 
 
 Universalist. — Otis W. Bacon, W. Wilcox. — 2. 
 
 Minister's Wives who originated from Conway 
 
 Sabra Emerson, 
 Bethiah Ware, 
 Sally Ware, 
 Elizabeth Toboy, 
 Louisa Billings, 
 Mary Billings, 
 Abby Billings, 
 Jerusha Billings, 
 Louisa Dunham, 
 Olivia Dunham, 
 Minerva Nash, 
 ^ Sophronia Hall, 
 Martha Arms, 
 Julia Ann Ames, 
 Harriet Arms, 
 Achsah Stowe, 
 Maria Wheelock, 
 Ada C. Coffin, 
 Alma Bartlett, 
 
 Married R ev. Josej^h Field, 
 " " Moses Miller, 
 
 William Binney, 
 Josiah Goddard, 
 Ezckiel Russell, 
 Ogden Dwight, 
 Mr. Young, 
 
 Bela B. Edwards, 
 Lucien Farnham, 
 Romulus Barnes, 
 Henry Eastman, 
 Increase R. Bigelow, 
 Horatio N. Graves, 
 Dwight Ives, 
 Charles E. Sylvester, 
 James H. Coley, 
 Foster Hartwell, 
 Adoniram J. Chaplin, 
 Ml-. Wilcox, 
 
 Unit. 
 C. 
 
 c. 
 
 B. 
 C. 
 C. 
 C. 
 
 c. 
 c. 
 c. 
 c. 
 
 M. 
 C. 
 B. 
 C. 
 B. 
 B. 
 B. 
 Univ. 
 
80 
 
 Mary Stearns, Married Rev. Mr. Frary, B. 
 
 Julia Cooley, " " Thomas S. Norton, C. 
 
 Abby Clark, " " Jared Stone, C. 
 
 Mary Clark, " " J. Adams Nash, C. 
 
 Mary Clark, " " Mr. Rossitcr, C. 
 
 Mary H. Emerson, " " Royal Reed, C. 
 
 Mary Avery, " " Robert M. Loughridge. C. 
 
 Paulina Avery, •' " Oscar L. Woodford, C. 
 
 Hannah Clark, " " Gideon Dana, C. 
 
 Armenia Pulsifer, " " Samuel Skinner, Univ. 
 
 Elizabeth Ware, " " Theophiius Packard, C. 
 
 Elizabeth Clarke, " " Thompson, C. 
 
 Martha Baker, " « William Carruthers, C. 
 
 Lucy Harris, " " Edwin P. Parker, C. 
 
 Sabra Adams, « " H. H. Benson, P. 
 
 Elizabeth Billings, " " Hiram Meade, C. 
 
 Emily Meekins, " " William Arms, C. 
 
 C. indicates Congregational ; B. Baptist ; M. Methodist ; P. Presbyterian ; 
 Unit. Unitarian; Univ. Universalist. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 On page 17 for " in later years," read the later year; and in the sixteenth line, 
 for " occupied " read unoccupied. Page 18 for " authors " read author. At page 
 23 understand that Elijah Wells lived upon the H. B. Childs place. Page 33, after 
 "coming century," insert to. Page 39, for "times" read time. Page 71, for 
 " Adams Nash," read John Adams Nash. And add to list of Congregationalists, 
 Chas. II. \\ heekr, and of Baptists, Josiah Goddard, Calvin Keyes, Edmund H. 
 Smith, and Horace Jenkins, (Missionary.) 
 
 There has been some misapprehension touching the ministerial statistics, re- 
 ferred to on page 30. The omissions from the body of the history are perhaps to 
 be regretted, though the facts will doubtless appear in the. report of proceedings at 
 the table. For convenience of reference I here append a list of Congregational 
 pastors : 
 
 John Emerson, settled Dec. 21, 1769; Deceased June 26, 1826. 
 Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., settled (colleague,) June 21, 1821 ; Dismissed 
 Oct. 25, 1825. 
 
 Daniel Crosby, settled Jan. 31, 1827; Dismissed July 21, 1833. 
 Melancthon S. Wheeler, settled June 19, 1834; Dismissed Aug. 18, 1841. 
 Samuel Harris, D. D., settled Dec. 22, 1841; Dismissed Feb. 11, 1851. 
 George M. Adams, settled Sept. 18, 1851 ; Dismissed May, 1803. 
 Elijah Cutler settled Sept. 9, 1863. 
 
 The corresponding list for the Baptist Church, once prepared, is not now at hand. 
 
 C. B, E. 
 
After the Address was concluded, the following Ode, written 
 by George Howland, Esq., of Chicago, Illinois, a native of 
 Conway, was read by Eev. Geo. M, Adams, of Portsmouth, N. H. 
 
 O come, all ye sons of old Conway, 
 
 Nor stay, ye fair daughters, away, 
 And let us with true hearts united 
 
 Observe this centennial day. 
 
 "We'll speak of the deeds of our fathers, 
 Who wrought for us more than they knew. 
 
 And never forget those brave mothers 
 
 Who wrought with them faithful and true. 
 
 They plowed on the plain and the hiU-eide ; 
 
 Their axe rung in forest and glen ; 
 They planted the church and the school-house, 
 
 And reaped a rich harvest of men. 
 
 Regarding a man as a brother. 
 
 They bowed not to mortal the knee ; 
 The banner they dyed in their life-blood 
 
 Now waves o'er America free. 
 
 Then let us be true to the manhood 
 
 They suffered and toUed to defend, 
 And pledge ourselves here, o'er their ashes, 
 
 That we will be true to the end. 
 
 Hon. Harvey Eice, of Cleveland, Ohio, a grandson of Cyrus 
 Kice, the JSrst settler of Conway, then delivered the following 
 Poem: 
 
 11 
 
POEM. 
 
 BY HARVEY RICE. 
 
 When Nature, with a skillfal hand, 
 
 Moulded to shape these billowy hills, 
 She clad in forests dark the land, 
 
 And penciled it with silver rills ; 
 And with a scarf of lovely blue. 
 
 She bound the mountain's Regal brow. 
 And touched it with a magic hue, 
 Whose spell is flung around us now I 
 
 And still, within this narrow vale, 
 
 Where beauty sleeps in cradled rest. 
 She bids the River pour his wail, 
 
 In unison with memories blest. 
 Here every whisper seems to breathe 
 
 Of other days where'er we tread : 
 While yonder graves, moss-grown, bequeath 
 
 A silent message from the dead ! 
 
 Here saintly forms before ua pass, 
 
 Arrayed in bright celestial beams, 
 Like visions seen in memory's glass, 
 
 Whose smiles enchant our earthly dreams. 
 What though a Century has flown 
 
 Since first our fathers hither came, 
 We see their faces— in our own — 
 
 Aq4 j^n^le still their altar's fl&m9 1 
 
84 
 
 And still 'mid shadows dimly trace, 
 
 In every vale, hill-top, and glen, 
 The hearths they trod with manly grace, 
 
 And still revere those godly men. 
 The men, who braved a savage foe, 
 
 And prostrate laid the forest's pride ; 
 Who thought it quite enough to know 
 
 God's will and fake it for their guide. 
 
 The men who reared the sacred fane. 
 
 And cherished schools throughout the land ; 
 "Who sowed broadcast the precious grain. 
 
 Which fell not in the barren sand ; 
 But lives in hearts, whose quickening zeal 
 
 Responded to a Nation's call ; 
 Brave hearts, that still but kindly feel 
 
 For others' woes whate'er befall. 
 
 6 
 
 Yes, loyal hearts, that will defend 
 
 The stars and stripes, where'er they wave ; 
 And pray that blessings rich descend 
 
 On those whom God to freedom gave ! 
 If, from their graves, our sires could rise, 
 
 And see what changes time has wrought, 
 Think you, they would believe their eyes. 
 
 In this fast age of daring thought ? 
 
 An age whose genius, wide in sweep, 
 
 Commands the lightning's fiery tongue 
 To speak its errands o'er the Deep, 
 
 From world to world together flung. 
 And fearless guides the hissing car, 
 
 And speeds the ship on every sea ; 
 Yet makes high aims its polar star, 
 
 And shapes anew Man's destiny! 
 
 8 
 
 And yet how blest were days of yore, 
 
 Ere mad ambition sought to reign ; 
 When men laid up in heaven their store. 
 
 Nor worldly honors cared to gain ; 
 When here, devout, both age and youth, 
 
 As rang the solemn Sabbath bell, 
 Convened to hear the gospel's truth, 
 
 And drink the waters of ItB well. 
 
85 
 
 9 
 
 When none were slaves to fashion's art, 
 
 Nor with new doctrines were perplexed , 
 When sermons long could mend the heart, 
 
 And every child repeat the text ! — 
 O happy days ! when we were young, 
 
 When o'er these hills we trod the way, 
 Blithe as the morning lark that sung, 
 
 In daisied meads, his roundelay. 
 
 10 
 
 Even yet, like fairy land, appear 
 
 The shelving rock and haunted glade, 
 And chestnut groves to childhood dear. 
 
 Where oft our footsteps we delayed. 
 And gathered gifts which Nature gave, 
 
 As, at our feet, they caught the eye 
 While autumn winds that fitful rave 
 
 Swept through the trees with sullen sigh. 
 
 11 
 
 Yet 'mid the windings of the hills 
 
 And 'mid the shadows of the vales. 
 How sweet the music of the rills. 
 
 Which still the pilgrim's ear assails ! 
 Though strangers in our Native Land, 
 
 A welcome greets us without guile ; 
 The hills extend a friendly hand. 
 
 And valleys woo us with a smile. 
 
 12 
 
 Like old familiar friends they seem, 
 
 The mystic pine, the mountain peak, 
 The dreamy vale, and plaintive stream, 
 
 That still to us in whispers speak. 
 Thus, pilgrim-like, we come, and glean 
 
 The golden memories treasured here ; 
 Yet feel that time can never wean 
 
 Our hearts from scenes so fair and dear ! 
 
 13 
 
 Beneath thes6 same o'erarching skies, 
 
 Once more we look with pure delight, 
 On sunny spots that charmed our eyes, 
 
 And sportive fields that trod our might. 
 With joy we hail the homestead old, 
 
 And still recall, as time departs, 
 A mother's love that ne'er was told, 
 
 Yet, cherished, lives in filial hearts. 
 
86 
 
 14 
 
 That mother's love — that soul athirst — 
 
 That saintly tear — that lifted eye — 
 That lisping prayer — that childlike trust — 
 
 That budding hope — say, can they die ? 
 No ! — never — never — ^but shall live, 
 
 And breathe an incense still divine ; 
 No holier gift hath God to give, 
 
 Nor holier memories, yours or mine ! 
 
 15 
 
 In vain we ask for friends once dear, 
 
 Once bound to us by genial ties ; 
 Whose sacred dust but claims a tear, 
 
 Where each in lowly slumber lies ! 
 Yet, 'mid the gloom of by -gone years. 
 
 Still lingers here and there a star, 
 To cheer our steps and stay our tears, 
 
 Like beacons gleaming from afar ! 
 
 16 
 
 Ha ! there it stands adown the glen — 
 
 That school-house old — with knowing looks ; 
 Where blows did more to make us men, 
 
 Than all the lessons taught from books ! 
 Along these vales, 'mid sun and showers, 
 
 Still laughs the brook, whose brood was coy, 
 Where oft we trolled the line for hours, 
 
 When even a nibble gave us joy ! 
 
 17 
 
 Yonder we roamed the mountain-side, 
 
 And sought to win a marksman's fame, 
 With gun that sent its echoes wide, 
 
 Yet, scattering, missed the nimble game! 
 In halls where music thrilled the breast. 
 
 We tripped the "light fantastic toe," 
 And, with the smiles of Beauty blest. 
 
 Thought earth a paradise, you know ! 
 
 18 
 
 Perchance, with heart that knew not grief, 
 
 Beneath the moonbeam's witching ray. 
 We breathed a word sincere as brief, 
 
 And only feared that one word — nay ! 
 But where are now the favorite few, 
 
 Who shared, amid these kindred hills. 
 Our youthful sports and friendships true, 
 
 Nor dreamed of life's iimpending 111b ? 
 
87 
 
 19 
 
 Gone ! — gone ! — to realms l)eyond the stars, 
 
 "Where fairer scenes regale the sight, 
 Where Truth her gate of pearl unbars. 
 
 And pours her rivers of delight ! 
 God bless the land that gave us birth. 
 
 Her many sous and daughters fair ; 
 The dearest land of all the earth, 
 
 Where first we breathed the mountain air ! 
 
 20 
 
 When years — a hundred more have rolled, 
 
 A race unborn will note the day, 
 And speak of us as men of old, 
 
 Who left their footprints on the way. 
 Yet they, who live for God and truth, 
 
 The test of time need never fear ; 
 For they shall live in bloom of youth. 
 
 Immortal in a brighter sphere 1 
 
 Old Hundred was then sung by the audience, after which the 
 following Oration was delivered by William Howland, Esq., of 
 Lynn, Mass. 
 
MR. HOWLAND'S ORATIOIY. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 Mk. President, Ladies, ajstd Gentlemen: 
 
 We are met to welcome the hundreth anniversary of the 
 birth of our native town into that great family of towns, 
 clust erect so thickly around the hearth-stone, and embraced 
 so lovingly within the arms of our good mother, the blessed 
 old Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; to exchange our con- 
 gratulations on the auspicious rounding out of the century 
 since a handful of settlers were here first dignified with 
 a separate municipal existence ; some of us returning after 
 years of absence to revisit the scenes of our childhood, to 
 look again upon the familiar hills and valleys, to breathe 
 again the pure mountain air, and to gaze upon the rich gar- 
 niture and the varied 
 
 "pomp that fills 
 The summer circuit of the hills " 
 
 which surrounded our infancy, refreshed as they are by the 
 rains of yesterday, which nowhere fell more genially, glorified 
 by the sunlight of to-day, which nowhere shines more bright- 
 ly than on these wooded summits and verdant hill-slopes and 
 meadows we so well remember. 
 
 On such an occasion the thoughts involuntarily run back 
 to the time of that^ event, which this day is set apart to com- 
 memorate. Then this was an insignificant part of a colonial 
 district and dependency, still young and untried, not yet hav- 
 ing reached the maturity of manhood, only just beginning to 
 look forward to a separate national existence as a possibility, 
 barely dreamed of, perhaps cautiously discussed or hinted at 
 by a few spirits more daring than were othera, as a fact gf the 
 
92 
 
 future, whose first dawn was seen in the visions of only the 
 most sagacious and far-seeing. Then this country, not yet 
 the United States of America, consisted of a group of colo- 
 nies along a portion of the Eastern shore of tlie continent, 
 with a few settlements upon the banks of tlie rivers emptying 
 into the Atlantic. Some handfuls of hardy pioneers, the ad- 
 vance picket line of colonial settlers, had penetrated a hund- 
 red or two miles inland, but in Massachusetts this place was 
 little more than a wilderness, lying along the outer-most verge 
 of civilization. The rich valley of the Connecticut had been 
 longer known and occupied, but few had found tlieir way 
 among tlie hills, which fringe the borders of that valley, to 
 the place where we stand to-day. 
 
 During the hundred years which have followed the date of 
 the existence of this little plantation as a separate town, these 
 colonies along the coast, these settlements in the green valleys 
 and among the rugged granite hills of New England, have 
 been the hives from which have gone out swarms of settlers 
 to people the great West. Hardy pioneers, children of JSTew 
 England, reared in these valleys and upon these hills, re-inforc- 
 ed by accessions ti-om abroad, and following " "Westward the 
 course of Emjnre," have like a wave swept across the conti- 
 nent, until now, on the shores of the Pacific, it is meeting the 
 return wave of an eastern emigration from the flowery land of 
 the Celestial Empire. Through this whole country, in its 
 vast extent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the ISTew Eng- 
 lander, the Yankee, has been a presence and a power. These 
 rugged hills have been the nurseries of men, who have made 
 homes for themselves in every part of all this wide domain, 
 moulding its character and its institutions, and have not been 
 without their influence in other lands. These colonies have 
 thus, during the century, not only become an independent 
 nation, but one which has for the time which has elapsed, 
 grown unprecedentedly great and powerful, and in its progress 
 to greatness and power, N"ew England has played no unim- 
 portant part. 
 
 Of the history and successive steps of that national growth, 
 it is not ray purpose to speak, nor does it come within my 
 
93 
 
 province to treat of onr local histories and traditions ; neither 
 would it be fitting the occasion of these festivities, that I 
 should discuss the i3olitical questions of the day, upon the 
 solution of which so rnuch of the future of this country de- 
 pends. Yet the great events which have taken, and still are 
 taking place in our history, so far compel the attention and 
 engross the thoughts of all, that it will not be deemed wholly 
 inappropriate, that I should address you upon a theme, not 
 entirely disconnected, in its application, from these questions, 
 which are shaping the character of our institutions and gov- 
 ernment, and the future of our history. 
 
 With such thoughts pressing upon the mind and regarding 
 the nature of the oce^asion which calls us together, I know 
 not how I can more fittingly occupy this brief hour than in 
 speaking of The Influence of New England in the de- 
 velopment OF OUR N'ational Chakacter and Greatness. 
 
 When I speak of New England I do not confine myself to 
 this little corner of the United States, lying between the 
 Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson Eiver, nor alone of the peo- 
 ple at any time inhabiting this portion of our common coun- 
 try. The seed once planted here has long since germinated 
 and grown into a stately tree, whose branches have extended 
 over the whole country, and far beyond the territorial limits 
 of New England ; which like that famed tree of the Indies, 
 the marvellous accounts of which astonished our childhood, 
 has sent down shoots from its branches, which have themselves 
 taken root in other soils, forming new trunks and new centres 
 of growth. I mean all the sons and descendants of New 
 England, the Yanhee, wherever he may be found, the cool, 
 planning, calculating Yankee, the keen, shrewd, intelligent, 
 enterprising, persistent, inevitable, irrepressible Yankee, ingen- 
 ious in his schemes, fertile in invention and resource, unremit- 
 ting and untiring in his eff'orts for the accomplishment of his 
 projects, undismayed by temporary disaster or defeat, and 
 with his invincible jack knife whittling out his fortune and 
 his destiny. The Yankee! a word sometimes uttered with a 
 sneer, but in which we glory, as expressive of certain traits, 
 
94 
 
 qualities and ideas, not confined bj geographical limits, 
 which the I^ew Englander carries with him wherever he goes, 
 and which have an influence and a power far beyond the 
 mountains and the waters, which hem in the land of his ori- 
 gin. The Yankee ! you can no more shut him up within ter- 
 ritorial limits, than you can place an extinguisher over the 
 sun to shut out his rays from the solar system. There is no 
 part of the country, there is no part of the civilized world, 
 which the Yankee has not penetrated, and he has every- 
 where disseminated his Yankee ideas and Yankee notions, 
 and had an influence direct or remote, as decided and posi- 
 tive, as would have been given liim by a more material 
 foot-hold. 
 
 England, the mother countrv, has been more a2:2:ressive in 
 her policy, has been more devoted to the acquisition of foreign 
 possessions, and by her arms and diplomacy has made herself 
 felt in the establishment of colonial governments and military 
 and trading stations, in Asia, Africa, Europe and America, 
 and in the islands of the sea, from the Pacific on the East, to 
 the Pacific again upon the West, until, as has been truly said, 
 she " has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her 
 possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat fol- 
 lowing the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles 
 the earth witli one continuous and unbroken strain of the 
 martial airs of England." The Yankee, true descendant of 
 the English, but largely modified by his position, training and 
 circumstances, less aggressive but more progressive, relying 
 less upon military conquests and colonial possessions, but 
 more upon the dissemination of his p3culiar and distinctive 
 notions of free thought, free speech, and free institutions of 
 whatever kind, is exercising upon the condition of mankind 
 and governments, an influence more silent and imperceptible, 
 but no less positive an' ! wide extended. 
 
 That the Yankee is not wholly free from that desire for 
 extended territorial possessions, which characterizes his cous- 
 ins over the water, we cannot deny, when we remember his 
 acquisition of those barren, inhospitable, if not uninhabitable 
 districts on the north of Mexico, and the more recent purchase 
 
95 
 
 of tiiat desolate, God-forsaken land of fogs, snow and eternal 
 winter, heretofore known as Enssian America, but whose 
 present sponsors have not jet found a name for its christening. 
 
 We heard something said a few years ago about " leaving 
 JSTew England out in the cold." Leave out IS^ew England ! 
 Where will you find its limits ? Go into the Middle States. 
 You will find the Yankee first among their merchants, law- 
 yers, divines, farmers and mechanics. He has emigrated to the 
 West, and you will there, too, find him everywhere, in his 
 ideas and institutions, in the schools and in the churches, the 
 leaven which has been leavening the whole lump. Follow the 
 Mississippi to its mouth, and you have not reached the outer- 
 most limits of the Yankee land. His intelligence, spirit and 
 enterprise have there given him a leading position in trade, on 
 the bench, at the bar and in the pulpit. Cross the Eocky 
 Mountains and the Nevadas, and you will hear his nasal twang 
 among the Sierras and upon the plains, in the cities and in 
 the mines, and as elsewhere through this wide extended 
 country, so here you will find him the smartest of the settlers 
 in the green valleys, the thriftiest miner in the diggings, the 
 'cutest trader with the Indians, the most sagacious and suc- 
 cessful of the merchants, the most learned and eloquent of the 
 divines, the ablest of the lawyers and soundest of the judges, 
 the most enterprising and versatile of the civil engineers and 
 builders of railways, the ripest of the scholars, the wealthiest 
 and most reliable of the bankers, and the most intelligent and 
 ingenious of the artizans through all that golden land on the 
 sunset side of the continent. 
 
 What then is the territory of New England, and how will 
 you leave out the Yankee? Blot J^ew England, if you will, 
 from the map of the United States, sink the six New England 
 states a thousand fathoms deep, and you have not exterminated 
 and you cannot exterminate the Yankee. 
 
 This is the New England of which I speak, and this is 
 what I mean by the Yankee. 
 
 What is the origin of his peculiar traits and the causes 
 which underlie his character ? Without discussing the influ- 
 ence of the Saxon element in our ancestry, or dwelHng upon the 
 
96 
 
 peculiar religious tenets of the puritans and others of the first 
 
 settlers of New England, or the seventeenth century ideas of 
 the days of the English Commonwealth, it seems to me that one 
 leading principle, from whatever cause derived, may be 
 traced running through the history of the Yankee race, which 
 has been a controlling cause in moulding his peculiar charac- 
 ter. His principle is a lull and pervading belief in the doctrine 
 of human equality, and to this with its results I desire espec- 
 ially to call your attention. How this belief came to be so 
 firmly implanted in the breasts of our progenitors, whence 
 the influences m Inch led them to differ so essentially in this par- 
 ticular from the majority of their countrymen in the old world 
 would be an interesting field for discussion ; but it is sufiicient 
 for my purpose to deal with it as a fact. From some cause or 
 other, the early settlers of New England had a most positive 
 idea of the^worth of their own individuality and manhood, an 
 idea of equality, civil and religious, not then generally held, 
 an equality, independent of rank, station or proj)erty. This 
 was the idea which first drove the puritans from their homes 
 in England in the time of Mary, and subsequently brought 
 them to the shores of our own Massachusetts^ to found in this 
 western world a commonwealth based upon this controlling 
 principle of their lives, to build " a church without a bishop, a 
 state without a king." This principle, no doubt springing 
 largely from their religious bcliet, engrafted upon their inher- 
 ited national characteristics, found expression in that compact 
 signed on board the May Flower, that first republican consti- 
 tution known to history. 
 
 This then is the peculiar distinctive idea, which to my mind 
 underlay, more than any other principle, the whole character 
 of the early settlers of New England, the worth of man as 
 man, and an entire freedom limited only by the requirements 
 of good government, good morals and a due regard for the 
 rights of others : that liberty, which Herbert Spencer so well 
 defines as the enjoyment of every freedom, not inconsistent 
 with every body else's freedom. Not that they had then or 
 afterwards arrived at the full meaning and import of this 
 principle. They had learned but half the lesson, that half 
 
97 
 
 which applied to themselves, bat they had notyet learned to in- 
 clude others, as the Quakers and the Baptists, who from time to 
 time found their way to the new world to join them and their 
 fortunes. They had however taken a long step in the right 
 direction ; they had begun to work out the problem ; they had 
 stated their equation correctly and a correct solution must in 
 time follow. While at the present time much of the religious 
 element of this puritan idea of equality has been lost sight of 
 his descendants have incorporated in themselves, a no less, 
 well defined, and, I believe, a much more intelligent idea of a 
 true human equality, but an idea which has logically, necessa- 
 rily grown out of the principles which our progenitors had 
 first adopted ; that the badge of a true manhood is of more 
 worth than all the artificial distinctions of society. The Yan- 
 kee believes, and always has believed, that he is as good as any 
 other man, but, like his ancestors, he has not always learned 
 the converse of the proposition, and arrived at the belief that 
 any other man is as good as he, but he is fast coming to the 
 full solution of the problem, and abetter understanding of the 
 principles of a true democracy. 
 
 A distinguished writer, some years since, undertook to define 
 democracy. His definition was laughed at, at the time, partly 
 perhaps because it was abstract in its terms, but more from 
 the application made of it ; but it seems to me that it does 
 not inaptly express the idea of the true Yankee. "Democracy 
 is the superiority of man over his accidents." Yes, the Yan- 
 kee, lives in the full belief that the man, in his true manhood 
 is superior to all accidents of birth, fortune or position, 
 
 " The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
 The man's the gowd for a'that." 
 
 It is this belief then in a true native equality, independent 
 of these accidents, that constitutes the true Yankee idea. It 
 is a part of his being, the groundwork of his institutions, in- 
 wrought in his nature, breathed into his lungs from the 
 atmosphere of his native hills, his bone and muscle. 
 
 Let us trace for a little the effect of this idea upon the peo- 
 ple of New England, and through them upon the country of 
 which they form a part. 
 13 
 
98 
 
 The New Englander, and the descendanta and sons of New 
 England have, more than otliers, made provision for the edu- 
 cation of the whole people. This result should naturally 
 follow, for if the whole people stand upon a native equality, 
 they should all enjoy equal advantages, educational as well 
 as political and religious. Consequently, as a logical deduc- 
 tion from this equality, the whole people are to have the op- 
 portunities of an education, not the favored few only, but the 
 great masses. Hence the people of New England have always 
 been an educated people. I do not propose to claim for the 
 schools of New England any superiority in themselves, over 
 those of all other countries. We are forced to admit that the 
 standard of education is not higher, in our schools, colleges 
 and universities, but lower than in those of some other coun- 
 tries. We have no schools which can compete with Eton, 
 and Harrow and Rugby, nor universities which can com- 
 pare with some of those in Germany, or with Oxford and 
 Cambridge in England, but we have what they have not, a 
 school for every child in New England, and wherever the 
 Yankee goes, there the school springs up with the church in 
 every village and settlement, and no family is so poor that its 
 children may not share the advantages of the most favored. 
 
 The Yankee is therefore intelligent. Even his labor is to an 
 extent an educated labor. Our artizans may not have the 
 patience, possibly not the skill in some special departments 
 with those in the old world, but they possess a versatility, a 
 power to adapt themselves to new circumstances, and a readi- 
 ness to abandon old precedents for newer and better methods, 
 which their foreign competitors have not. Their fingers and 
 muscles may be less highly trained, but their brains are more 
 active and fertile. In the old world you may find some minds 
 more highly trained and educated, but the masses are untrained 
 and uneducated. Here we have a whole people, who have 
 learned to use their brains, and to put their brains into their 
 work. This is one of the causes from which, and the means 
 by which, the Yankee is giving importance to our country as 
 a manufacturing country, and there is nothing, which, in a 
 commercial point of view, makes a country greater in the eyes 
 
99^ 
 
 of the world, than a successful pursuit of manufactures and 
 the arts. We have not yet reached the highest stage of 
 development in this direction, but are advancing at a more 
 rapid rate than any other people. When the Yankee begins 
 any kind of manufacture, he is not satisfied to stop short of the 
 highest degree of excellence. The importance and extent of 
 our mineral and other resources furnish to the Yankee the 
 most ample opportunity to apply his intelligence and ingenuity, 
 by the application of which he is adding largely to the wealth 
 of the country ; and, in all departments of manufacture and 
 of labor, you will find him pursuing those branches, which 
 require the greatest amount of brain work, and these are the 
 branches which uniformly produce the most important and 
 valuable results. So marked is this peculiarity of the natives 
 of N'ew England, that it has become a necessity in this coun- 
 try, in all departments of labor and industry, to employ, for 
 the coarser and heavier kinds of work, a comparatively igno- 
 rant and uneducated class, not native to the soil ; to emj)loy 
 it for that work, which require the greatest expenditure of 
 muscular power, and the smallest of brain power. This, too, 
 is the work least remunerative, for the proposition is every 
 where true, that the more brain entering into the work, the 
 higher is the compensation, and the more valuable the result. 
 Hence you pay to the architect, the civil engineer, the artist 
 and the skilled mechanic in the higher grades of labor, a 
 larger compensation than to the mere hewer of wood and 
 drawer of water. Brain everywhere, in the markets of the 
 world, commands a higher price than muscle, and the price is 
 in nearly the same ratio, in which the labor rises above the 
 level of brute toil. This argument, based on money values, is 
 one that the Yankee well knows how to appreciate. 
 
 This general education of the people, by which the labor of 
 New England is a more intelligent labor, is one of the greatest 
 results of the ]^ew England principle of equality. The 
 Yankee nation is pre-eminently a nation of inventors. 'No- 
 where in the civilized world is there so large a proportion of 
 the people, who have employed their minds in conceiving and 
 working out some mechanical invention, by which some desii'ed 
 
100 
 
 6nd is more speedily gained, and the labors of the hand light- 
 ened. The improvements in agricultural implements, as the 
 mowers and reapers, are indigenous, so to speak in this country. 
 The sewing machine, which has revolutionized many depart- 
 ments of industry, and lightened the labors of thousands of 
 households, was the invention of a poor, hard working mechanic 
 of our own state, and the numberless improvements in these 
 machines, during the last twenty years, are, with scarcely an 
 exception, of New England origin. The improvements in the 
 manufacture of rubber goods, by which that material is con- 
 verted to new uses without number, are, in like manner, 
 almost, if not entirely, of I^ew England invention. In the 
 whole range of inventive discovery, from the Yankee clock 
 to the highest achievements of inventive skill, the Yankee 
 stands pre-eminent. " Yankee notion " is but a synonym for 
 minor inventions and improvements, and ascending higher in 
 the scale, the first practical application of the magnetic tele- 
 graph, ending in its greatest triumph, the cable which binds 
 the continents, that marriage ring of the old and new 
 worlds, are among the grand achievements of New England 
 education and inventive skill. Whenever or wherever an 
 object can be accomplished by more direct methods, or the 
 powers of natui-e can be made to supply the place of human 
 muscle, the Yankee is the first to press into his service those 
 powers, and make steam and iron do his work. Whatever is 
 to be made the Yankee sets his wits to work and makes not 
 only 
 
 " The thing itself, 
 But the machine that makes it." 
 
 In the matter of public enterprise, tending to the develop- 
 ment of the resources of the country, and the creation and dif- 
 fusion of wealth, he has outstripped all competitors. His 
 Bteamboats, surpassing in capacity and elegance those of other 
 countries, ply their way over every navigable water. 
 Although the country is still new, and, compared with older 
 countries, without capital for extended public works, we have 
 already more than 60,000 miles of railways, built at a cost 
 of more than $1,500,000,000,— a length of railway more than 
 
loi 
 
 that of all other countries together. These and kindred enter- 
 prises are mainly the result of Yankee thrift, Yankee enter- 
 prise, and Yankee education. 
 
 Thus, in all matters of manufacture, internal improvements 
 and inventive skill, thrift and enterprise, which, in a material 
 sense, are the foundations and corner stone of a nation's 
 greatness, this country is without a parallel. The manufac- 
 tures of which I have spoken, and which have been well styled 
 the back bone of a nation's wealth and prosperity, and the 
 inventions and improvements in this and otJier departments 
 of human labor, which have enabled us, in a good degree, to 
 compete with the cheap labor of the old world, find their most 
 congenial soil and have reached their highest advancement 
 among the sons oflSTew England. Truly the Yankee " scouts 
 the primeval curse. All the powers of nature are his 
 servants. Steam performs his labor and the lightnings run on 
 his errands." 
 
 A wide difference between the Yankee and the people of 
 most other nations, and one of the results of the causes I have 
 stated, is found in this, that, while others continue in the same 
 condition in life in which they were born, he is ever aiming 
 hio-her. He is neither content to remain in that condition in 
 life from which he starts, nor that his children should fail to 
 rise to a position higher than his own. Even the humblest and 
 the poorest, if he possess the spirit of the true Yankee, is 
 looking for a more comfortable home for himself, and a higher 
 cultivation of the intellects and tastes of his children. Go 
 into his house and you will find the food for these in the book, 
 the periodical and the newspaper, the picture, the photo- 
 graph or engraving, and, upon being let into his secret hopes 
 and expectations, you will find some aspirations for a piano, 
 and those modern conveniences and appliances, best known as 
 the latest improvements. 
 
 He loves his home and the comforts of a home, yet he is not 
 so attached to the place of his birth and nurture, that he is not 
 always ready to leave it, and build him a new home, and to 
 engage in new enterprises. He is nomadic, a wanderer in his 
 tendencies, and readily adapts himself to the spot where he 
 
102 
 
 may'for the time being make his resting place, and singnlar 
 indeed will it be, if he do not add to the wealth and intelli- 
 gence of the place which, for the time being, is his home, 
 permanent or temporary. It has been said that if a Yankee 
 should be cast ashore over night on an unexplored island, he 
 would be found the next morning going about peddling maps 
 of the island to its inhabitants. 
 
 I have thus far spoken of the influence of 'New England in 
 matters of material prosperity, growing out of this leading 
 principle of human equality, and the intelligence, education 
 and thrift, which are, as I claim, its natural result. These 
 same causes tend to a wider liberality in matters of religious 
 faith. Hence in this country a larger toleration than any- 
 where else exists. For, if all men are equal, they can neither 
 be accountable to each other, nor to a hierarchy for their 
 religious belief. It may be said that our ancestors were 
 intolerant. They indeed had about them the taint of the 
 intolerance of the old world ; but this their descendants have 
 largely out grown, necessarily outgrown, for how can account- 
 ability to another be consistent with original freedom. Start- 
 ing with this idea, and with a mind and heart enlarged by a 
 generous culture, the Yankee is not, cannot be intolerant. 
 Hence this country has been, and will ever be the anxiously 
 sought, and fondly cherished home of those of all beliefs, the 
 victims of intolerance elsewhere. 
 
 But I pass on more rapidlyto consider some of the elements 
 of a political greatness, to which we may justly lay claim, 
 based upon the same foundation. With this idea of equality^ 
 with the consequent intelligence and enterprise, the people are 
 more loyal and the government is stronger than one in wliich 
 those qualities do not exist. It has been contended by the 
 political writers of other countries and indeed by some in our 
 own, that only the governments of the few, a centralized gov- 
 ernment, as a monarchy or an oligarchy, can be strong ; that 
 it alone has the conserving power, which can give strength 
 and stability ; that the army and navy must be dii'ected and 
 
103 
 
 controlled by a central head which alone can give that unity, 
 that can make the power and greatness of a nation felt, at 
 home and abroad ; that the people must be kept in subjection, 
 by an awe of a higher power, overshadowed by the divinity, 
 which doth liedge iu royalty ; that, on the other hand, a pop- 
 ular government must be weak, as containing in itself the 
 elements, which work disintegration at home, and cramp its 
 power and influence abroad. 
 
 Our history has shown the contrary, and the last few years 
 have given an added lesson. They have shown that, with 
 such a people as our institutions can rear, there may be a 
 truer and a heartier loyalty, and a consequent greater 
 strength in the government, than can be found in one more 
 centralized ; that the people can raise from themselves armies, 
 unparalleled in numbers, that they can furnish them with sub- 
 sistence, ordnance, arms, ammunition, medical attendance and 
 hospital supplies, with a generosity, a prodigality and lavish- 
 ness of expenditure of men, means and money, such as the 
 world has not before seen. These armies have made marches, 
 and been transported by railways, in such numbers, at such 
 distances and with such dispatch, that no centralized govern- 
 ment can furnish a parallel. These armies too have accom- 
 plished feats of engineering skill, in the spanning of rivers and 
 opening of communications, such as have never been accom- 
 plished by the armies of any other nation. Our manufacturers 
 of arms and ordnance, our naval architects and builders have 
 in four short years surpassed the achievements of all former 
 times. In the whole science of warfare they have set exam- 
 ples, whicli other governments are only too zealous to copy. 
 This, too, under a government which they would call weak ; 
 and how shall we account for it ? The government was not 
 weak. The government was only the expression and the em- 
 bodied voice of a people, loyal to an idea, and the armies 
 were made up of a material not elsewhere found. The armies 
 were but a part of the people, out of which the government 
 itself sprung, and this, with the elements of a Yankee educa- 
 tion, intelligence and ingenuity, all animated by a spirit of loy- 
 alty to principles, which they believed at stake, distinguished 
 
104 
 
 thein from other armies. "Whatever was to be accomplished, 
 not only in, but outside of the ordinary routine of a soldier's 
 duty, there were always to be found men, even in the ranks, 
 whose tact, shrewdness, intelligence and former training had 
 fitted them to the work ; for in those ranks were men of the 
 most varied training, representing all departments of engineer- 
 ing and mechanical skill. Whether it was to take possession 
 of and conduct a printing office, or to construct or perform any 
 work, it was only necessary to call for volunteers. 
 
 Tou will remember an anecdote, published at the time, and 
 it is one of many, illustrative of this peculiarity in our armies. 
 In the course of one of the memorable marches, our forces took 
 possession of a line of railway, the rolling stock of which had 
 been injured and broken, as the enemy supposed, beyond possi- 
 bility of repair, A question arises whether one of the locomotives 
 can not be repaired and " reconstructed," and, as usual, vol- 
 unteers were called for. Among the skilled mechanics who 
 responded to the call, one man claimed the privilege of direct- 
 ing the work, the ground of his claim being that the engine 
 was one he had originally built. 
 
 Another incident, which will illustrate the same fact, as 
 also another phase in the character of many of the soldiers in 
 the ranks of our armies, is related by an officer as having 
 occurred in Yirginia, early in the war, and of which he 
 chanced to be an eye and ear witness. A clergyman, in the 
 greatest trepidation rushes, almost breathless, into the presence 
 
 of a colonel, whose regiment of northern "vandals and 
 
 invaders " had just taken for their quarters the church where 
 he ministered. He finds the soldiers busy in taking up and 
 removing the carpets of the church, for some reason, which he 
 cannot explain to himself, except as he imagines this to be 
 the first act of a general spoliation. As soon as he recovers his 
 breath, he begs, as a special favor, that he may be allowed to 
 remove to a place of safety, the pulpit bible, lamps and 
 furniture. Turning his head at the moment, he sees, to 
 his horror, a crowd of rough, swarthy, unshorn and belted 
 men, who had found their way into the gallery, and were then 
 in the very act of opening the organ, and laying their coarse 
 
105 
 
 hands on the books of sacred music. Almost in an agony, 
 he begs the officer not to allow his men to destroy the valua- 
 ble musical instrument. The next moment the organ, whose 
 safety is the object of such anxious apprehension, sounds out 
 the notes of a skillfully executed prelude, and then a hundred 
 deep, rich manly voices take up the strain, till the whole 
 church is filled with one grand flood of choral harmony, in a 
 sacred hymn, sung with all the fervor and more than the 
 skill, with which the hardy Ironsides of Cromwell joined in 
 chanting their martial airs on the fields of jSTaseby and Mars- 
 ton Moor. The agonized look of the good pastor is changed 
 to one of astonishment, and that in turn gradually settles 
 down into one of devotional calmness. He involuntarily un- 
 covers his head, and as the last notes die upon the ear silently 
 leaves the place with no further fears of vandal desecration. 
 
 Such were the soldiers which a northern training sent into 
 our armies ; not that all were like them, but they were such 
 as our institutions tend to rear. Such men need no grand 
 central power, no symbols of royalty to force them to act. 
 They were men of sufficient intelligence to comprehend an 
 idea ; men of moral strength and courage enough to be loyal 
 to that idea ; men woh were obedient to orders, not because 
 those orders proceeded from any controlling, awe inspiring 
 power, but because they were engaged in a work, which their 
 hearts approved, and that approval made duty a pleasure". 
 
 Our people have taught too, not only during, but since the 
 war, another lesson to the world, bearing on the subject of the 
 strength and loyalty of a nation of intelligent and educated 
 freemen. The unparalleled expenditure of four years of war 
 have created a national debt, such as no nation ever before 
 incurred in a like period of time, and the necessary taxation 
 to preserve the credit of the government, by providing for 
 that debt, has been without a precedent in modern times. 
 The readiness and cheerfulness, with which the people have 
 met that expenditure, and that taxation, furnish the most con- 
 vincing proof, that the people regard themselves a part of the 
 government, and that its credit is dear to them as their own ; 
 that they have the intelligence to perceive, and the loyalty to 
 14 
 
106 
 
 meet the demands of their country's treasury, and that the 
 safety and strength of a state, in a financial as well as a mili- 
 tary sense, is not in a centralized government, in kingly au- 
 thority, in standing armies and navies, so much as in the edu- 
 cation, intelligence and virtue of a free people. 
 
 Again, with such a people as New England institutions tend 
 to rear, with intelligence to think and jud^-e for themselves, 
 and interpenetrated with a belief in human equality and a love 
 of freedom, the wiles of the demagogue and the arts of the 
 politician will be comparatively harmless. Men are nothing, 
 principles everything. Those wlio are, for the time being, 
 their rulers, are only men like themselves, and are well nigh 
 powerless, except as tliey are sustained by the hearts of their 
 constituents, and represent the people from whom their author- 
 ity and right to govern proceeds. A magistrate, who is the 
 embodiment of their enlightened conscience, and who truly 
 represents their ideas of justice, truth and right, will ever 
 command their respect, their liomage, and loyal service ; but 
 when he ceases to represent those ideas of justice, truth and 
 right, he ceases to be a governor, and fortunate for him will it 
 be, if he is not liimself sometimes severely governed. With 
 a New Englander, who is indoctrinated with the princi- 
 ples and ideas, which tohim are hereditary, which area part of 
 himself, his birthright and possession, wealth, or political sta- 
 tion, or eminence of whatever kind, are only the pedestal, 
 which makes the goodness and the greatness, the mental and 
 moral power, on the one hand, and the smallness, the selfish- 
 ness and the meanness, on the other, but themore conspicuous. 
 Even in the presidential chair, the simple utterances of an 
 honest and pure heart, and a noble, good and loyal purpose, 
 coming from a plain, awkward man, carry with them a thous- 
 and times more weight, than any word that can be spoken by 
 one, who, though he may have been a life -long statesman, an 
 honored minister in foreign courts, or a cabinet minister at 
 home, of dignified and courtly manners, and of commanding 
 presence, but who has ceased to be trusted by such a people, 
 as truly their representative, is looked upon by them only as 
 an " old public functionary," comparatively unhonored and 
 
107 
 
 tmrespeeted ; more too than any series of Bpeeclies or argu- 
 ments, coming from any one, however high bis position, whom 
 they believe not to represent their ideas and principles, even 
 though surrounded by those, whom the nation delights to hon- 
 or, and holding a position which is honored in itself, but not 
 by its incumbent, he " swings around the entire circle," and 
 leaves the constitution and flag of his country in a hundred 
 towns and cities. 
 
 To show still further how such a people regard principles 
 more than men, I could point you to one, who, though still in 
 the full vigor of his robust manhood, has, for almost a gener- 
 ation by his eloquent words in the pulpit and on the platform, 
 charmed the ears, and gained a hold upon the hearts of thous- 
 ands ; who has drawn alter him crowds of eager listeners, 
 delighted to drink in the words of his golden mouthed elo- 
 quence; who has long been looked upon as the champion of 
 freedom and equal rights, the ideas of the New England 
 which gave him birth ; who, during the gloomiest period in 
 the history of our late national struggle, did more than per- 
 haps any other American to place before the minds of our 
 English cousins, what New England believed to be the true 
 issues in the great contest, then convulsing the nation. Yet 
 all this prestige of eloquent utterance, wide felt influence, 
 and personal admiration, could not, when an unfortunate 
 published letter furnished his former admirers with reason to 
 believe, for the time, whether justly or unjustly, that their 
 champion had deserted his post, and taken sides against them, 
 retain them as his followers. They at once threw off their 
 allegiance to him, and even such an one, like a Sampson 
 shorn of his locks, became " like any other man." 
 
 Such men, although not infallible, judge men with more 
 correctness and discrimination than others. Because a man 
 has excelled in one department, he is not with them necessari- 
 ly estimated above his true value in another. He may have 
 been a good civil governor and a poor general, a first rate law- 
 yer and a fourth rate statesman, a soft hearted philanthropist 
 and a soft headed politician or statesman. 
 
108 
 
 But still further. A people like the people of New Eng- 
 land, who have been bred in a practical faith in the doctrine 
 of human equality, and have enjoyed the benefit of institu- 
 tions founded in that faith, who have shared the advantages 
 of a general education, and have reaped the fruits of intelli- 
 gent labor in the acquisition of a material competency, are 
 the people least prone to vice and crime. Who are the people 
 who fill our prisons, jails, houses of correction, and reforma- 
 tion ? Is it those who have been educated ? Is it those who 
 have acquired skill in the industrial arts ? Is it those who 
 are surrounded with the comforts of a home, such as the true 
 Yankee makes for himself, or is it the poor, the ignorant, 
 the untrained and the homeless ? Let me quote from the last 
 report of the Secretary of the Board of State Charities of 
 Massachusetts : 
 
 " It is notorious," he says, " that the great mass of criminals 
 is made up of the poor, the ill-taught, the ill-conditioned, and 
 in a double sense unfortunate." 
 
 " The proportion, in this Commonwealth, of those who can- 
 not read and write, among persons capable of crime, is be- 
 tween six and seven per cent, while the proportion of crimi- 
 nals who cannot read and write, for the last ten years, has 
 been between thirty and forty per cent, or more than five 
 times as great." 
 
 " Out of the 11,260 prisoners, only 429, or less than one in 
 twenty-five, are reported as ever having owned the value of 
 $1000." 
 
 And of these criminals, all, who have had the opportuni- 
 ties to observe, know how large a proportion were either born 
 on a foreign soil, or are the children of foreign born parents. 
 I have sometimes thought, that, but for the presence, in our 
 community, of a foreign element, made up of the poor, the 
 unskilled, the ignorant and degraded^ who have not been 
 trained and educated under our New England institutions, our 
 criminal courts would be almost without occupation, and our 
 prisons, and correctional and reformatory institutions almost 
 tenantless. 
 
109 
 
 In speaking of this foreign element, which has come to our 
 shores, poor, unfortunate, and ill-conditioned, let me not be 
 misunderstood. Their unfortunate mental, moral and social 
 position is less their fault than the fault of the institutions, by 
 which they have been surrounded, institutions based upon 
 inequality, tending to the elevation of the few, the depression 
 of the many, the influences of which they have either lacked 
 the opportunity or the strength to overcome or control. 
 Rather let us honor those who have broken away from those 
 institutions, if they have done it, as many have, with the de- 
 sire and purpose to avail themselves of the advantages which 
 are here opened to thera, where they can acquire a compe- 
 tency for themselves, and a better education and training, and 
 a fuller enjoyment of the rights of manhood for their child- 
 ren. It is not in accordance with the genius of our institu- 
 tions that any of them should be neglected, but that we 
 should provide for them the same advantages that we enjoy. 
 Our country is wide enough for all, our industries can provide 
 labor for all, we have the means and institutions to educate 
 all, and under these they will speedily become assimilated, 
 and an integral, component part of our population, and the 
 future of our country will see no worthier sons and daughters 
 than the descendants of those whom we now characterize as 
 our foreign population. I repeat that the true I^ew England 
 idea of human equality demands, and the genius of our insti- 
 tutions founded upon that idea, provides, that equal advanta- 
 ges to learn and labor be extended to them ; and that they 
 shall fully share the same civil and political rights, that we, 
 the foreigners a few generations farther removed, ourselves 
 enjoy. 
 
 But to show the full effect of this central principle, under- 
 lying the Yankee character and Ne\Y England institutions, 
 and the mode in which it is working towards a fuller and 
 higher development of the true greatness of our country, it is 
 necessary to glance briefly at the changes in the condition of 
 our country during the present decade, without doiug which 
 this view would be wholly incomplete. 
 
 I have said that New England has been devoted to the idea 
 of human equality. Would that this had been equally true 
 
of the wliole country ! Then would the bloody records of the 
 last few years never have been entered upon the pages of our 
 country's history. Then would the precious lives, lost in that 
 greatest of modern wars, still have been with us to gladden 
 our firesides and our homes. But there was a portion of our 
 country, which, only in a limited sense, entertained and cher- 
 ished this idea. The holding of a large class disfranchised 
 for no fault of theirs, kept in ignorance by local laws, and 
 ao-ainst their will, was an anomaly in a government founded 
 upon this principle, which I have attempted to state, an in- 
 consistency, to which an intelligent people could not always 
 be blind. It might be excused on the plea of necessity, the 
 blame might be shifted to the shoulders of the early settlers of 
 Yirginia ; it might be argued that it was a matter within the 
 province of local law, with which we of New England and 
 the JSTorth had nothing to do, that it was within the verge of 
 State rights, with which the other States could not interfere, 
 that it was a part of an institution, recognized by the consti- 
 tution, to which we were all subject, and to discuss which 
 even was revolutionary and incendiary. But these pleas, ex- 
 cuses and arguments, while they might sometimes convince 
 the ;i"eason, could not quiet the conscience. The whole heart 
 conscience and hereditary instincts rebelled, and would not 
 be quieted by reason and argument. We might attempt to 
 stifle the conscience, or in the political phrase, " conquer our 
 prejudices,"' but from the lowest depths of our moral sense, 
 our most earnest convictions and inherited political faith, 
 went up a mighty protest, which drowned the voice of the 
 arguments of statesmen and politicians. We were like the 
 great astronomer, who when compelled to abjure his belief in 
 the earth's motion, to make solemn recantation of his opin- 
 ions, and kneeling on the earth to swear upon the Holy 
 Evangelists never mol'e to teach such heresies, on rising from 
 the ground, was forced by his convictions to exclaim, " Still 
 it does move." So were we forced by a higher than human 
 law still to cherish the prejudices we had so many times con- 
 quered. The world has moved, and again revolves around 
 the central sun of human rights and human equality. 
 
Ill 
 
 This war was a war of ideas, in that it was a conflict be- 
 tween the principle of liuman equality and a system of ine- 
 quality. The institutions of the Southern and late Slave 
 States were founded upon a difi^erent basis, from that upon 
 which were founded those of the Nortliern and 'New England 
 States, While in both sections the dogma that " all men are 
 created fi-ee and equal " was recognized as an abstract propo- 
 sition, in the Slave States it was practically repudiated, or at 
 best regarded but as a " glittering generality," not applicable 
 to a large proportion of their population. Classes existed, 
 founded on the accidents of color, birtli, and property, acci- 
 dents above which the man was not allowed to rise superior. 
 These distinctions, growing naturally out of the slave system, 
 a system of inequality, permeated to a greater or less extent 
 the whole social fabric, and the difference between the social 
 and political status of the owner of a plantation, and that of 
 the poor white, was as distinctly marked as the difference be- 
 tween the whits and the negro. In some, in most of those 
 States, the elective franchise, the privileges of education wore 
 restricted, and the lower tiers of even the white population 
 had little inducement and less opportunity to rise to a higher 
 level. They were, not in name indeed, but in effect, the 
 subjects of those above them, influenced and governed by 
 them, as truh^ as is the vassal by the lord. The discussion of 
 the doctrine of human equality threatened in its effects to sap 
 the foundations of their patriarchal and oligarchic institutions. 
 The two sections were at variance on these social and political 
 questions, which undeiday their respective institutions. The 
 northern elements were gaining in power, and the only means 
 to check the aggression of free ideas was isolation, was seces- 
 sion. Hence the war, and the result ol that war, in the abol- 
 ishing of slavery, and the breaking down of this remnant of 
 feudalism, with the other results which will follow hard after 
 it, in the infusion of a northern population, the spread of 
 J^ew England ideas and enterprise, the more equal distribu- 
 tion of wealth, and a better and more general education of 
 the masses, will prove the first great step towards a homoge- 
 neousness of population, and an equality in social and politi- 
 cal relations, which will make this, in a higher and better 
 
112 
 
 sense than ever before, a truly great people. Such is to be the 
 final result of that war, the crowning achievement of ]^ew 
 England ideas. New. England education, and New England 
 training. In this way we are truly founding a State, a great 
 Commonwealth. Lord Bacon says : " To found a State is the 
 highest service man can render." The great statesman of 
 ancient Greece taught that to make a small state a great one 
 was the highest success in philosophy and in government. We 
 are working out both results. Where we had an aggregation 
 of States, at variance in their ideas and institutions, with a 
 real antagonism under a superficial and precarious union, we 
 shall soon be one United State, founded upon the New Eng- 
 land idea of a true equality. Where we had a country, wide 
 in its domain, of resources unparalleled, and of capabilities 
 immeasurable, but dwarfed by the presence of social and po- 
 litical elements, at variance with the principles upon which 
 the nation was founded, we shall soon rise to the magnitude 
 of a State, with resources and capabilities developed as largely 
 as its domain is wide extended. To this end is the nation fast 
 being reconstructed. The manner of its political reconstruc- 
 tion is to be the work of its statesmen, but a greater reconstruc- 
 tion has been and now is going on, a moral and social recon- 
 struction, which will make the whole country what xhe North 
 has been, the home of intelligence, the home of enterprize, 
 the home of industrj^, the home of the oppressed everywhere, 
 the home of a great, a happy and truly free people, living 
 under a government, based upon the New England idea of 
 equality, which knows no distinctions of birth, nation, color, 
 or condition, a government from the people, by the people, and 
 for the people, under which the American Republic, long before 
 another century shall have unrolled before the eyes of our 
 descendants its grand panorama, pictured all over with the 
 great events and varied vicissitudes of a nation's life and 
 history, having attained a power which no man can now 
 measure, and achieved a future which no imagination has yet 
 conceived, will, as we believe, take and hold the first rank 
 among the great nations of the earth. 
 
113 
 
 The regular exercises being completed before the dinner hour 
 had arrived, the intervening time was occupied in listening to 
 remarks from Rev, David Pease of Ashfield, now about 80 years 
 old, and formerly Pastor of the Baptist Church in Conway, and 
 from Rev. Edward W. Root of Westerly R. I. and Hon. Caleb 
 Rice of Springfield, Mass., both natives of Conway. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Pease remarked in substance, as follows : 
 Though not a native of Conway, yet, having spent nearly 10 
 years of my ministerial life here, and this being a native tov/n of 
 a part of my family, I am happy to be recognized by, and asso- 
 ciated with the sons of the good old town of Conway. My first 
 acquaintance with this place was in the year 1818. Very few of 
 those then in active life are now living to witness this happy 
 gathering. Since that time great changes indeed have taken 
 place. Then we were, as a nation, under the curse and disgrace 
 of a slavery-sustaining government. But now the flag under 
 which we are gathered, waves over a free land. Many of our 
 sons, who went forth to sustain the principles of freedom against 
 a daring and wicked rebellion, have fallen in battle. But the 
 object for which they bled and died, is accomplished, and their 
 names shall be held in grateful remembrance. G-reat has been 
 the change too in public sentiment on the subject of religious 
 liberty. If we go back 100 years the change is still greater. 
 Then it was no uncommon thing, in this and other states, for the 
 property of dissenters to be taken for taxes to support the church 
 established by law. In a town adjoining this, 400 acres of land, 
 which had been thus taken, were afterwards restored by order 
 of the king of England. I do not doubt the sincerity of our 
 fathers, who thus infringed upon the rights of conscience. They 
 verily thought they were doing God service; but they "knew 
 not what manner of spirit they were of" Happily all this has 
 passed away ; and all are now allowed, without molestation, to 
 worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. 
 Mr. Pease then related the following anecdote illustrating the 
 ideas of religious liberty which existed a century or more ago, 
 A citizen of Rhode Island, having occasion to pass through a 
 town in Connecticut, not far from the line dividing those two 
 states, noticed a gathering of people, and rode up to inquire the 
 cause. He learned that they were whipping a man, and on en- 
 quiry ascertained thatthe man's offense was a matter of conscience. 
 tFponthis, raising himself, he exclaimed, "Why, you serve God 
 here as if the Devil was in you!" Then, putting spurs to his 
 horse, he rode as if for his life until he crossed the State line. 
 Mr. P. closed by expressing the hope and the belief that people 
 had a better spirit in them now, a spirit more in accordance with 
 the principles of the gospel. 
 
 Rev. E. W. Root's Remarks. 
 Your President is quite arbitrary but we must submit. You 
 will not, however, expect much of a speech ft'om me, called upon, 
 
 15 
 
114 
 
 as T am, without a moment's preparation to " talk against time." 
 Still no citizen of Conway can have listened to the exercises of 
 the day without having some thoughts suggested. 
 
 The name of one of the first settlers of Conway, Alexander 
 Oliver, mentioned by our historian, called up an incident which 
 occurred at Oxford, Ohio, about 10 years ago. His daughter, 
 Mrs. Symmes, then between 80 and 90 years old, was staying at 
 the house of her brother, several years younger, born in Ohio. 
 Mrs. S. was a native of Conway. She was telling me that she 
 had attended a school taught by my grandfather. She described 
 the place where she lived in Conway, and I asked if it was " Hard 
 Scrabble." She thought it was, Doct. Oliver, her brother, who 
 had listened to the conversation, began to laugh, and said, " I 
 always thought there was a difference in the family, but never 
 could account for it till now. I was not born in Hard Scrabble." 
 Both the Doctor and his sister were persons of great physical and 
 intellectual vigor, and I thought, if such were the original settlers 
 and their immediate descendants, we had reason to be proud of 
 our ancestry. 
 
 There are some still with us who have done so much for this 
 town, that we shall gladly honor them to-day. We all think 
 with gratitude, of that select school so ably taught for many years 
 by one of our citizens. Under him, I remember the Orator of the 
 day read eleven books of the ^neid in eleven weeks. Such les- 
 sons were too long to be heard in school hours, and many 
 hours out of school were given to them. I was with him and tried 
 to keep up ; but I assure you it was hard work, I remember well 
 the time that I attended that school. The teacher asked me if I 
 wished to study Latin. I had not thought of it before. But after 
 consultation with my father, I began it. That sent me to college. 
 If there is any one man to whom Conway owes a debt of gratitude, 
 that man is Dea. John Clary. 
 
 No citizen of Conway can forget the influence of the gospel 
 ministry. I can just remember that pioneer pastor and venerable 
 man, John Emerson. He died after he had been preaching the 
 word of life and laying the foundations of future prosperity for 
 more than 56 years. I can just remember the large concourse at 
 his funeral and that my father lifted me up and let me look into 
 the coffin. Eev. Edward Hitchcock was colleague with him for 
 four or five years, who afterwards became Professor of Geology 
 and President of Amherst College, and there gained a world-wide 
 reputation. Rev, Daniel Crosby followed him, an earnest, elo- 
 quent and successful preacher of the gospel. All these have 
 passed away, having done their work, and done it well. 
 
 Mr. Root then paid an appropriate tribute of commendation to 
 the former and present pastors of the Congregational church still 
 living, saying that he did not speak of the pastors of the Baptist 
 church on account of his limited acquaintance with them. He 
 then spoke of the Sabbath School here, of which he was a mem- 
 
her, and of Capt. H. Billings, his teacher. " One Sabbath," said 
 he, " Capt. B. seemed more than usually earnest. After exhort- 
 ing us all in his own impassioned way, he turned to me and said 
 you must be a christian. Your great grandfather prayed for you 
 on his death-bed. I was there and heard him pray for his chil- 
 dren and all his descendants. You must be a christian. The 
 early settlers of this town were men of faith and prayer, and all 
 now on the stage are enjoying the rich benefits of their labors 
 and their prayers. With such an ancestry, and such advantages, 
 we ought to do much for the honor of God and the good of man. 
 Let us pay to the future the debt we owe the past. 
 
 Hon. Caleb Rice remarked as follows, viz. : 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 Although a native of Conway, I have been absent so many 
 years that most of this assembly are strangers to me. It will 
 not be supposed, therefore, that I am acquainted with your pres- 
 ent condition, or can relate any facts which have transpired within 
 the last fifty-years, that would now interest you. I can distinctly 
 remember all the first settlers of that part of this town long 
 known by the name of Broom shire. Israel Rice, my grandfather, 
 and William Warren were the two men with their wives, who 
 first settled northerly of South River in Broomshire. That settle- 
 ment was in 1763 or 1764. I have heard my grandfather say 
 there were but 33 settlers before him in town. 1 well remember 
 Timothy Thwing, father of Mr. Thwing, now living and said to 
 be the oldest man in town, and also many others of that genera- 
 tion. I well remember another individual who had been some- 
 what of a public man, at least he had kept a public house, who 
 was one of eight persons (so says tradition), who were the orig- 
 inal proprietors of Deerfield Southwest, that being the name by 
 which Conway was known previous to the act of incorporation. 
 He had the reputation of being a lazy, shiftless, good-natured, 
 easy man, whose property wasted away for want of proper care, 
 and he died a pauper. , -j 
 
 The celebration of Independence on the 4th of July, 1804, was 
 an occasion which called out the inhabitants second only to this 
 day. It was a celebration of both political parties in one house 
 at the same time. The parties were then known as Federal and 
 Republican, the terms, Democrat and Democratic not having then 
 become the watchwords of party as they have since. It was 
 agreed to go into the old meeting house, which then stood in 
 that well-known and long-to-be-remembered spot, Pumpkin Hol- 
 low. What was said by the respective orators could be heard 
 by all present ; but when they left the house to eat and drink^, 
 as was the fashion of that time, they separated, so that each 
 party should eat and drink his own political food and beverage. 
 The Orator of the Federal party was Rev. Samuel Taggart, a 
 
116 
 
 Congregational clergyman of Coleraine, and then member of Con- 
 gress from the old County of Hampshire. The Orator of the 
 Kepuhlican party was Elder Josiah Goddard, a Baptist clergyman 
 of Coijway. My father was one of the Marshals on that occasion, 
 and wore a pair of black striped satin pantaloons (a little extrav- 
 agant, 1 think). About eight years afterwards I had made from 
 the remains of the pantaloons a vest, which I have kept until the 
 present time, and which I have on to-day in good condition for 
 the next centennial one hundred years hence. 
 
 It may not be improper to allude to one of Conway's distin- 
 guished sons, Chester Harding, who is now no more, except in 
 memory, whose career through life is worthy of imitation. He 
 was born in 1192, in the southeast part of Conway, near Whately. 
 The spot where his father's house stood is probably unknown. 
 It was even lost from his memory, as he informed me. Born in 
 obscurity and indigence, he became by his industry and persever- 
 ance, an artist of no ordinary reputation, as the portraits of many 
 of the public men in this country and in England fully demon- 
 strate. 
 
 The exercises were interspersed with several pieces of instru- 
 mental music, well selected and well performed by the Shelburne 
 Falls Cornet Band, and the Greenfield Drum Corps, which added 
 much to the interest of the occasion. 
 
 The exercises at the grove being now completed, the proces- 
 sion re-formed and marched to the tent in which dinner was pro- 
 vided. On the way, and also while at the table photographic 
 pictures of the procession and the scenes presented were taken. 
 
 A tent sufficiently large to accommodate one thousand persons 
 had been erected on a level piece of ground, belonging to 
 Capt. Charles Parsons, near the Central Village. At the entrance 
 of the tent was the motto, " Our prescription for physical debil- 
 ity." Over it, at several points, waved the National Flag. On 
 entering, there was seen over the speakers stand the motto, 
 " We cherish the memory of our fallen Patriots," and on the 
 opposite side, "We honor our living Heroes." The Dinner was 
 provided by Amos Stetson, of the Conway House, tickets of 
 admission, being one dollareach. One thousand tickets had been 
 provided, but these were found insufficient to supply the demand. 
 The Divine blessing was implored by Eev. Thomas Shepard, D. 
 D. of Bristol, K. I., formerly pastor of the Congregational church 
 in Ashfield. The Dinner was got up in fine style, abundant in 
 quantity and excellent in quality. The ticket-holders did ample 
 justice to it, and yet the quantity left was almost as great as that 
 which was consumed. The skill and good taste exhibited by 
 Mr. and Mrs, Stetson in making the arrangements for dinner 
 deserve much praise. 
 
lit 
 
 The literary part of the entertainment was commenced by the 
 President of the Day, announcing as the first sentiment, 
 
 " The Day we Celebrate.'''' 
 
 This was responded to by the reading of the following line8 
 by R. A. Coffin : 
 
 Hail to the day that now heralds the ending 
 Of Conway's first century of fast flowing years, 
 
 Gladness and tenderness gracefully blending 
 While we commingle our smiles and our tears. 
 
 Here now we stand at the opening portal, 
 Of a century to come, and take one more glance 
 
 Back to the century now made immortal. 
 Then welcome the years that are now to advance. 
 
 Lo, as we look, see the swift generations 
 
 Coming in rapid succession to tread 
 Here in our footsteps, and filling our places, 
 
 When we are gone to the realm of the dead. 
 
 Welcome are ye to this land of our fathers. 
 To all its bright skies, and enrapturing scenes ; 
 
 Welcome to treasures that memory gathers, 
 And lessons of wisdom that history gleans. 
 
 Welcome to all the enjoyments that cluster, 
 Where Sabbaths in beauty smile over the land, 
 
 To hopes all immortal, that glow with freshlustre 
 When earth is receding, and death is at hand. 
 
 Hark, to the rush of the iron horse tramping 
 O'er the wild mountains, far, far in the west; 
 
 Cities spring up, where but lately encamping, 
 The Indian lay down on his bearskin to rest. 
 
 Who shall declare what the far future ages 
 Shall bring to our land in the strength of her might? 
 
 Who shall proclaim what the unwritten pages 
 Yet may record in their letters of light ? 
 
 Come then, ye millions who are to succeed us, 
 Spread o'er the land, and its treasures explore ; 
 
 God, who so graciously offers to lead us, 
 Guide you and bless you, till time is no more. 
 
 Mrs Mary B. Crittenden, a lady who was born Ang 24th, 
 1167 and who, therefore, on the day of the celebration lacked 
 but 66 days of being 100 years old, was then -troduced to the 
 audience. Mrs. Crittenden was married at the age of 18 to 
 
118 
 
 Medad Crittenden and lived with him as his wife 72 years. Mr 
 Crittenden died about 10 years ago. Five generations of the 
 tamily are now hving. A photograph has recently been taken 
 presentmg them at one view. 
 
 Our Centenary and our Centenanan. The seed sown, the plant raised, and the 
 flower that bloomed are this day in their full fragrance, preserved, to be gathered 
 by the Great Reaper. We rise to do her honor. 
 
 The audience then rose and sung Old Hundred. 
 
 The Religious Institutions of Conway. Planted with the planting of the town. 
 Ihe hrst pastor was literally a forerunner,— John preaching in the wOderness. 
 
 Responded to by Rev. Elijah Cutler as follows : 
 
 Rev. Elijah Cutler's Remarks. 
 
 Our Saviour bestowed great honor upon his forerunner. Be- 
 cause John the Baptist sustained so elevated a character, and 
 stood at the threshold of the dispensation of the Gospel, pro- 
 claiming and witnessing its advent, Christ said that no greater 
 prophet had arisen. Rev. John Emerson stands before us for 
 more than half a century in this high character and position- 
 building on foundations not his own, and yet his own, for he 
 preached Christ in what was then a wilderness, and in the infan- 
 cy of this town, and in its youth, and even up to its maturity he 
 "divided the word of truth," witnessing the power and value in 
 shaping even the temporal fortunes of a rising settlement. John 
 Emerson literally "bent the twig" of our century tree. And 
 whatever of grateful shade or varied fruitfulness it exhibits to us 
 to-day, is due in some noticeable degree to his judicious and 
 prayerful labors as a minister of the Gospel, and "preacher of 
 righteousness." He was settled by the town, and for life, and 
 for fifty-seven consecutive years he broke to this people the 
 bread of life. He "catechised" the children. He superin- 
 tended their day school studies,— the duties of " school commit- 
 tee devolving largely and sometimes wholly on him. He bap- 
 tised more than 1200 of infants and adults, thus earning the title 
 some of us would think, of " John the Baptist," as well as " John 
 preaching in the wilderness." 
 
 He preached as it is supposed about 3500 written sermons ; 
 and he followed more than 1000 of his people to the grave, only 
 one or two of those who settled him being among the living when 
 he died. 
 
 In his half-century sermon, he says that for fifty years, the 
 whole time in which he had been unable to perform the duties of 
 the ministry did not amount to one year. The day before he 
 died, being in his 81st year, he went to the church prepared to 
 preach. But another clergyman being providentially present, 
 he did notofiSciate. But he died with the harness on. How 
 much do we owe to this good man, who worked so lon^ and so 
 
119 
 
 well for the religious institutions of this tox\Ti, and through them 
 for its highest and best interests I His grave stone stands in 
 yonder burial place, but if you seek for his monument "look 
 around you." Let this town to the latest generation cherish the 
 memory of their first minister, as not only a forerunner but under 
 God a founder and builder in their prosperity.* 
 
 For this prosperity in the past, Conway owes much to a 
 succession of excellent and devoted ministers ; some of them very 
 eminent ones. Some are with us to-day, whom we gladly wel- 
 come and honor. Of the pastors of the Congregational Church, 
 of whom only my knowledge permits me to speak, Edward Hitch- 
 cock, afterwards President of Amherst College, is remembered 
 by many of the older persons present as the colleague for four 
 years of the first pastor. He was not less eminent _ here as a 
 preacher and pastor, than he was afterwards in the scientific and 
 christian world ; and with this joint pastorate commenced the 
 em\nevii\j fiourishing period in the religious history of this town. 
 Kev. Daniel Crosby succeeded Mr. Hitchcock, and during his 
 ministry the revivals of religion with which God had begun to 
 bless this town continued and increased in depth and power. Mr. 
 Crosby afterwards became pastor of the Winthrop Church, 
 Charlestown, and died in the service of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 
 Rev. M. G. Wheeler, now of Woburn, Mass., followed Mr. 
 Crosby, and his ministry of seven years many of those present 
 will recall, as they see and hear him to-day. Now, " the old 
 meeting house," having fulfilled its mission, gives way to the 
 present more modern one. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Harris, now President of Bowdom College, Me., 
 whose necessary absence we all regret, succeeded Mr. Wheeler, 
 and his eminently able and successful pastorate of nine years, 
 most of those present will recall as another period marked by 
 continuous revivals of unusual power, reaching and pervading 
 all parts of the town, and all ages and classes. Mr. Harris 
 ministry is held by all who were at that time residents of Con- 
 way, in grateful and appreciative remembrance,— as is Rev. Mr. 
 Adams' more recent pastorate of thirteen years. The latter pe- 
 riod embraces also seasons of precious revival and the eventful 
 times of the first years of the " civil war." 
 
 * The following incident illustrating both the conscientiousness and the wit of 
 Mr. Emerson, has been communicated by Prof. E. S. Snell, since the celebration : 
 
 When Mr Emerson informed Miss SabraCobb, his intended wife, of his purpose 
 to go to Conway, she could not bear the thought of going into the depths of the 
 wilderness, so far out of the world, and tried to prevail on him to find a place near- 
 er Boston, and give up, for her sake, the engagement he had made with the Con- 
 way settlers. He would not hear to it, and expressed his determination in these 
 ^ords •— " I cannot give up the corn for the sake of the Cobb." It appears that 
 •he yielded, and the good maa enjoyed corn and " Cobb " too for many years. 
 
120 
 
 Of other faithful and devoted laborers in the vineyard of the 
 Lord, connected with the Baptist Society,* and of the many em- 
 inently pious and useful men and women who have worked and 
 worshipped among these hills, I cannot now speak. Many of 
 them have had a " good part " in the religious prosperity of this 
 favored town. They have been "laborers together with God," 
 and servants of Jesus Christ the Great Master Builder, who is 
 "Head over all things to his Church." 
 
 3Ir. President : — From the religious institutions of Conway we 
 turn with grateful acknowledgment and thanksgiving to God, for 
 what he has wrought through them thus far. To them under 
 God we point our children as the key to the past, and the hope 
 of the future prosperity of this town. And, building on the same 
 foundations of prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the 
 chief Corner Stone, let it be the hope and prayer of us all that 
 the religious history of Conway's second century may fulfill in 
 still larger fraitfulness, the good and happy omens of this first 
 century. 
 
 Our Uducational Institutions — ancient and modern. 
 
 Responded to by Dea. John Clary. 
 
 I have the impression, Mr. President, that the ingenious Yan- 
 kee, who invented this sentiment, designed to give suflScient 
 scope to his subject to accommodate any respondent. But I shall 
 take the libeHy to ignore so vast a theme, and only give you a 
 bib of egotism. Since I have been called out as Teacher in 
 former days, allov/ me to say that I regard myself as a kind of 
 middle man to-day, standing here between my teachers and my 
 pupils. And when I repeat with profound respect such names, 
 now before me, as Caleb Rice, Austin Rice, Harvey Rice, and 
 Eugene Field, men from whom I received the first rudiments of 
 education, you will judge that it was not their fault, if I have not 
 succeeded in my vocation. I would not have it understood, how- 
 ever, that Pace was the only or chief mental aliment I imbibed in 
 my youth ; yet I am free to say that then, as now, it was regard- 
 ed as an article, very pleasant to take, and exceedingly 
 nutritious. 
 
 * Dea. R. A. Coffin, of the Baptist Church, has kindly furnished the following 
 information concerning some of the pastors of that church : 
 
 Rev. Calvin Keyes was pastor for more than twenty ^ears. He was ordained in 
 1799. He was a man of limited education, but a faithful servant of Christ. His 
 labors were blessed to the conversion of many souls. During his ministry about 
 130 persons were added to the church by profession. 
 
 Rev. Josiah Goddard was a man of good education and strong mind, whose influ- 
 ence was widely felt for good, not only in the church, but in the community gen- 
 erally. 
 
 Rev. David Pease was pastor nearly ten years, though not consecutively. When 
 he came here, he found the church in a low and disorderly state. By the blessing 
 of God upon his labors, order and harmony were restored, and a goodly number 
 at diflferent times added to the church. 
 
But with still dieeper interest and more fender emotionS; I am 
 allowed, with cordial greetings, to meet many of my former 
 pupils, whom I had not seen for a long time, not now boys and 
 girls, as they were regarded more than a quarter of a century ago, 
 but fathers and mothers, and some of them, grandparents even, 
 sustaining important and responsible positions in society. And 
 of the five hundred and more, who were under my care during 
 the twenty -nine consecutive terms of our select school, I can 
 recall but one who turned out badly. He, after attending a few 
 weeks, deserted, leaving his board and tuition bills unpaid, and 
 the last I heard of him he was in prison. And I think I do but 
 obey the impulses of human nature, when I say I am proud of 
 the relation I sustain to so many of these honorable men and 
 women to-day, and while constrained reluctantly to omit the 
 names of the female worthies, who have adorned our institution, 
 let me, as a specimen of the whole designate a few, who have 
 been conspicuous in the interesting exercises of this occasion, 
 such as David 0. Rogers, William Howland, George Howland, 
 Edward W. Root, and Charles B. Rice, and I have only to add 
 These, these are my jeivels. 
 
 Our Great- Gh-andfathers:— Than- houses, household furniture, and social 
 etiquette, one hundred years ago. 
 
 Responded to by Abner Forbes, substantially, as follows : — 
 
 " Patrick," said the Court to a witness, "are you of lawful 
 age?" " Shure, I am," said he, " for I was jist twenty-one, last 
 Michaelmas eve, at tin o'clock, exactly, yer honor, and I will 
 swear to that on the Holy Book." "But how can you be so 
 exact ? You cannot be so from your own knowledge." " And 
 was I not there meself, at the very time ? and who should 
 know better than I ?" 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I do not pretend that I was here one hun- 
 dred years ago, but I was here more than three-quarters of a hun- 
 dred years ago, and I have a vivid recollection of many things 
 that existed, and many incidents and events that transpired more 
 than seventy years since. 
 
 Persons that have lived three score and ten, or four score years, 
 are a kind of connecting link between two ages, and their memo- 
 ries are depositories of many facts and circumstances, which will 
 probably never be recorded in history, but which might be inter- 
 esting were they preserved for after generations. 
 
 A large portion of Conway one hundred years ago was an 
 unbroken and primitive forest. The oak, the ash, the chestnut, 
 the cherry and the pine, and many other trees, which would now 
 be very valuable for timber, were then often destroyed by fire to 
 get rid of them. More than nineteen-twentieths of the dwell- 
 ings were constructed of unhewn logs, with rough stone chim- 
 
 16 
 
122 
 
 neys. Two or more beds, with very likely a trundle-bed were 
 crowded into the only room in the house. The furniture, of 
 course, was very rude, and but little of it ; yet every family had 
 a great and a little wheel, and generally a loom ; for in those 
 days people in the country wore but little cloth, if any, that was 
 not of home manufacture. For many years after frame houses 
 became common, no carpet was seen on any floor in the town. 
 Crockery ware was but little used. Trenchers and wooden plates 
 were for common use, and pewter ones for extra occasions. No 
 plates of any kind were used at breakfast by most of the peojJle. 
 The steak, ham or fried pork was cut into mouthfuls by the cook, 
 and put into a platter containing gravy. This was placed in the 
 center of the table, and from it the food was conveyed to the 
 mouth by a fork, while bread was sopped in the gravy, as each 
 one's taste dictated. A pewter cup or a wooden can was placed 
 on the table filled with some kind of beverage for common use. 
 Sometimes when Several ladies met together they indulged in the 
 luxury of a cup of tea, if they could do so without its being pub- 
 licly known — tea being regarded in those days as a contraband 
 article by all true patriots. Silver four-tined forks were unknown, 
 and steel three-tined ones had no precedent except in the sceptre 
 of the ocean- god — the trident of Neptune. Pianos and melo- 
 deons were not in existence. A guitar and possibly a harp, 
 might have been found in the parlors of the wealthy in our large 
 towns.* 
 
 The furniture of Madame Emerson, who came from Boston, 
 produced a great sensation in Conway. She had a table-cloth for 
 her table ; probably it was the only one in town. It was much 
 talked about. A boy who had heard of the table-cloth but had 
 never seen it, called at Mr. Emerson's one day about noon to re- 
 turn a borrowed half-bushel. The first object that met his eye 
 was the famed table-cloth. So occupied were his thoughts with 
 this strange vision, that instead of doing his errand correctly, he 
 exclaimed, " Mr. Emerson, I have brought home your table- 
 cloth." 
 
 Wheel carriages were but little used by the early settlers. Hay, 
 grain, &c. were generally moved on sleds, even in summer. In 
 winter, lamilies often went to meeting and to parties on ox-sleds. 
 Riding on horseback, in the every day vocations of life, was com- 
 mon with both sexes. The farming utensils then used would be 
 objects of curiosity now. None but an old person can realize the 
 change that has taken place in respect to manners, customs and 
 etiquette in the course of the past seventy years. 
 
 *For many years after its settlement, the utmost that Conway could furnish in 
 the musical-iustniment line, was a violin, then called a fiddle, with a sturdy negro 
 to perform on it. This instrument was considered almost indispensable at balls and 
 festive gatherings gejierally, and thenegio's services were in very frequent demand- 
 
 (EdO 
 
123 
 
 Mr. President : — I will conclude by relating an incident, in 
 which Mrs. Emerson's table-cloth figured somewhat strikingly. 
 There was a meeting of the Congregational Association at Kev. 
 Mr. Emerson's, and among the ministers present was Rev. Mr. 
 Taggart of Coleraine. He was a very corpulent man, and very 
 eccentric in his manners. He wore no suspenders, and hence be- 
 tween his vest and his waistband there was often quite a space, 
 through which his linen had a tendency to protrude. Dinner hour 
 arrived and Mr. T. was seated at the table, which was covered 
 with the ample snow-white table-cloth — a luxury to which he was 
 not accustomed. He soon became deeply engaged in conversa- 
 tion ; not so deeply, however, but that after a little time, he per- 
 ceived something white in his lap. Not thinking of the table- 
 cloth, and supposing that his own linen had become disarranged, 
 he proceeded to adjust, and thus connected a portion of the table- 
 cloth with his own'clothing. Dinner having been finished, Mr. 
 Emerson requested Mr. Taggart to return thanks. ■ He according- 
 ly arose from the table and stepped back, when forthwith a sad 
 crash ensued. Tureens, plates, platters, &c., moved from the ta- 
 ble with the unlucky table-cloth, and fell. Mr. T., however, was 
 equal to the occasion. He deliberately proceeded with the relig- 
 ious- service, and at the same time, as deliberately released the 
 ta^ -loth from its connection with himself. The effect produc- 
 jhis scene on the minds of his brethren in the ministry may 
 •e easily imagined than described. 
 
 h-eat Grandmothers.— If the traditions from the great grandfathers are to be 
 ., they are not excelled in personal charms, or in expansiveness of attire, 
 le unique grotesqueness of capital adoruments by their great granddaugh- 
 
 Kesponded to by Rev. Gteorge M. Adams, formerly a minister 
 in the town. 
 
 Mr. President : — When we get together on such an occasion 
 as this, it is well to lay aside any extreme stiffness and reserve, 
 and to enter heartily into the pleasant thoughts and associations 
 of the hour. I love to preach the gospel, but I did not suppose 
 you would ask me to preach to-day. So I came here ready to be 
 a friend among old friends, without any special professional re- 
 straint. But really I was not prepared for such a post as you 
 have assigned me. You require me to talk about the beauty of 
 the young ladies, about feminine attire and accomplishments. 
 Why, sir, what should I know about these things ? There must 
 be some mistake. You meant this sentiment for one of these 
 young men near me. 
 
 There is only one way, as I see,'^in which I can* meet your com- 
 mand, and compare old times with new in respect to matters of 
 beauty and dress. And that is by reasoning on the question ; 
 and taking the argument from analogy, I conclude that the senti- 
 ment here advanced is true. No doubt the great Jgrandd^ugh^ 
 
124 
 
 ters are like their great graudmothers, for Conway was always 
 conservative. The people are not easily turned about. I made 
 one or two attempts of that kind myself, but soon learned that if 
 anything new was to be introduced, it must be a manifest improve- 
 ment. This was no place to try experiments. 
 
 Our historian, this morning, alluded to one of these failures. 
 Some of us thought that the pleasant village beyond the church, 
 sometimes known as South Village, but usually by a less euphon- 
 ious name, deserved a better designation. So, with prolonged 
 conference and cogitation, we studied up a name which seemed 
 to be "just the thing." It was graceful and brief, and had its 
 historical significance. In order that it might be launched upon 
 its course with the greater success, we kept the name secret till 
 the fitting time. Then, I think, it was on the fourth of July, we 
 had a gathering of the children, and music, and a procession to 
 the hill overlooking the village. There we had speeches, and an 
 ode, written for the occasion ; and so with fitting formalities, the 
 name that we expected should become historical, the name 
 " Church Green " was announced in the midst of cheers and re- 
 joicing. But I was grieved to notice a few days after, that when 
 I was talking with the best friends of the new name, if they said 
 " Church Green," it was with a smile, but if they were in down- 
 right earnest, they said — the less euphonious name. And now, 
 as I understand, " Church Green" is almost forgotten, and the 
 old name holds undisputed sway. Another fact illustrating the 
 conservative character of Conway occurs to my mind now. A 
 new comer into town, on attending the church noticed that the 
 people turned around and faced the choir during singing. This, 
 he thought, was disrespectful to the minister. After setting his 
 neighbors the example of facing the minister a few Sabbaths, one 
 of his neighbors said to him, on leaving the church, " You will 
 find it pretty hard to turn this congregation round." 
 
 Mr. President : — I believe I have confined myself to the sub- 
 ject assigned me. From the known conservative character of 
 this people, I am warranted in believing that the great grand- 
 daughters are very much like their great grandmothers. 
 
 The Daughters of Comvay. — First and foremost in all deeds of benevolent enter- 
 prise. To resist their appeals, requires more nerve, if possible, than to resist the 
 fascinating power of their pei'sonal charms. 
 
 Prof. E. S. Snell of Amherst College, whose wife was a native 
 of Conway, briefly responded to this sentiment, bearing his testi- 
 mony both from observation and experience, to the excellent char- 
 acter of Conway girls, and to their efficiency and success as 
 teachers, wives and mothers. He thought Conway had furnish- 
 ed ministers and other professional men with some of the best 
 wives in the country. She had good reason to be proud of her 
 daughters. 
 
125 
 
 O^vr distinguished guest and recent tovmsmanfrom the " Huh : " — He has overcome 
 all obstacles through assurance, iusuranee and finance, and is always in advance. 
 Success has been his motto aud fortune his friend, whether usina; turbine wlieels iu 
 South River, or controling propellers in Long Island Soirnd. Unlike many other 
 Generals, he has always retained command of his own forces. 
 
 Gen. James S, Whitney, the gentleman (a former resident 
 of Conway,) designed to be complimented by this sentiment be- 
 ing absent. Dr. E. D. Hamilton was called upon to respond. 
 
 He expressed regret, that the audience were obliged to accept 
 of a substitute so very incompetent to fill the void occasioned 
 by the absence of the Gen. Nevertheless he felt happy to bear 
 testimony to the obligations, which the citizens of Conway owed 
 to Gen. Whitney for the starting and successful development of 
 the various enterprises by which he contributed so greatly to the 
 prosperity of the town during the seventeen years of his resi- 
 dence with us. In the building up. of a manufactory, which un- 
 der his own management was highly successful, but which pass- 
 ing into other hands, struggled through a period of disasters 
 from fire, and business misfortunes, till it has come into the hands 
 of the present enterprising owners, the Messrs. Tucker & Cook, 
 where it is flourishing more successfully than ever. In origin- 
 ating the idea of a Mutual Insurance Company, for which he ob- 
 tained an act of incorporation, and carried, with the help of oth- 
 ers into successful operation, — till it now aifords protection 
 against fire to nearly four millions of property in the various 
 towns in the Commonwealth. He was a prime mover and princi- 
 pal agent in procuring the establishment here of a Bank, which 
 has contributed much to the prosperity of the town. In the 
 building of our Academy, (which has now become a public High 
 School, ) he was zealously active and a liberal contributor to its 
 funds — and in various other enterprises of which it is not necessa- 
 ry here to speak, he bore an active and prominent part. He was 
 moreover honored at sundry times with an election to the Legis- 
 lature and to the convention for revising the constitution of the 
 State. And since his removal from our town he has filled with 
 honor to himself various offices of trust and responsibility under 
 the national government ; and had he been permitted to have 
 been present with us, as he designed, on this joyous occasion, the 
 citizens of Conway would have tendered him their most earnest 
 and cordial greetings. 
 
 The Legal Profession. — A product, for the development of which the soil of 
 Conway was always too poor ; but many si;ch i^lants have been propagated here, 
 which, on being transplanted to a richer and more congenial earth-bed made rapid 
 growth, and expanded to large and beautiful proportions. 
 
 William Whitney, Esq. of New York, responded. His recol- 
 lections of the town were all of a youthful character, as he left 
 when he was yet a boy. He suspected that he was called up 
 more to be looked at than to be heard, and they would think that 
 the best part of his speech would be when he got through. In 
 
126 
 
 his youthful days he had a a great reverence for lawyers, and used 
 to think that the head of Squire Clark contained more wisdom 
 than all other heads. He alluded to a somewhat sarcastic remark 
 about lawyers, that their first object was to " get on," next, to 
 " get honor," and last to " get honest." The lesson which Con- 
 way teaches to her sons is, to reverse the order of that arrange- 
 ment. The people of Conway were in the habit of living in such 
 brotherly love, that a lawyer could not live among them, but had 
 to be transplanted to some other locality in order to succeed. 
 New England sent out to the world men, and could answer in the 
 language of the Roman matron, " These are my jewels." So it 
 was with Conway, so with Franklin County. She had not 
 wealth, but she was the mother of heroes. It is by reason of the 
 sons of New England, that the country is advancing in all that 
 makes her good and great. Her soil, her noble mountains, her 
 varied scenery and rich landscapes, and her climate, all teach in- 
 dustry, fidelity, morality and religion. 
 
 On motion of Rev. Charles B. Rice, the audience here rose and 
 gave three cheers for " Nathaniel Boy den, a native of Conway, 
 the true Union man, of North Carolina," who maintained his 
 principles boldly and unwaveringly through the whole of the late 
 rebellion. 
 
 The Business Metifrotn Conway, ivhoin other fields of enterprise have achieved fame 
 and fortune. — They furuish demonstrative evidence of the truth of the principles 
 in which they were educated, viz., industry, frugality and temperance. 
 
 Rev. Robert Crawford, D. D,, responded to this sentiment, and 
 spoke of the business habits and sound principles of Conway 
 men, as illustrated by several who did business in North Adams 
 while he was resident there. 
 
 The present btisiness interests of Conway. 
 
 Responded to by Rev, J. J, Townsend, pastor of the Baptist 
 Church. 
 
 Mr. President : — I did not come here to make a speech. In- 
 deed, it was not expected that I should speak ; but my friend, 
 Mr. Tucker, who was appointed to respond to this sentiment, has 
 just now requested me to appear as a substitute for him. The 
 manufacturing interests of Conway, it is true, are not so various, 
 as in many other places. But we may surely claim for this de- 
 partment of our industrial pursuits, that it does its work well. 
 While the busy hum of spindles, and the sprightly steps of at- 
 tendants indicate the energy which characterizes the varied de- 
 partments of these interests, so that the hungry are fed, the naked 
 clothed, and the disconsolate made happy, the work of our man- 
 ufacturers is not confined to mill and operatives. Schools are 
 made more inviting, and churches more effective in their 
 work, and houses of worship better filled. There is beauty and 
 
127 
 
 power in a symmetrical character, wherever found ;— whether 
 wandering in heathen wilds and bearing blessings as he goes, or 
 in the dens of vice in large cities, seeking out the vile and the 
 forsaken, or, with an increasing abundance at his disposal, he is 
 employed in educating the masses to habits of industry and vir- 
 tue, and omitting not, in his increasing gains, the mental and 
 moral improvement of the individuals employed, giving all to feel 
 that they are men. 
 
 We note with gladness the acquisitions of the past. We gaze 
 and wonder as we behold the monuments reared by the hand of 
 industry and still commemorative of the power of industry. The 
 orator might warm with his theme, and the poet, in flights of 
 fancy, with his beautiful delineations, enchain the multitude that 
 listen, and even invoke our own tribute of just appreciation ; but 
 for our manufacturers we claim more than graced the Spartan an- 
 nals or decorated Grecian greatness, the employment of our 
 greatest industrial pursuits, our manufacturing interests, for the 
 development of an energetic, noble, and Christian manhood. 
 
 TJie Goqxl.-K two-edged sword, efficient when wielded by the hand of a val- 
 iant soldier of the cross. 
 
 Kesponded to by Rev. M. G. Wheeler, a former pastor of the 
 Congregational Church. He spoke of the pleasure with which 
 he remembered his former residence in this place, and of the in- 
 fluence which the gospel had exerted here in forming character 
 and strengthening principle. He was ready to say amen to every 
 sentiment which tended to fix in our minds the moral reputation ot 
 Conway He then alluded to the improvement in church archi- 
 tecture since his residence here, and spoke of the old Congrega- 
 tional church edifice as tasking a miuister's power to the utmost 
 to make himself heard in it. He said that his own health be- 
 came seriously impaired in consequence of the effort required to 
 make his voice fill a house so ill adapted to public speakmg. 
 When it was proposed to erect a new meeting-house, the project 
 was strongly opposed by one of the prominent officers of the 
 church ; but soon after, the good man having occasion to speak 
 in the house himself at a Sabbath School celebration, found so 
 much difliculty in making his voice heard, that he withdrew his 
 opposition, and entered cordially into the arrangements for erect- 
 ing a new house that would not kill ministers. When the ques- 
 tion came up where the new house should be placed, there was 
 much division of opinion, and for a time the harmony of the so- 
 ciety was seriously threatened. But at length a compromise was 
 efi-ected, and all, or nearly all agreed to have the new house plac- 
 ed on the spot where it now stands. An equal difl-erence of 
 views, in some communities, would probably have produced a 
 permanent rapture. 
 
1^^ 
 
 We hmior our living Tiet-oes. 
 
 This sentiment was responded to by Mr. S. H. Lincoln of Plain- 
 field, as follows : 
 
 Mr. President : — I am happy to be here to-day to mingle in 
 the hearty congratulations and festivities of this occasion. This 
 will stand in history as one of Conway's brightest days, — a day 
 of jubilee, when nought but kind words arc spoken, a kind wel- 
 come given to all, and kind feelings, by all reciprocated. This is 
 the day when sons and daughters return to the parental roof, and 
 parents and children embrace each other in the arms of affection. 
 
 To the good people of Conway let me say, I am most happy to 
 be one of your guests, happy to meet all, but especially happy to 
 meet my brother soldiers. Many bright anticipations, deferred 
 during the bloody strife, have been realized, as others, I under- 
 stand, are soon to be.* 
 
 We meet to-day, brother soldiers, as first we met on old Camp 
 Brigham, true friends as we marched to the sound of the bugle. 
 True friends, did I say ? Why should we not be ? We have la- 
 bored and slept, we have marched and fought together, we have 
 hungered and thirsted together, we have often sung and prayed 
 together, and as some had fallen by death-hail or disease, we have 
 mingled our tears together. The country ought to feel proud of 
 the mothers of Conway, who have borne such sons, " the flower 
 of the church and the town," who responded so cheerfully to our 
 country's call, and in every emergency proved themselves " true 
 as steel," 
 
 But, beloved, while we live to come back to home and friends 
 again, we would not forget the fallen heroes, who are sleeping 
 their last sleep on the hill-tops, the hill-sides, and in deep ravines. 
 They sleep amid the cane-brakes, and in the cotton-fields by the 
 rice-swamps and in the pineries, and under the live oaks, where 
 southern moss hangs in rich festoons around their graves. They 
 sleep under the branches, where the "night-watch," the "mel- 
 low horn," and the " mocking-bird " sing their morning and eve- 
 ning hymns. They sleep where the white and sweet orange jes- 
 samines and the white bell flowers of the beautiful magnolia shed 
 their sweet perfume, and where the palmetto casts its shadows. 
 They sleep in vine-clad graves, where the myrtle twines and the 
 hawthorne blossoms. They sleep by the bridle-path, and wherev- 
 er our gallant army have marched. They sleep in rivers broad 
 and deep ; for how many a noble craft, heavily freighted, has 
 gone to the river's bed I They sleep amid the weeds and coral 
 of the deep blue sea. 
 
 My brotliers, as we live, let us so live, tliat when we no more 
 shall march on battle fields where slaughtered thousands lie and 
 where the soil is enriched by the blood of the noble and the- 
 
 ^Alluding to a happy maiiiage anticipated ou the coming dny. 
 
129 
 
 brave, we may pitch onr tents on the banks of the " Eiver of 
 Life," where ck^shmg steel aud cannon's angry roar where 
 screaming bombshells aud dying groans are no more heard. 
 
 The nwniory of the Fallen Heroes in the war of tJie late Mebellion. — Imperisliably em- 
 balmed in the hearts of the living generation. May it be transmitted in a suitably 
 imperishable monument to the generations uf the future. 
 
 Eesponded to by the Baud playing a Dirge. 
 
 Tlie May Floiver. — That precious bark from Leyden, laden with the hopes of a 
 great race, some of whose descendants are among the honored inhabitants of Con- 
 way. 
 
 Responded to by William Howland, Esq. of Lynn, a descend- 
 ant of John Howland who came over from England in the May 
 Flower, lie spoke of the perseverance, courage and fidelity to 
 principle, which marked those noble men and women, who lauded 
 at Plymouth in 1620. He had often thought what would have 
 been the effect ou the character of their posterity if the Pilgrims 
 had landed on the coast of one of the Southern rftates, instead of 
 the sterile shores of JNew Englaud. Had such been the case, the 
 whole history of our country would probably have been different 
 from what it is now. The hardihood, resolution, and energy 
 which marked the Pilgrims, were fostered by the circumstances 
 in which they were placed and the intlueuces which surrounded 
 them. And the character and habits ol subsequent generations 
 were, in a great degree, moulded by those circumstances and in- 
 fluences. And thus, partly througli the example of their ances- 
 tors, and partly through other influences, physical, social and 
 moral, the sons of New England had become strongly marked 
 by self-reliance, independence, adherence to principle, and that 
 firmness of purpose, which "will either find a way or make 
 one." 
 
 Conway Bice. — Tall in the sheaf, fair in the hull, and sound in the kernel, (Col.) 
 
 Responded to by Col. Austin Rice of Conway. After acknowl- 
 edging the compliment which the sentiment contained, he spoke 
 of the interest that the early settlers had in the matter of subsist- 
 ence beyond what is felt now. It was a serious question to them 
 what they should eat. They had to work for their living. Out 
 of the necessity of the case, in part, there grew the habit of dili- 
 gence in labor. Industry, rather than any of the other 
 peculiarities that had been referred to, was the most marked char- 
 acteristic of the early inhabitants of Conway. There were few 
 idlers among them. They had no eight-hour or ten-hour law. 
 They worked from morning till sunset, and milked their cow, if 
 they had any, after work was done. He expressed a fear that the 
 present tendency was to depart too far from their habits of labor- 
 ious application, and concluded by recommending to the younger 
 people, that they should all be ready to enter upon some useful 
 worJ% and determine to be diligent in it. 
 17 
 
130 
 
 Sobert Hamilton. — One of the first settlers of Conway ; a man of magnificent 
 proportions, said to have Aveighed 400 pounds. He is represented here to-day by 
 his great grandson, Edward Hamilton, Esq. of Boston. 
 
 Responded to by Edward Hamilton, Esq., of Boston. 
 
 Mr. President: I do not know why I am called onto respond to a 
 toast in memory of my great-grandfather when he has so many 
 other descendants present abler to do justice to his memory, un- 
 less it be to show how our race is deteriorating. But sir, I assure 
 you it is not without sensibility that I stand once more on the 
 soil of old Conway the home and burial place of so many of my 
 ancestors and relatives. 
 
 Eobert Hamilton who was one of the first settlers of Conway, 
 was one of those men, who, with a brave heart, and stalwart 
 arm, came here to settle in the wilderness and clear for himself 
 and his children a home ; how well he performed his part in the 
 early settlement of the town is a matter of history ; his children 
 have been respected as some of the most valued citizens of this 
 town. 
 
 Of one thing I am certain : no one can deny that my ancestors 
 and relatives both in Conway and Deerfield have physiced more 
 of the citizens of those towns than have the relatives of any 
 other person. My grandfather. Dr. William Hamilton, his broth- 
 er the lamented Dr. George Washington Hamilton, and your res- 
 pected fellow citizen. Dr. E. Darwin Hamilton, here present, were 
 all of the medical profession. 
 
 My grandfather, Dr. William Hamilton, died in the midst of a 
 useful life at the early age of 39 years, no man of his generation 
 was more honored or beloved. 
 
 For myself sir, I am a cross between Conway and Deerfield, 
 my mother was a native of Deerfield ; I recollect her often tell- 
 ing an incident which occurred when she was a girl, which I will 
 relate to illustrate the influence of my grandfather. 
 
 The old town of Deerfield had a cannon taken from the French 
 and Indians ; as new towns were formed out of the territory of 
 Deerfield, they claimed ownership in part in the old cannon, and 
 on public days there were frequent contests between Deerfield 
 and the neighboring towns, for the possession of it. On one of 
 these occasions the cannon was missing from Deerfield, and early 
 in the morning its echoes were heard from Conway ; the young 
 men of Deerfield mustered in battle array, mounted and armed, 
 and in military order marched to Conway to recapture the can- 
 non or perish in the attempt ; the men of Conway equally stern 
 in the resolve to keep the trophy, at least for that day, had drag- 
 ged it into the public tavern, and, fully armed, had barricaded 
 the windows and doors ; the Deerfield men surrounded the house 
 and demanded the surrender of the cannon, their request was re- 
 fused, they then gave the besieged five minutes to deliver the 
 cannon, at the end of which time unless it w^as delivered, they 
 proposed to ^ttaoJ^ tjio citadel ; before that time arrived ho we voi> 
 
131 
 
 Dr. William Hamilton rode tip and asked the cause of the excite- 
 ment, and when informed asked for time to enter the house and 
 see the Conway men, which request was granted ; and the result 
 was that the cannon was delivered up ; the Deerfield men agree- 
 ing not to fire it within their town limits ; on their return to the 
 village of Deerfield the women and maidens lined the street, and 
 strewed flowers and green branches before the victorious braves ; 
 and in the evening they celebrated the event by a grand ball in 
 the hall of the Deerfield Hotel. 
 
 Mr. President, after a residence of fourteen years in the town 
 of Taunton, my fither returned to his native town, and with his 
 brother Benjamin F. Hamilton and others, established the first 
 Factory for the manufacture of Cotton cloth ever started in this 
 place. I recollect he purchased all the water power on the river 
 from the bridge for several miles up stream, for the sum of five 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 Sir, I am glad to be with you to-day to add my tribute of re- 
 spect to the memory of those who have gone before us, and to en- 
 courage those who are to come after us to emulate the virtues of 
 the founders of this beautiful town ; I am glad to once again 
 greet so many friends and relatives here on this occasion, and es- 
 pecially my grandmother's brother, Arimiah Thwing, the oldest 
 man in Conway ; a more honest man never lived, he is an honored 
 son of a revolutionary sire who was one of the first settlers of 
 Conway. 
 
 Mr. President, I have enjoyed myself so well to-day, that I 
 give notice of my intention to be present at the next celebration, 
 one hundred years hence. 
 
 The name of iJiKiwgs.— Honored among the ancients, and abundantly Bustained 
 in reputation by the great grand children. 
 
 Kesponded to by Charles H. Billings of Troy, N. Y., as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " The name of Billings, honored amongst the ancients, its reputation is abund- 
 antly sustained by the great-grandchildren." 
 
 Mr. President: — Ladies and Gentlemen, "Speech is silver. 
 Silence is Gold," but the sentiment just offered calls me out, 
 and you must be content with the cheaper metal. I thank you 
 Sir for this kind and complimentary allusion, to my family and 
 name. 
 
 I can heartily say it is good to be here — to meet with yo u as a 
 child on our Mother's birth-day — gathered as we are from all 
 parts of the land to look upon these hills so fresh and green. 
 When has dear old Conway ever looked younger than to-day ? 
 although a century old counted in years. Ou yonder hill where 
 stand the poplar trees like sentinels keeping watch over the sa- 
 cred spot our family so loug enjoyed and loved as their home, 
 and from wheace parents and grandparents passed peacefully in- 
 to their rest, I early learned to respect and venerate age, and 
 
132 
 
 on this anniversary so full of interest to us Gonwmjians, our 
 Mother commands our love and respect. I feel truly grateful 
 tor this opportunity of gathering with you amid scenes so dear 
 and hallowed, meeting these friends of blood and friends of time, 
 to mingle our congratulations and wish our mother " many re- 
 turns of to-day." 
 
 I did not come here to speak, I hurried away from the care and 
 confusion of business to sit with you in my native air, the green 
 earth beneath us. the blue sky above us, these grand old hills on 
 every side. And let us mutually thank God, that here in this 
 moral atmosphere we had our birth and education. Let us re- 
 member the Fathers with gratitude for the Cliurch and School 
 house we em'oyed from childhood, they established for us. 
 
 Physiologists tell us that in every seven years we undergo an 
 entire change. It is now more than seven yeai's since I left you, 
 and while it is true that 1 stand here physically changed, I clasp 
 my hand upon a heart beating as warmly and kindly in sympathy 
 with all that pertains to the best interests of my native village 
 as when my home was with you. As long as life lasts Conway 
 will be my " Mecca," and thither I shall delight to make my pil- 
 grimage as often as possible. Of the thousand faces gathered 
 here, many are familiar, some are changed. Youth has turned 
 into manhood, time has changed us all somewhat, with its weight 
 of cares and trials. 
 
 In the clear sunlight of to-day's pleasure, there is mingled 
 with many of us, the shadow of sorrow and change. We miss 
 many familiar faces we were accustomed to meet in the years 
 long past, " gone to the bourne whence no traveller returns." 
 
 In my own family how great the changes. 
 
 " O Time aucl change ! 
 
 How strange it seems, with so mnch gone 
 Of liie and loVe to still live on ; 
 
 Ah, brother! only I and thou 
 Are left of all that circle now. — 
 
 The dear home faces whereupon 
 That fitful firelight paled and shone, 
 
 Hence forward, listen as we will, 
 The voices of that hearth are still ; 
 
 Look where we may, the wide earth o'er, 
 Those lighted faces smile no more ; 
 
 Yet Love will dream and Faith will trust, 
 (Since He who knows our need is just,) 
 
 That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. 
 
 So fragrant are these memories of our ancestry, beloved and 
 honored, that I love to hold them up, and I would learn the les- 
 son their lives and examples have so aptly taught. I deem it fit- 
 ting that we who survive should offer a tribute of gratitude. 
 And we cannot feel that they are far from us to-day, " Since 
 near at need the angels are." 
 
 I cannot close without offering to you my old friends and 
 neighbors the need of praise you so richly deserve. We whose 
 homes are scattered in all the States, thank you for this occasion, 
 
133 
 
 for this Tiearty welcome home. You who have labored so enthu- 
 siastically to make this celebration a success may well be proud 
 to-day 
 
 For this stirring music, this bountiful repast, let me thank you 
 
 from the heai't. 
 And now farewell. 
 
 With trusting hearts let us go forth to duty, and when another 
 Centennial comes round and children's children gather in our 
 stead, may we all be found safe within the eternal home which 
 knows no time or change. 
 
 At the close of his remarks Mr. B. and his brother H. W. 
 Billings, Esq. of Conway, sung the " Old Fireside." 
 
 The auric ii^(W>i%.— A name wortby to be remembered for the hio-h moral worth 
 of those who have borne it, as well as for the eminent success m busmess enter- 
 prises of some who have gone from us, and for the distinction m promment walks 
 of life which they have attained. 
 
 Hon. W. Griswold of Greenfield, who married a daughter of 
 the late Freeman Clark of Bath, Maine, a native of Conway, re- 
 sponded. He remarked that by some mistake or oversight in his 
 early education, he never attended Dea. Clary's school ; and so 
 he did the next best thing, by marrying a Conway girl. He said 
 the Glarks were a name of which Conway might well be proud. 
 Some of them had attained to an eminence in professional and 
 business life, which was an honor to any town. He then paid a 
 brief tribute to the memory of his father-in-law, Freeman Clark, 
 lately deceased. He remarked that his life was eminently suc- 
 cessful. Leaving Conway a poor boy, by his industry, persever- 
 ance and integrity, he placed himself among the leading, success- 
 ful business men of the city where he lived, and where he died. 
 
 But the crowning excellence of his life was his simple, pure 
 humble, Christian character. It was this which guided and con- 
 trolled all his actions. His benevolence and kindness to the poor 
 were proverbial, and many were those whom he had befriended 
 in life, who were stricken with sorrow at his death. In short, 
 his whole life proved that the truest success, even in this world, 
 is that which is built upon the principles of the Gospel. 
 
 The seed raised in Conway and sown elsewhere— It has taken deep Root and will 
 yield a glorious crop for the harvest of time. 
 
 Responded to by Rev. Edward Root of Westerly, R. I., a na- 
 tive of Conway, as follows : . . . ,. „r, -x -u + 
 
 Mr President .-—The remark of our friend Mr. Whitney, about 
 "getting on," "getting honor," and "getting honest" re- 
 minds me of a brief address to one of the literary societies of 
 Yale Colleo-e by Dr. Lyman Beecher. He quoted the advice of 
 an Indian at a funeral" out v/est," who, being called upon to say 
 something, could only get out, " I advise you all to go home 
 and be honest." " Young gentlemen " said Dr. B., " I advise 
 
134 
 
 you all to be honest. If you intend to be ministers, be honest; 
 study only for the truth. If you become doctors, be honest. If 
 you become lawyers, be honest. I believe there can be such a 
 thing as an honest lawyer. But if you are to be politicians, the 
 Lord have mercy on you !" 
 
 I believe in honesty first, and then " getting on " and " get- 
 ting honor " will take care of themselves. 
 
 It is quite late and I will only allude to Dea. Clary's commend- 
 ation of his pupils, which we have just heard. Such commenda- 
 tion from such a man cannot fail to be grateful to us. We are 
 just beginning the second century in the history of this town. 
 The delightful scenes of this day will soon be over, and this large 
 company will be scattered never to meet again on earth. But we 
 shall meet again with that great company which no man can num- 
 ber, at the final day. Let us all so live that we may gain from 
 the lips of the Judge a far higher commendation "Well done." 
 
 TJie memory of Cyrus Rice, the first settler of t]ie town of Conway. He is represent- 
 ed here in the person of a grandson. 
 
 In response to the sentiment last offered, Mr. Rice said, he did 
 not know, until so informed on yesterday, that to him belonged 
 the distinguished honor of being a grandson of the first settler in 
 Conway. 
 
 He stated he had not the opportunity, when a child, of acquir- 
 ing any very definite knowledge in regard to his ancestors, for 
 the reason that his mother died when he was but four years of 
 age. In consequence of this sad event — sad for him — he had 
 the misfortune to be placed here and there in different families, 
 who took very little interest in his early education or welfare. 
 He could hardly say, therefore, that he had been brought up at 
 all, but like Topsy, supposed he "growed." He had been 
 taught, however, that all mankind descended from Adam, and 
 this was about all he knew of his ancestry. He was still in 
 doubt, whether his descent from the first man, or from the first 
 settler in Conway, was the greater honor. " Be this as it may," 
 said he, " fifty years have now elapsed since he ceased to be a 
 resident of Conway ; yet he still felt proud of his native town 
 and of its enterprising sons and fair daughters. He believed his 
 grandfather must have been a man of unusual coux-age and en- 
 terprise to have led the way into an unbroken wilderness. 
 And doubtless, he was " a heavenly-minded " man, for he set- 
 tled on an exceedingly high hill. If he could return to earth, 
 and join us on this festive occasion, what think you would be 
 his surprise to behold the marvelous changes which a century 
 has wrought. May his memory ever be honored as one, who 
 manfully encountered the hardships of a pioneer-life. And let us 
 trust that he is numbered "among the just made perfect" — a 
 settler in the Better Land. 
 
 " We stand to-day as it were," said Mr. Rice, " between two 
 centuries — two vast ocean billows of time, one of which has brO' 
 
135 
 
 ken oa the shores of eternity, and now sends backs its broken 
 ripples laden with many pleasant memories ; while the other is 
 majestically advancing toward us in the distance, fringed^ with 
 the light of many pleasing hopes and anticipations. It is m the 
 record of the past, that we may, to some extent, at least, read 
 the unwritten record of the future. And may the record of Con- 
 way for the next century, when written, be a brilhant one, wor- 
 thy of a still nobler manhood." 1. 1 . 11 
 In conclusion, Mr. Rice expressed his sincere thanks to aU 
 his friends in Conway for the cordial welcome they had given him, 
 and for their kind and generous hospitalities. 
 
 E P BuRNHAM, Esq. of Saco, Me., was then called on by the 
 President to make some remarks, he having formerly been a law- 
 yer in Conway, though for only a short time. . , , . 
 
 His remarks were in substance as follows :— I resided m Con- 
 way only about six months during a part of 1850 and 1851, and 
 have not since been in the town until the present occasion. Hav- 
 ing received an invitation from the Committee, I have come from 
 Maine to attend your Centennial, and am much pleased that I 
 have done so I miss many of the old faces, and see many new 
 ones Though not a " Son of Conway," I claim, as a " Son of 
 Maine" to be a grandson of Massachusetts. Until 1820, Maine 
 was a part of your Commonwealth. The names of many of the 
 towns in Maine were given in honor of Massachusetts' worthies. 
 I will instance Hancock, Bowdoin, Sumner, Strong, Brooks, War- 
 ren, Sedgwick, Otis, Cushing, Phillips, Elliot and Dexter. A 
 a-entleman, now living in my own town, represented the town in 
 the General Court, priorto the separation. Maine if closely con- 
 nected with Massachusetts in business relations. May her peo- 
 ple ever be united with those of the Mother State m the bond of 
 friendship. 
 
 Here the public exercises of the occasion closed. 
 
 The best of order prevailed through the day. Not an instance 
 of drunkenness, quarrelling or rowdyism occurred ; and it was 
 remarked by several persons that they had not heard a profane 
 word from the lips of any one in the course of the day. A serene 
 and chastened gladsomeness seemed to be the prevailing feeling 
 amonff the multitude who were present, ; a state of feehng natu- 
 rally prompted by the blending of the tender and the joyous as- 
 sociations which the occasion suggested. _ 
 
 In the evening there was a social gathering of the citizens and 
 natives of Conway at the Town Hall. Here some hours were 
 pleasantly spent in cordial and unembarrassed interchange of 
 thought and feeling, in mutual congratulations and sympathies, 
 and in the renewal of old acquaintances and the formation of new 
 ones. It was a delightful seasoa, and will be long remembered 
 by many. 
 
(^ 
 
 And thus closed the first centennial celebi'atlon of the incorpo- 
 ration of Conway. May the second and all succeeding celebra- 
 tions be equally happy, and equally marked by order, decorum, 
 and g-enerous kindness, and by full and heartfelt recog;nition of 
 obligation to God, and of dependence on an all-sufficient Saviour. 
 And may God in mercy grant to us who shared in these pleasant 
 exercises, reminiscences, and congratulations, 
 
 That, when the dial-plate of Time 
 Marlts nineteen hundred sixty-seven, 
 Then, in a purer, holier clirae, 
 We all raav sing the sons^s ot Heaven. 
 
 '^ E 907 
 
i