('lass_._E44::i____ I'KKSENIll) in- C^-jiv./ 2j Id Heath, Mass. 1785--1885. CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE TOWN OF / >- " Heath, Mass, I? -AUGUST 19, 1885. Addresses, Speeches, Letters, Statistics, Etc., Etc. • EDITED BY EDWARD P. GUILD. PUBLISHED FOR THE COMMITTEE. Press of Advertiser Publishing Co. 105 Summer Street, Boston. The 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Heath was on the 14th day of February, 1885. It was thought that the sons and daughters of the old Town, rememberhig the snow drifts of Winter would prefer to celebrate the occa- sion among the halcyon Summer days ; and the 19th of August was selected when there was a large gathering from far and near. It was voted to print the addresses and letters, and they are here given with some papers which, it is thought, will be of interest. John H. Thompson, C. E. Dickinson, Chaeles B. Cutler, Committee on Publication. IV Heath, Mass., March 2, 1885. In Town Meeting assembled, Article No. 8.—" To see if the Town will pass any votes relative to ccleljrating the Centen- nial anniversary of its Incorporation" was In'ought before the meeting. Voted, to celebrate, and that a committee of three (3) be "appointed by the chair to nominate a committee of ar- rano-ements. Names of committee, John Read, Daniel Gale and^Rev. B. B. Cutler. The following Committee was appointed; Orsanms Maxwell, Chairman; Wm. S. Gleason, Wm. M. Max- well, Charles D. Benson, and Charles B. Cutler, Correspond- ing Secretary. Charles B. Cutler, Sec. Heath, April 6, 1885. At a meeting of the Centennial Committee, the following circular letter was presented and approved, and the Cor. Sec'y. requested to send it to all old residents and others mterested in the coming celebration. Chas. B, Cutler, Sec. 1785 - 1885. HEATH CENTENNIAL. The present inhabitants of Heath, Mass., have decided to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of its Incorporation, on Wednesday, August 19th, 1885, with Appropriate Ceremo- nies. Rev. C. E. Dickinson, of Marrietta, Ohio, and John H. Tho3Ipson, Esq., of Chicago, 111., are expected to deliver addresses on the occasion ; also a poem may be expected from Mrs. C. W. McCoy of Columbus, Georgia. In open meeting the Town chose the sul)scribers as a Committee to cany their wishes into effect, and we do hereby, through said Committee, send an earnest and cordial invitation to friends abroad, es- pecially former residents and connections, to attend and par- ticipate in, and assist in a pleasant re-union. You are also re- quested to forward to the Corresponding Secretary, any items of interest, of history, of reminiscences of by-gone days, that may assist in obtaining as complete and authentic history of the town as may be had. Please be so kind as to extend this invitation as far as possible. Trusting that you may be with us on that occasion, we remain, Yours Very Respectfully, O. Maxwell, Chairman, Wm. S. Gleason, Wm. M. Maxwell, Chas. D, Benson, Chas. B. Cutler, Cor. SecY. Heath, Mass., April 6, 1885. P. JS. — Those proposing to be present are requested to for- ward their names ten days at least before the time, to the Corresponding Secretary, or any of the above committee. VI Heath, Mass., June 6th, 1885. At a meeting of Citizens to make arrangements for the Centennial, Dan'l Gale was chosen chairman, and Chas. B. Cutler, Sec. The Cor. See's report was read and a})proved. On motion, it was voted that the Sec. be chosen Treasurer. On motion, a committee of two (2) from each School District was chosen to solicit for the table ; viz., West Dist., Chas. P. Coats, Mrs. W. 0. Bent; Branch District., 0. A. Sumner and wife ; No. 9 Dist., 0. E. Vincent and wife ; Xorth Dist., Geo. Thompson and wife ; North East Dist., William Kend- rick and Mrs. Mary Page; Burnt Hill Dist., J. B. Daven- port and wife; South Dist., (). Maxwell and wife; Center Dist., Edw. S. Dickinson and wife. Chas. B. Cutler, Sec. Heath, Mass., July 4th, 1885. At a meeting of the Centennial Committee the following Sub-Committee was chosen. President of the Day, Orsamus Maxwell, A^ice President ; Danl. Gale, John Read, Chas. P. Coats, Wm. M. Maxwell. Edward S. Dickinson. Committee on Decoration ; Rev. J. R. Flint and wife, Andrew Thompson and wife, Walter Benson, j\Iiss Annie ]>enson, Mrs. Geo. Tucker, Walter Bassctt, Sylvander Benson, Henry Stetson and S. Edwin Temple. Committee on Sentiment; Rev. B. B. Cutler, chairman ; Rev. J. R. Flint, Rev. J. Hatch, and Wm. Bassett. Committee on Entertainment; Hugh Maxwell, chairman; Mrs. Hugh Maxwell, W. S- Allard and wife, R. W. Gillett and wife, E. D. Hitchcock and wife, W. E. Kinsman and wife, Rollin Bassctt and wife, E. S. Dickinson and M-ife, Squire iJenson and wife, Fred Benson and wife, I. W. Stetson and wife, Geo. Thompson and wife. Chas. B. Cutler, Sec. Vll Heath, Mass., August 1st., 1885. A meeting of citizens called to make further arrangements for the Centennial met at 10 o'clock A. M. at the Town Hall and was called to order by the chairman, Mr. 0. Maxwell. On motion it was voted that a Committee of three (3) be chosen to select a place for holding the Centennial Celebra- tion and that said Committee be appointed by the Chair. The following named gentlemen were appointed; 0. A. Sumner, Rollin Bassett, F. C. Tanner. On motion it was voted that the meeting adjourn one half hour. Committee reported fav- orably on the Grove of Mr. James Bray near the Center. Voted that the report of the Committee be accepted and that the Grove be the place of holding the Centennial Exer- cises, and that Tuesday, Aug. 11th, 1885, be the day appointed to arrange said Grove in an appropriate manner. Chas. B. Cutler, Sec. CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. Secretary's Report. The Heath Centennial Exercises ^vere held Aug. 19th, 1885. The following- were the officers of the day : President' Orsamus Maxwell ; Vice Presidents, Dan. Gale, John Read' Chas. P. Coats, Wm. M. Maxwell, Edward S. Dickinson' Secretary, Chas. B. Cutler. Marshal, Edward S. Dickinson Leader of the choir, R. M. Snow, Cxreenfield. Organist, Miss Nettie G. Bassett. Shelburne Falls Band, Henry Sweet Leader. ' The day was ushered in by the ringing of bells and the booming of cannon ; but the lowering ^clouds sent down cop- ious showers of rain and rendered it necessary to change the programme somewhat. The morning o-athering wis in the Congregational Church, before which swung^the Stars and Stripes bearing the word " WELCOME." The Church had been hastily decorated for the occasion. Back of the pulpit was a large white banner bearing in evergreen letters these words — 1^85. 1885 WELCOME HOME. HEATH. i above which was draped two American Flags. A silk flao- presented to the " Heath Lidependent Rifle Co." 50 years ago'' was also an interesting feature. A few relics were also grouped about; an old portrait of Rev. Moses Miller, a former pastor, and a photograph of Rev. Lowell Smith, a Forei-n Missionary, wcrf siispciidod fruin tlic jjiilpit, and nearl»y was !Mr. ^lillcr's ancient Concordance. About 10 o'clock the cl(nids began to break away, and the church being densely packed, the meeting was called to order by the President of the day. The programme at the church was as follows : — 1st. Music by the Shclburne Falls Band. 2nd. A'oluntary l)y the Choir, " The Lord reigneth, let the people rejoice." 8d. Reading the Scriptures, 2ud. Chron. 7th Chap, by Rev. J. Hatch, of Heath, from an ancient Bible now one hundred and fifty-four years old, brought to Heath by Col. Jonathan White, father of Dea. James White, father of Aunt Ruth AVhite who gave it to its i)rc'sent owner ]\Ir. Wm. M. Maxwell. 4th. Prayer l)y Rev. B. B. Cutler of Heath. 5th. jMusic by the Choir. Centennial Hymn. 6th. Address of Welcome by Amos Temple, Esq. 7th. Reply to Address of Welcome by Prof. Brainard T. Harrington, of West Chester, X. Y. 8th. A Poem by ]\Irs. Catherine Barber McCoy, of Colum- bus, Ga., read by Rev. J. H. Hoffman of Shelburne Falls. 9th. Historical address by John TT. Thom])Son, Esq. Chi- cago, 111. lOth. ^^)luntary by the Band. A procession Avas formed at once headed l)y the IMarshal on horse-back, followed by the Band, citizens, and strangers on foot and in carriages, and marched to the grove of Mr. James Bray, where a bountiful collation was spread by the people of Heath. A speaker's stand had been erected at the grove and was tastefully decorated. After dinner the Exercises in the Grove were as follows : — 1st. Music " Old New England" by the Choir. 2nd. Address by Rev. C. E. Dickinson of Marietta, Ohio, Subject, "The development and inthience of New England ideas." 3d. A tribute to the late Col. R. H. Leavitt, by Dr. Josiah Trow of Buckland. 4th. Reminiscences of Fort Shirley by Prof. A. L. Perry of Williams College. 5th. " Heath — once prosperous, what shall her future be ?" responded to by Dr. Theron Temple of Waltham, Mass. 6th. " Our Brave Soldiers." Responded to by Francis M. Thompson Esq. of Greenfield. 7th. Music by the Band. Prof. Harrington suggested three cheers for the good peo- ple of Heath who so heartily Avelcomed us to the old home. These were given l)y the visitors, and returned with interest by the citizens. In the evening, the people gathered in goodly numbers at the Congl. Church, and after a time spent in hand shaking and sociability, the meeting was called to order 1:)y the President, who introduced Rev. S. F. Dickinson of Newton Iowa, to re- spond to the sentiment " Sons and Daughters of Heath — they have rendered illustrious by their character the place of their birth." Mr. Dickinson thought he could not better il- lustrate his subject than by reading letters from those who have gone from these dear old hillsides to nearly every quarter of the globe, and have rendered noble service to the cause of truth and Christianity. Numerous letters were read which are pul;)lished in this book. The exercises were closed with many congratulations upon the success of the occasion, and the recollection of the day will long be cherished Ijy all who were present. Chas. B. Cutler, Secy. Centennial Hymn. SY LEOXAIJI) M. NORTON OF WESTHAMI'TON, MASS. Ovir voices now shall i-aise The melody of praise For this glad day I Father, in heaven, above, A hundred years of love Now crown us here to prove Thy love for aye. We meet together here Fi'om homes both far and near To praise Thy name I We come, one family; May Christian charity, Faith and humility Our hearts inflame! We sing what love hath done Of hard fought battles won Through Thee, our Lord. AVe sing of harvest sheaves, Of hopes that Faith still weaves Of work that e'er receives Thy rich reward. A hundred years of grace Now rest upon this place, To bless and cheer. May love's best work be done, By every sire and son. Till all around are won To praise Thee here. Now may Thy Kingdom come, Thy holy will be done In earth as Heaven ; And when a century Becomes Eternity, To us in ecstacy Thy home be given. ADDRESS OF WELCOME By AMOS TEMPLE. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: To-day we have seen it proved that wherever man may- wander out in the broad world, or to whatever distances he may roam, or its uncertain currents may bear him, or how- ever long the years may intervene ; if he has a heart in his bosom, or has any manhood left, there is one spot that is pic- tured upon his heart, and memory loves to recall the scenes of childhood, and the old associations that cluster around the old home. Perhaps it may Ije humble, yet it brings fond re- collections to view when we think of the old oaken Ijucket, the orchard, the meadow, the hill, and the vale. Though child- hood's home may have been filled with sorrow and disappoint- ment, yet the tendrils of the heart cling to the old loved spot. We see before us many of the sons and daughters of Heath, who have pitched their tents in other places amid other scenes ; and today we meet to recall old scenes and old familiar faces. But as we look here and there the thought comes : " where are the friends of our youth," and echo answers " gone," the church- yard tells the sad story of many that have gone, the battle- field tells of others who laid down their lives for the good of others. To-day we are reminded that this year the old town is one hundred years old, born Feb. 14, 1785, and we come to tell the " old, old story." Fathers and Mothers, Sisters and Brothers, in the name and in liehalf of my fellow-citizens, I offer you a heartfelt salutation, and welcome you to o/r/*home and to your home. Right glad are we to see so many of you and we say again it' e/co/ne, glad to see so many familiar faces, as well as so many faces, familiar only as they repeat and perpetuate the fea- tures of kindred. We welcome you to all that is comprised in 6 that best of words liome. As you cast your eyes over the old landscape you will perceive that many places you once knew, you will know no more. But the onward march of improvement has not leveled these old hills so but what they can lift their heads and bid you welcome. These grand old hills still abide ; the vales shout forth their welcome, the rills that run among the hills sing welcome, and the trees stretch forth their hands and bid you welcome. Fathers with hair silvered — Mothers with names dearer and holier than any earthly name — Brothers strong and with vigor crowned, and Sisters fair as the rose — one and all, ivelcome, a thousand times, WELCOME. Response to Address of Welcome. By BRAINARD T. HARRINGTON, of Westchester, N.Y. Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen, citizens of Heath : Perhaps I never before so surely felt my utter inability to perform a task alloted me, and as it has been but a few hours since your secretary requested me to take this part in these exercises, there has been no time for any concerted action on the i)art of your wandering children, so what I may say will be but a feeble expression of our gratitude to you for the privilege we have of meeting here again. About fifty years ago, I Ijelicve, I made an address in the Hall in the old " Red Tavern," in which I began something like this — "You'd scai'ce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage, And if I cliance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections bj-." And assuredly, I have far greater need to crave your indul- gence now, than I then had. In behalf, then, of your return- ing sons and daughters, I will simply say we thank you for the welcome which has just now Ijeen so eloquently extended to US ; we thank you for the kindl)^ greetings with which we are met in every street and by-way ; we thank you for the generous hospitality which has caused the doors of every house on these old hill tops to stand wide open for our recep- tion. It is now about forty years since I left this town, and I remember well that I soon began to look back with pride as I thought, that of all the States of this glorious Union I could claim the Old Bay State — and of all the Counties in this State, the County of Franklin, and of all the Towns in this County the Town of Heath, as the place of my nativity : and now let me say, I say it softly too, that I may offer no incite- ment to any dissention in this family gathering, I went a little further still, in that, of all the School Districts of this Town, my claim should be on the old North Center. Now some one may ask me for the reason for this faith which is in us in regard to this town of Heath. No doubt this question will be abundantly answered by our historian to whom you are soon to listen, and I will not consume the time which is necessary to complete these interesting exercises ; yet there is one topic upon which I will touch for a single mo- ment. The day we celebrate, as well as the dates upon the wall before you, seventeen hundred eighty-five, and eighteen hundred eighty-five, remind us that Heath first had its corpo- rate existence soon after the terrible struggle for independence had been brought to a successful issue by the original thirteen colonies, and this whole land had been freed from the domin- ion of England under George III. Heath then is one of the oldest fair daughters of our Great Republic. In her existence as a town she has never known the rule of King or Queen or Emperor, or any such thing, so that we who are her sons and daughters may rise in our might and with pride exclaim in the words of St. Paul," But I was free born." I will not encroach further upon time now so precious. Again, thanking you for the courtesies extended to us, I wish for this town of Heath continued peace and prosperity. Retrospection. UY MKS. C. W, MCCOY, COLUMBUS, GEORGIA. Life is so grand, so beautiful, so full of meaning, so splendid in its oppor- tunities for action, so lioi)eful in its high results, that despite all its sor- rows, I would willingly live it over again. . J. G. Holland. My thoughts today are with the buried Past: I see Pleath's hills, mid which my youth ^vas cast; The old church with its glittering spire, KeMecting oft at eve Heaven's sun.set fire.— I hear the ruddy school boys' gleeful shout. And know 'tis four o'clock, and school is out. I see again our iiaslor's*' much lov'd face. And watch his stc]is full of majestic grace; The sonst who fell in manhood's earliest pi'ide Press as of yore close to their father's side; Ilis daughters, like to polish'd columns stand, The fairest and the best, in all our land. Yes, memory backward turns its magic glass: Good Doctor Emerson is riding slowly past. Wearied with his dull rounds among'the hills, His saddle bags well rill'd with drugs and pills. But ne'er too tired to speak in courteous phrase. To humblest child who meets him in his ways. A host come thronging o'er Life's youthful stage : Hastings is there — our grand old village sage; Good Deacon Dickinson with smiling eyes. Sits where the shadow of the pulpit lies; And Griswold forward steps with outsti'etcli'd hand; GriswoldJ the blithe — Griswold the teacher bland. Magnolia flowers bloom now above my head. And on the southern breeze their odors shed; A mocking bird, with curious, tuneful throat, Pours forth from cedar boughs its sweetest note. From youthful scenes, I've drifted far away, And in Life's warp are mingled, "Blue," and " Grey." || But I shall ne'er forget those grand old hills. With all their siiarkling, dashing, foaming rills, Those fields, white with the drifting winter snow, To which our fathers came, a hnndred years ayo — Came with the plowsjiare, gun, and fishing rod. While yet the Indians roamed the sod. Peace to their ashes! let them calmly rest. Dear Mother Earth, within thy hallowed breast; Plant the pale primrose o'er each peaceful head, And may night there, its purest dewdrops shed; Ours were the boons, to which a country wise aspires; Freedom to worship God — o race ofnohle sires. • Rev. .'\Iose9 Miller. t SpciH'er and Alexiiiuler. I Hon. NVhitinj; Griswold. ||"Rlue" and"<;rey" were the uiiifonns worn during the late war. The writer had triends on both sides. HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY JOHN H. THOMPSON, Of Chicago, Ills. This day is consecrated to the past. From the present with its failures and successes, from the future with its hopes and aspirations, we turn our eyes backward to the names hal- lowed in memory, to the lives that are finished, to the days that are gone. From the diverging paths into which our feet have strayed, we retrace our steps to the starting point. From the dust and turmoil of life's conflicts we turn aside to rest in the shadows of the everlasting hills, to walk again along the brookside and the shady ways, and to live over the years that are no more. From widely scattered homes, from the hillside and the val- ley, from the city and the country, from the prairie and the ocean, we come to these familiar scenes to revive the fading memories of other days, to do honor to the ashes in conse- crated urns, and, by the contemplation of the lives of those who have gone to their rest, to gather inspiration and strength for what remains to us of life's journey. There is no need of apology for the observance of this day as a town celebration. AVhen Old Mortality wanders through the churchyard to restore the inscriptions which are fading under the remorse- less tooth of time, we feel that it is an office most kindly to the living and the dead. 10 The past is full of instrucion, of warning, of encouragement and of inspiration. Especially important docs it seem to me that the towns of New England should preserve the lessons found in their histories. I regard the township system of New England as a work of the highest human wisdom. Tlie New England town is the best form of a Democracy to be found on earth. It is the realization of what President Lincoln styled "a government of the people, by the people and for the people." Recognizing its allegiance and obligations to the county, the state and the nation, the town is for the most purposes of government inde- jicndent. In the town meeting are settled by the people most matters of government which most nearly concern them. The town meeting is a school in which the duties of a citizen are taught, and it is a fortress where the citizen not only learns his duties, but stands ever on giiard to protect his rights. It may be that many of the questions settled in town meeting might be better settled by one good business man, free from the influences which sometimes sway a popular as- semblage ; but these questions are settled well enough by an intelligent people in town meeting. If errors are committed, the sober, second thought of the people will generally correct them, and the deliberation upon and settlement of these ques- tions is in itself a liberal education. I deem it important therefore to preserve this system of government, and to that ond to cherish and keep alive a proper pride in one's own town, and a lively interest in its history and achievements. Beautiful for situation is this town. At an elevation of about loOO feet above the sea, and extending on the southeast to tlie top of Pocumptuck, the highest point but one in the State, it commands in all directions wide and varied views of valley, hill and mountain. On the west, rise the Green Moun- tains with the giant Greylock towering above its neighbors. Away to the northward, Monadnock stands in serene majesty ; far away to the east, may be seen Wachusett ; on the south. 11 looking- across the fair valley of the Deerfiekl, the eye roams over and beyond the billowy Buckland hills and away down the Connecticut Valley, over scenes so beautiful that one might exclaim almost in the words of the pious old angler, '' Lord, what glory hast thou prepared for the saints in Heaven, since thou affordest ])ad men on earth such sights as these ! " Here the sun sinks into the west amid splendors not revealed to the dwellers in the valley or the city. From these hills gush countless springs that feed the swift streams that are ever flowing towards the sea. Roses, once watered by hands long since dust, are still blossoming by the roadside, and with each returning Spring fair flowers bloom on every hillside. But beyond the charms of nature are the associa- tions which cluster around these scenes. " These ever spring- ing flowers and ever flowing streams have been dyed by the deep colors of human endurance, valor and virtue." A restless and energetic race was that which braved the perils of the stormy Atlantic and undertook the settlement of this new world. As they landed on these shores the pioneers looked into a wilderness where a savage foe was lurking, and where every footstep was ])eset with danger. But " it is not with us," said John Robinson, " as with men whom small things can discourage." They had come not for ease and comfort, but to carry into and over a great continent the l)lcssings of civilization, lilierty and religion, and as the young- men grew up there was ever sounding in their ears the in- junction " go "West," long l^cfore it was uttered by the great New York Journalist. At an early day the settlers reached the valley of the Con- necticut, and, as they contended for its rich meadows, they were inclined to look upon the hills to the westward as only adapted to hunting and grazing. Soon, however, they fol- lowed up the Deerfiekl Valley and climbed the hills ; and the fair valleyo f thd Connecticut, attractive then, and with a thou- sand added charms today, was neither destined to be the 12 (";i|iu;i <•!' the Piluriiu.s, nor the Ixnnulaiy of advancing civili- izatidii. The (leneral Court of Massachusetts g-rantcd, June 27, 1735, three townships in western Massachusetts to the town of Boston, in consideration of tlie payment by Boston of about one-fiftli of the colony tax and large sums for the support of schools and the poor. One of these townships, emln-acing the larger ])art of the town of Heath, the town of Charlemont and i)art of the town of Buckland, was named Boston Plantation No. 1. There were reserved 500 acres for the first minister, 500 acres lor the support of the ministry and 500 acres for the support of schools. Boston con- veyed this township to John Reed, July 14, 1737, and Reed conveyed soon after to John Checkle}^ and Gershom Keyes. The town afterwards was named Charlemont, and the ])art now a i)art of Heath was known as Charlemont Hill. The north ])art of the town of Heath was long known as the Green iiml Walker Grant. This tract was granted to Joshua Green and Isaac Walker, two Boston men engaged in busi- ness in Boston under the style of Green and Walker. Dr. Samuel A. Green, a prominent physician, and recently mayor of Boston, is a great great grandson of this Joshua Green. Soon after the commencement of the war between England and France in 1744, the Massachusetts General Court built, at the exi>ensc of the colony. Fort Shirley in the East part of the town of Heath, Fort Pelham in Rowe and Fort Massachusetts in Adams, for the protection of the frontier, and raised 500 men to garrison the new forts and strengthen the old ones. These forts were all under the charge of Capt. Ephraim Wil- liams of Deerlield, the gallant officer who afterwards fell near Lake George and gave the name to Williams College. Fort Shirley was situated ui)on the farm now owned liy Mr. Lovel Cook, and Avas a little to the west of the })resent road and house and upon ground sloping gently to the eastward for a short distance, and then descending to the north branch. A line elm now stands some 100 feet west of its site. 13 The fort was sixty feet square and built of logs. The well, curbed with planks and posts, and the flat stones, where the oven w^as built, may still be seen. The fort was provided with small iron or swivel guns. Lieut. John Catlin of Deerfield was for some time in com- mand. In 1747 Lieut. Catlin, Sergt. Allen, Corp. Atherton and thirty-eight soldiers were there. In 1748 Lieut. Catlin, Sergt. Allen, Corp. Lyman and thirty-two soldiers occupied the fort. The fort was occupied aljout nine years. Rev. John Norton, who was born in Berlin Ct., in 1716, graduated at Yale in 1737, and was ordained at Deerfield and settled in Bernardston in 1741, was chaplain for these forts and was for some time at Fort J^hirley. His daughter Anne died at Fort Shirley in 1746 and was buried at the fort. A stone which marked her grave has been recently removed to Williamstown. Rev. Mr. Norton, Dr. Williams and fourteen men left Fort Shirley Aug. 14, 1746, for Fort Massachusetts where they ar- rived the next day. Four days after. Fort Massachusetts was attacked by eight or nine hundred French and Indians under General De Yandrenil. Serg. John Hawks, afterwards Col. John Hawks of Deerfield, was in command of the fort, Ijut he had only twenty-two men and more than half of them were sick. He made a gallant defence through the ninteenth and part of the twentieth, but at last, when he had ]jut three pounds of powder left, surrendered, and the garrison with about a dozen women and children were taken prisoners to Canada. Mr. Norton kept a diary during the march to Can- ada and for about a year after, but it is mostly a sad record of the death of one after another of the captives in Canada. The survivors were redeemed and reached Boston al)out a year after the capture. Capt. Humphrey Hobbs, of Springfield, with forty men was on the march to Fort Shirley June 6, 1748, from a fort near Brattleboro. He had halted for rest and dinner when sud- 14 (Iciilv his unai'ds Avcrc driven in and he was attacked by about 300 Indians led by a chief named Sackett, a half breed. Hobbs with great judgment posted his men behind the trees- and there was a hot jfight for four hours, when the Indians re- treated and left Hobbs to continue his march to Fort Shirley. Hobljs had but three men killed and three wounded. A large numl)er of Indians were seen to fall, and. when an Indian fell the body would be seen soon after sliding along the ground in a mysterious manner. Another Indian had crawled up, tied a rope around the body, and the Indians at the other end of the rope dragged the body off. Hobbs and Sackett were old ac- quaintances, and during the fight Sackett was calling upon Hobbs to surrender and making fearful threats. Hobbs had a stentorian voice and shouted back defiance and called upon him to come on. These were two of the most gallant fights recorded in the Indian wars, and they properly come within our jurisdiction, as the men in one case had just gone from, and in the other were marching to Heath. Men who had gone from or were going to any other place could hardly have been expected to have borne themselves so gallantly and well. During the peace, two men were left in charge of the fort. About the commencement of the second war, June 12, 1754, Gov. Phipps wrote to Col. Israel Williams that he must ar- range for the protection of forts Shirley and Pelham. It was represented that these forts were rotten and it was decided that they should be aljandoned and dismantled, the men Avith- draAvn, and the guns turned over to the Governor, which was done. Some years after, Col. Asaph White carried some of the timbers of Fort Shirley to his place, and they may still be seen in the barn of Mr, Orsamus Maxwell. The appearance of these timbers 130 years after they were represented to l)e rotten, is calculated to throw some suspicion upon the judg- ment of the officer Avho reported upon their condition. There was considcral)le controversy among military men at that 15 time as to the best places for the location of forts, and it is possible that the judgment of some may have been affected by their opinions that forts should be liuilt in other localities. In 1752 Jonathan White came to Charlemont, and at a meet- ino- of the proprietors, Jan. 17, 1753, was chosen one of the ofhcers, and in 1752 or 3, he cleared up a few acres, planted an orchard and built a house in the south part of Heath on the farm now owned by Orsamus IMaxwell, and a little to the northeast of the present building. Jonathan White was born in Lancaster Feb. 4, 1709, and was the eldest but one of a family of thirteen children. He was the son of Josiah White, and the great grandson of Jo- siah White who came from the west of England and settled in Lancaster. He married in 1732, Ellen AVilder, a daughter of Judge Joseph Wilder of Lancaster, and built a house in the north part of the town, now the town of Leominster, and is stated l)y the historian of Lancaster to have been " the great- est landholder, the most wealthy man, and the best educated person then in town." In the first French and Indian war Col. White commanded a military company in his town, and was actively engaged in defending the town from the attacks of the savages. When the second war commenced, he went back to Worcester county, and March 29, 1755, was commissioned captain in the Worcester regiment of Col. Ruggles, which marched for Crown Point. On the march northward Capt. White was promoted and made major, and before the end of the cam- paign he was made lieut-colonel. Col. White with his regi- ment was in the battle near Lake George Sept. 8, 1755. On the morning of that day in which many Itrave men from this country fell, Col. Ephraim Williams Avith his Hampshire Reg- iment was sent out on what is known as " The Bloody Morn- ing Scout." At a short distance they encountered the French and Indian army under Baron Duskan, an'd Col. Williams was killed while endeavoring to lead his men into a better po- 16 Hition, aud his re.sriment was driven l)ack with great loss upon the main hudy under Col. ^Villiani Johnson. The French Ihished witli suoeess, attacked Jolmson, l)ut after a hard fio-ht of four hours flic French Ketiulars were routed by the colo- nial trooj.s, and the distiniiuished French general was mor- tally wounded and taken prisoner. Col. White was commissioned colonel Feb. 18, 1756, and ordei-ed witli his regiment to Lake Champlain. He served to the end of the war, Avas in many Ijattles and won a high repu- tation as a gallant and capable officer. At tlie close of the war, Col. White found that the Indians had raided his place in the south part of this town, destroy- ing everything and even cutting down his orchard, excepting one ai^ijle tree, which remained and l^ore apples within the memory of the present generation. After Col. Jonathan White returned from the war, he lived most of the time at Lancaster, and often went back and forth from Lancaster to this town. On one occasion when on his way he reached Deerfield on Saturday and found he could not reach this town without encroaching upon the Sabbath, and so remained tliere. When the hour for worshij) came he en- tered tlie church with its high doors at all the pews, and walked along the aisle, luit no one recognized him or offered him a seat. The colonel turned aljout walked quietly out and, going to a woodpile, picked up a Ijlock of wood with which he walked up iu front of the pulpit and, placing it on the floor, occui)ied it as a seat during the services. In the in- terniission the peo])le discovered that the stranger was Col. White, and when the afternoon services commenced and the colonel arrived, every door was opened to him, but the stal- wart old colonel had come i-repared. He marched uj) to the aisle as if at the head of his regiment looking neither to the right n.,r thr l,.ft, with his block of wood under his arm, and took Ins tornici- place in front of the jnilpit. Col. White died Dec. 4, 1788, in his eightieth year and his 17 wife died eleven days before. The remains of both lie in the South Burying Ground among kindred dust of later genera- tions. This Ijurying ground was donated to the town by Col. White in 1771. Col. White's oldest son, Jonathan, graduated at Harvard in 1763 and became a physician. His three sons David, James and Asaph all settled here soon after the close of the war, and some years later Col. Jonathan White passed the latter years of his life here with his children. David White settled near the foot of Meeting House Hill, and the first town meeting in the town of Charlemont was held in 1765 at his house, and about two years later David was drowned in the Deerfield River. Deacon James White settled a little south of the South Schoolhouse. He was chosen in 1765 the first town treasurer of Charlemont. He Avas long a leading citizen of this town, prominent in church and town affairs, and died here in 1824 aged eighty. Col. Asaph White, Col. Jonathan White's youngest son, was a man of remarkable executive and business ability. He was born in 1747 and married Lucretia Bingham, a near rela- tive of Hiram Bingham the missionary. He was connected with almost every enterprise of a public nature in this region. He built the turnpike across Hoosac Mountain, the Second Massachusetts Turnpike, known for years as Col. White's Turnpike, also the turnpike from Athol to Boston called the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike. He built a clothing mill in Mill Hollow and manufactured woolen cloth, and Ijuilt many roads and public buildings. He lived first and built the house, on the place afterwards sold by him to Col. Maxwell, and later on the old place just north of the South Schoolhouse, where his father first settled. About 1800 he removed to Erving and was the first settler of that town, building there a house, a mill, and a dam across Miller's River. The founding of a town was but an ordinary 18 enterprise lor a man of Col. AVhlte's energy, and having given the new town a good start lie retiir)K'd to Ilcath and dicd\cre at the age of eiglity-ono, Sept. 18, 1828. Deaeoii David Wliite, tlie oldest son of Col. Asaj.h, married a datigliter of Jonatlian Ashley, a lawyer of Deerfickl, and lived (,n the old homestead, and died in 1851, aged seventy- seven. Lueretia B.. a daughter of Deacon David White, mar- rie.l Ezra Lamh, and now lives at 8t. Paul at the age of eighty-llN-e. She was the mother of Rev. Ezra E. Lamb, who graduated at Wesleyan University, Ohio, in 1858, and was a very popular i)reacher in Ohio and Western Massachusetts. He died a few years since at Agawam. Deacon David White left the old place to his son Joseph who died in 18(31. The second son of Col. Asaph White, Joseph, settled in Charlemont and died in 1840. He was the father of Hon. Jo- sei.h White, a very eminent lawyer, who was for manv years secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and is now treasurer of Williams College. Asaph, another son of Col. Asaph White, graduated at Wil- liams, and was a teacher in Western Xew York where he died many years ago. Ca])t. Benjamin Wliite, who died in 1817 at the ao-e of seventy-one, and was the ancestor of another large famdy of Whites, came here in the early years, and was a" prominent man in town affairs. Jonathan Taylor came to East Charlemont with his l)rother Othniel in 1740. Jonathan Taylor was a great grandson of John l^aylor, who came from England in 1639 and settled at Windsor, Ct., in 1640, and a grandson of Capt. John Taylor wh.. went to Northampton in 1660, and was activelv cno-aged in the early Indian wars. Jonathan Taylor was born in Deerlield in 1724. His brother Othniel Ijought 1000 acres of land in East Charle- mont and Buekland, Nov. 1, 1742, and Jonathan bouuht an undivuled (piarter of the tract. The two brothers built houses 19 and enclosed them with a fort, and l)oth lived there until about 1757, when Jonathan sold out to his brother. About that time Jonathan Taylor, who was employed in sur- veying and had looked over the region, took a fancy to the swamp altout three-quarters of a mile east of the centre of the town of Heath. He thought it was like the rich meadow^ lands of Deerficld and the Connecticut Valley, and bought about 100 acres including the swamp and extending up the higher land to the south, and built a log house a little to the north of the present road and where the cleared land extends back towards the swamp. The house was built of round logs locked at the angles. The roof was of hemlock bark, and planks split out of logs formed the floor. The chimney was built of stones laid without mortar, and there was not a nail in the house. Mr. Taylor set out an orchard near his house, but for sev- eral years he did not succeed in raising either corn or rye, the g-round was so cold and wet. He had not a neighljor for a mimljer of years. He had two sons and two daughters, and his wife lived in great fear of the Indians. When Mr. Taylor was away Mrs. Taylor kei)t one of the little lioys at the top of the house on the lookout. One day young Jonathan, who had never read the story with which boys of later times are familiar, of the unhappy Ijoy who cried " wolf " when there was no wolf, undertook to amuse himself by coming down and calling out " Indians 1 " One of the girls fainted, the other ran into the cellar, and in the end the only thing the boy had to con- gratulate himself upon was that he escaped with a sound whipping and was not eaten up by wolves. :Mr. Taylor brought his supplies monthly from Deerfield, taking a route over or near Pocumptuck, and in later years he used to relate that when on his return he came up over the hills, some two or three miles away, he Avould hear the voice of his wife as she stood at the entrance to his log hut calling " Tavlor," " Taylor." Mrs. Taylor had doulitless good lungs, 20 for it is recorded of her that she cultivated her fine conversa- tional ]K)wers l.y conversinu" with the forest trees about her, I'ut it is hardly credible that her voice could have reached 8uch a distance over forest, hill and Aalley. But " there were voices in the air" more than a hundred years aero. The old inowcv was doubtless gifted with something of that fine sense whirh,to the old rxreek,made the forest and mountain vocal with a thousand voices, and as the murmur of the forest, the whistling of the winds and the varied sounds came to his'ear, his fine sense, and loyal heart, led him to fancy it was the fa- miliar voice to which he had listened in courtship days and curtain lectures, calling him to his home. In after years Mr. Taylor built a substantial frame house and Ijarn on the old road leading to Colrain, and died Feb. 22, 1801, at the age of seventy-six. His wife Lucy died the following year, aged seventy-eight. His son Jonathan occu- pied the old homestead, and died in 1835, aged seventv-seven His grandson, Jonathan H. Taylor, lived sometime on the old J.lace and then removed to the West. Two of the sons of Jonathan Taylor 2d, Thomas and Samuel, became phvsicians and practised their professions for manv vears, but are now dead. A daughter of Jonathan Taylor 2d married John 1 em],le, lived near the centre of the town, and was the mother oi three ]»hysicians. Charlem..nt was incorporated in 1765, and Jonathan Tavlor was (,ne o{ the first board of selectmen. Up to this time'the affairs of the township were managed l)v the proprietors, who held meetings and elected officers much after the manner of town meetings. The people were early supplied with preaching bv several different clergymen, one of whom, Kev. C. ^L Smith " preached ^40 worth," as apj)ears by his order dated Oct. 24, 1753, and Moses Rice was allowed £4, 4s. for " keeping the ministers." I hey undertook to l)uild a meeting-house and raised the irame of it in the south part of the present town of Heath 21 in or about 1752 ; and in 1753 and 1754 committees were ap- pointed and attempts made to enclose and finish the house, but the war came on, many of the settlers were driven away, and the frame remained unfinished. In 1761-2, meetings were held to arrange for completion of the building, but it was found that the frame was damaged by standing so long unen- closed, and the result was that June 27, 1762, an agreement was made with Thomas Dick in which he agreed to set up a frame in the i)lace where the old one was standing, to cover the outside with chamfered boards and the roof with boards and shingles, to put up weather Ijoards, to lay the lower floor with boards on sleepers or joice well supported, and to complete the same by the last day of Septeml)er, 1762, it being provided that '' the proprietors were to find boards, nails and shingles and rum, for the raising." This Imilding was finished and a church was formed, and in 1767 the Rev. Jonathan Leavitt was settled as pastor. He was to receive £100 settlement and £50 a year salary, with provisions for an increase of salary with the increase of fami- lies, until it might amount to £80 a year. Here Mr. Leavitt preached for a" number of years, the people coming from a wide extent of country including the present towns of Heath, Charlemont, Buckland and Hawley. The Rev. Moses Miller savs : " Some came on horseback, some on foot for miles around, carrying their infant children in their arms, some waded, some forded, and some lioatcd the rapid Deerfield, or crossed on its frozen waters. Some came on sleds, perhaps a few in sleighs, but none ever came in anything like the vehi- cles of the present day. They had no cushions to be seated upon, but a rough hard board and no Ijack to lean against, and they had at that time long prayers and long sermons." Rev. Jonathan Leavitt was born in Sutfield, Ct., Jan. 22, 1731, graduated at Yale in 1758, and by his first wife, Miss Saraii Hooker, of Farmington, Ct., had one daughter and seven sons. 90 II'- was a man ..f fm,. apiicaraiice, ocnerallv wore a oreat ^Uiitr wi.o- and a cockcl liat, was a oc„tlcmaii in his manners, li-spital.h' in his home and a Christian in his life. His scr- >n..iis w.-rr sonicwliat ,1,t and didactic Imt sound and ai,le Ills prayers wcie usually al.out an hour Ion- and his sermons nl convsi,..ndino- proportions. It was the custom in those a],cr money. In 1778 a difficulty arose between s support, and that they would close the meetin-house wb.Hi was accordingly done by the constable under dh-cction' ol the se ectmen. Mr. Leavitt then preached for about five years m the South Schoolhouse to pcoi,le mostly livino- in the present town of Heath, and after the incorporation of" Heath Mv. Leavitt brought suit against the towns of Heath and Charlemont and recovered <£500 for salary and £200 for loss Irom paynu«nt in depreciated paper. The town of Heath had son... dilhniKy uill. Mr. Leavitt about taxes, but it resulted in tlie tou-n releasing him from the taxes, and making an ao-ree- luent with him for the payment of the juda-ment, so far as it 23 belonged to this toAvn to pay, in cattle and prodnce upon an agreed scale of prices. In 1801 Mr. Leavitt published a volume on the " New Cove- nant and the Church's duty." Mr. Leavitt died in Heath, Sept. 9, 1802, aged seventy-one, and is buried in the South Burying Ground. Hon. Jonathan Leavitt of Greenfield was a son of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt. He graduated at Yale in 1786, married a daughter of President Stiles, of Yale College, and settled in Greenfield about 1790. He was a prominent lawyer, a sena- tor, Judge of Probate and Associate Justice of the old Court of Common Pleas in Franklin County. In the first court held in Franklin County, March 9, 1812, Judge Leavitt sat as As- sociate Justice. He died at Greenfield in 1830 at the age of sixty-six. Hooker Leavitt, another son, was admitted to the bar in 1811, and was from 1815 for a long series of years Register of Deeds and County Treasurer for Franklin County. He died Nov. 1, 1812. Dr. Roswell Leavitt, another son, Avas a physician in Cor- nish, N. H., and was the father of Rev. Jonathan Leavitt D.D. who graduated at Amherst in 1825, was settled in Provi- dence, R. I., was long an eminent divine m New England, and died in 1877. Many settlers came to the Hill as it Avas called, or the pres- ent toAvn of Heath, prior to the Revolution. Some of them bought lands and could not pay for them, and sold out and went aAvay. Some of them Avent into the army, so that but fcAV of these early settlers remained. William Buck in 1773, bought a place Avith a house and some improvements a little to the west of the centre of the toAvn. He Avas one of the original members of the church in Heath, and died in 1801, at the age of seventy-five. His Avife Mary died four years later at the age of eighty-one. He Avas the father of Lieut. William Buck, who died in 1839 at the age of eighty-four, and the 24 ^rnndfatlwr „f Luther ane surrender, when the Indians m "\"'<' I ■<■ garnson nn«-dcring many. Maxwell was seized bv son.e Indians who strip,,ed hi™ of everything but his pata"- oons, when he sli,,ped from their hands, seized a musket and '-" <"»,,rds Fort Edward which he reached in safetv He was counu,ss,oned ensign in Ruggles Regiment, Mai'ch 81, I^jO. At the end of the war, he married Miss Bridget Mon- roe, of Lcxmgton, Mass., and resumed his surveying and tarmmg Soon after coming to this town he bought of Col Asaph Wh.te the farm of seventy acres, now own^d by Wm' M Maxwell, h,s grandson, for ^90. There were a few acres c cared, and a house, somewhat better than most of the houses sta mhng some distance to the west of the present buildings l/e was clcctcl meml,er of the First Provincial Conarcss 0, -h was convened at Salem, Oct. 7, 1774, and to,A an aol.u part m the controversies between the colonies and En<.- n"' . II.. was one of the few men in the region who took°a '■"SI".. ...'M.spaper, and he was a diligent reader of all the l;;;;"I . ■ s ol ,he tin.e. U was owing fargeb' to his infli* "1 ad, c cllo,.fs,that the people of this town and vicinity »c.c nu.ted n, resistance to the encroachments of the mother '10 country, and that in the Revohition there Avas not a Tory in the town. The Provincial Congress provided for forming and arming com])anies of Minute Men, and when CoL Maxwell re- turned homo, he assisted in raising a comi)any, and Oliver Avery was chosen captain, and Maxwell lieutenant. When tidings came of the fight at Lexington and Concord, the company marched forthwith to Cambridge, Maxwell leaving his wife and six young children, the youngest, born the day after the fight at Lexington, hardly a week old. At Cambridge, May 26, 1775, Maxwell Avas made captain of the company, Avhich became the Second Company in the regi- ment of that gallant soldier. Col. William Prcscott. Some fifteen of the men were from Rowe. The night before the battle of Bunker Hill, when Prescott's men commenced work on the entrenchments, Capt. Maxwell was sent Avith a small detachment to patrol the shore near the old ferry, and to watch the enemy. The ships of Avar Avere moored in the stream close l)y, and on the other shore the En- glish sentinels Avere Avalking back and forth. Prescott Avas very solicitous lest the enemy shoidd discover the movements, and tAvice during the night came to the place where Capt. ]\Iaxwell Avas keeping his vigilant Avatch, and we can fancy the officers exchanging a grim smile as they stood on the shore and heard from the ships of Avar the droAvsy cry, " All is Avell." When the ships of Avar and batteries opened fire in the morning, one of MaxAvell's men, Aaron Barr of RoAve, Avas struck with a cannon shot, and was the first Avounded man brought from the field to Cambridge. l\\ that first great Ijattle of the Revolution, Avhen the Brit- ish Regulars Avere tAvice routed and driven Ijack by the Mas- sachusetts farmers, there Avere no men who did better service than the company from these hills. In the last fierce onset, Avhen the provincial troops had ex- hausted their ammunition, and had onlv the butts of their 26 muskets Avitli whicli to meet their foes, Capt. Maxwell stood at his i)ost to the last. Conspicuous among his men as he cn- courau'cd them to hold their position, the fighting captain was a mark for the British grenadiers as they mounted the re- doul)t. One of them singled out the captain and fired down u})on him at a distance of a few feet. The ball entered near the collar l)one, passed through his right shoulder and came out Itelow his shoulder 1)lade. His right arm fell powerless at his side ; then Prescott gave the order to retreat, and as the men fell l)ack, Capt. Maxwell coolly walked a little distance through the flying bullets, picked up his coat, and came off with his men as they slowly and sullenly retreated towards Cambridge. His wound was very serious ; nine pieces of bone were ex- tracted from his shoulder, and for some time his life was in great danger. In September he was able to return to his family, and he spent some six weeks with them. He then had a shed l)uilt for his stock, two cows, a horse and a few sheeis and arranged for a supply of wood, and then left' to join the army. He was engaged in the operations on Long Island and in the vicinity of New York, in August and Sep- tember, 1776, and was in the battles at Trenton and Prince- ton. In the spring of 1777 the brigade to which he Ijelongcd was sent North to resist the advance of Burgoyne, and Capt. Maxwell fought at Bennington, Stillwater and Saratoga. In November, 1797, he joined the Southern army and shared the hardships of Valley Forge, and in June, 1778, he was in the battle of Monmouth. In 1777, Capt. Maxwell was promoted to the rank of major, and in 1770 he was i)laced under the command of Maj.-Gen. AVilliam Heath who was in command on the Hudson River. He was sometime after made lieut.-colonel, and was for a long time actively engaged in command of outposts, and distin- guished himself in several skirmishes and attacks on posts. In a jirivate letter to him written sometime after the war, 27 Gen. Heath writes, " I well know your long and faithful ser- vices in the army, and how often I have slept without appre- hension of being surprised Ijecause you guarded the outpost, and I knew that the enemy would not be allowed to evade your vigilance." Xcar the close of the war he was looking forward to peace and a return to the duties of a citizen, and his mind was deeply interested in the matters of the continental currency and the payment of the debt incurred by the war. In some letters written at this time to a friend, a prominent Massachu- setts man, Col. Maxwell wrote : " You may well think that I have grown weary of the fa- tigue of the camp ; but I am far from having the most distant wish to leave the work till it is finished (as I trust it will l)e), with glory and advantage to America. No ! old and almost worn out as I am, my wish is to share in the remaining hard- ships and dangers of the war. The debt contracted by the war must be paid, sooner or later, and the sooner the l^etter. It is likely that some individuals who have collected vast sums of money by trade of late cannot be come at to be taxed. Some such may, and it is likely will escape without paying their proportions of the public charge. Let them go. It is, I think, punishment enough on a man to reflect that his coun- try is saved from ruin without his help, and that he by his monopoly and extortion has made use of all his power to sell it to destruction." In the spring of 1784, Col. Maxwell returned to his home, and was sent to Boston to secure an incorporation of the new town to be set off from Charlemont. He secured the act of incorporation with the assistance of his old commander. Gen. Heath, after whom the new town was named. Col. Maxwell was moderator of the first town meeting, and one of the first board of selectmen. After a hundred years have passed away, it is pleasant to see that a great-grandson, bearing the same name, fills the same honorable ofiice. Col. Maxwell was made a memljer of the Society of the Cincinnati. 28 In 1788-0, Col. ^Maxwell was employed to survey the line from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, and in the survey and location of several towns in Western Xew York, Then he wrote to his family from a i)lace around which are now flourishing cities and countless church spires : " I long to see you all, and I long to attend your public worship. You know that David wished and prayed to see the House of God and his worship, and why should not I ? But here I am ; where in the woods I see nobody but the four or five men who at- tend me. xVnd yet I do think that the Great Governor of the Universe is about to plant the glorious gospel in this wilder- ness. May it soon spread over this land." Col. Maxwell afterwards became embarrassed, from being unable to collect two large sums of money which he had loaned, and undertook to retrieve his fortunes by shipping horses to the West Indies, and on the voyage home he was seized with a fever and died at sea, Oct. 14, 1799, aged sixty- six. ]\Iiss Priscilla Maxwell, who died at Heath, in 1851, at the age of eighty-four, was a daughter of Col. Hugh Maxwell, and in 1833, published an interesting memoir entitled " The Christian Patriot." Lieut. Hugh Maxwell, a son of Col. Maxwell, lived on the old homestead and was a prominent citizen of the town, and died Feb. 23, 1849, at the age of seventy-nine. Lieut. Hugh Maxwell and William Munroe Maxwell succeeded to the mem- bership in the Society of the Cincinnati. Dr. Henry Maxwell, a son of Lieut. Hugh Maxwell, died in 1856, at Lockport, N. Y., where he practised medicine for many years. Two other sons, Hugh and Charles, studied medicine ; one of them was in Amherst College, but both died young. Hon. Sylvester Maxwell of Charlcmont, the young- est son of Col. Hugh Maxwell, graduated at Yale in 1797, and was long known throughout the county as an upright and good laAvyer, and a useful citizen. A granddaughter of Hon. 29 Sylvester Maxwell is gathering manv laurels in the fields of literature. Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell came to this town in 1775, and bought a place just south of the centre of the town. The place had been improved ])y William Brown, and had a small frame house with barns and fruit trees. Lieut. Maxwell was a Ijrother of Col. Hugh Maxwell, born in 1737 at Bedford. He served in the French and Indian war, and in tlie campaign of 1758 was in Major Roger's Rangers. He was also lieutenant in a company of Minute men in 1775. In 1778 he was one of the selectmen of the town of Charlemont, and he was always an active and leading citizen. He died in Heath, Feb. 2, 1829, aged ninety-two. Miss Anna Maxwell, his daughter, wrote in the latter years of her life a history of Heath, and died in 1851, aged eighty-five. Capt. Benjamin Maxwell, son of Lieut. Benjamin ^faxAvell, was a prominent citizen of the town, and died in 1854, aged eighty-three. Alexander Park Maxwell, another son of Lieut. Ben. Max- well, settled in Charlemont, and was widely known in the county as a magistrate and leading man. He died in 1861, aged seventy-eight. During the Revolution few settlers came to the town. All the able Iwdied men were in the army, and their families suf- fered great privations and hardships. Miss Priscilla Maxwell described the situation of her father's family. The boys were too young to work. All depended upon the mother and the oldest girl, about ten years old. Col. Maxwell built a barn where the buildings now stand, a long way from the house. They went through deep and drifting snow some distance for water, and to take care of the stock in the barn. They went seven miles to get a bushel of grain, and then carried it five miles to have it ground. The other families were in a similar situation. During the war several disaljled soldiers were sent from the army, and these furnished some help to the dis- tressed families. 30 In 1777 an cj)idemic ])rcvailcd along" the river and on the hill, which was thought to have heen brought from the camp by the soldiers who came to help, and many died. Three sons and two daughters of Cai)t. Avery died at this time. At the close of the war and about the time of the incorpo- ration of Heath, many new settlors came. ^Most of them were young married men. The pioneer came the first summer pro- vided with an axe, a lu'ush-scythe, a shovel and a hoe. Se- lecting a ]>lace for his dwelling, the forest trees were soon lev- elled about it, a little cellar dug, and a log cabin l)uilt. A piece of ground was cleared uj>, the logs rolled in piles, the brush burned, a patch scratched over with the hoe and sown to rye, and another prepared to plant with corn and potatoes. Then the pioneer went back to the place he had come from, to build castles through the winter ; and in the spring he came, driving a yoke of oxen with a cart containing his house- hold goods, his wife with a baby in her arms riding a horse, and a cow tied to the cart following behind. Then came years of toil and hardship. The barn was to be built, the fences made, the orchard set out. Each year a new piece of land was cleared and sowed or planted, old stumps were dug out, walls liuilt, and the farm brought under better cultivation. Then came the building of a frame house with its heavy tim- bers and huge chimney, containing bricks enough to have built an ordinary brick house. By this time the pioneer had many neighbors about him, and all came to the raising. The one essential thing about a raising was a liberal su])ply of New England rum, and the occasion was one, not only of neighborly kindness, Init of great social enjoyment. There is this to be said of the liquor : it was a good genuine article, the people of that day not having learned to adulterate liquors in the way much villainous stuff of a later day is compounded. After the temperance reform in later years, when a man, at the instance of his l)ettcr half, undertook to raise a building without rum, the timbers moved very slowly and not without much gruml»ling and strong suspicions of inhospitality. 31 The houses of nearly all the first settlers were of logs, and generally contained two rooms. The house which Col. Asaph White sold to Col. Maxwell, was of logs, but had a frame and was boarded upon the inside. This was a kind of extrava- gance for those days. The most expensive items in building were nails and glass. The nails were usually hammered out in a blacksmith's shop, and the glass was sometimes omitted entirely; an opening which could be closed in stormy weather doing duty as a window. The first road was built about 1765, from the river up through the south part of the town, and, as it approached the present centre, keeping a little to the west of the road now used, and it was extended east over Nims' Hill and soon after west towards Rowe. The early roads generally ran straight over all the hills in their way. This was not, as some have supposed, because their builders believed that the bail of a kettle was shorter when standing up than when lying down, but because in the early days the low lands were very wet, so that the first set- tlers built where it was high and dry, and then the roads were built to accommodate the houses. Some of the old settlers, too, held the opinion, in which I Ijelieve myself, that it is easier to walk over a hill than to go the same distance on a level ; for the reason that in going up and down a hill differ- ent muscles are brought in use, while in going on a level there is a continuous strain on one set of muscles. It appears that at least two of our early settlers were slave- holders. There remains among the papers of Lieut. Benj. Maxwell a bill of sale, dated April 27, 1767, by which Nathan- iel Dunkelle sold to Benjamin Maxwell a negro child about twelve months old, for X6, 13s., 4p. This was a small one, but Jonathan Taylor had a bill of sale, dated in 1771, by which Daniel Ames of Deerfield sold to him " one negro man named Titus, aged 31 years," for twenty shillings. The bill of sale states that the seller bought the property of Samuel Smith of 32 Hatfield. There was a general warranty in caeli bill of sale, l)ut no abstract of title appears to have been furnished, and from the consideration expressed, especially in the latter one, it would seem probable that neither party had much coufi- dence in the validity of the title to a human Ijeing, in the ab- sence of any evidence of title derived from the Almighty. What became of these slaves does not appear. I imagine, that at the time of his i)urchasc, Mr. Taylor had l^ecome very tired of transporting his supplies from Deerfield, and that he loaded up Titus with a bag of meal and started him for the hills, and that about the time he reached the foot of the hills, Titus be- came discouraged, and ran away, and Mr. Taylor charged up the twenty shillings to ju'ofit and loss. At any rate there does not appear to be any evidence that any slave l)reathed the free air of these hills. Among the settlers of about this time was Dea. John Brown, who was one of tlic first selectmen of Heath, and one of the first deacons of the church. He came from Sterling, and was the son of a clergyman. He died in Heath in 1828, at the age of 84. Dr. Jonas Brown, a son of Dea. John Brown, was many years a physician in Cazenovia, N. Y. Daniel Brown, a son of Dea. John Brown, died in 1853, aged 81, and one of liis sons, Dr. Harrington Brown, became a physician. Pele- tiah Smith came from Amherst about this time. He was the father of Moses Smith, who married a daughter of Dea. John Brown, and was the father of Rev. Lowell Smith, who was born in Heath in 1802, graduated at Williams in 1827, and went soon after as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, where he l)uilt u]) a church of some 1200 memljers, and has labored with great success through a long life. Another son of Moses Smith, Frederick G. Smith, resides in Greenfield, and is now county commissioner. Dea. John Brown reared a family of thirteen children, who gi-ew up to mature years, and filled stations of usefulness. There are now living 88 of his «Tandchildren. 33 Aaron Smith was a son Peletiah Smith, and was father of Aaron Smith 2d, who was born in 1798, lived from 1835 a little south of the common, and was for many years town clerk and treasurer. He died in 1881. A son of Aaron Smith 2d, Henry K. Smith, is a civil engineer in Philadelphia ; and a grandson, Edward P. Guild, is a journalist in Boston. Lieut. Eli Gould, came from Amherst, and settled here aljout this time, and died in 1818 at the age of 81. He was the father of Dea. Eli Gould and of Capt. David Gould who were prominent citizens, and the latter of whom died in 1869 at the age of 72. Capt. Gould reared a large family, and many of his children and their descendants are in this town and vicinity. Stephen Thompson came in 1781 from Milford, and settled in the south-east part of the town. He had served in the Revolution. He died in 1859 at the age of 95. His oldest son, Eufus, was one of the early settlers in the north part of the town. Another son, Luther Thompson, lived on the old homestead, and died in 1863, at the age of 78. The only sur- viving child of Stephen Thompson is Rev. John C. Thompson, who graduated at Amherst in 1829, was settled as pastor in Rowe, Goshen, and other places, and now resides at Holyoke. The descendants of Stephen Thompson are now scattered through as many as ten states from Maine to Kansas. Thomas Harrington came here about the same time, and was for many years town clerk. His son Cassius settled in the east part of the town, and Timothy B. Harrington in the south part on the place where, in latter years, John Bur- rington has lived. Thomas B. Harrington, a son of Timothy B. Harrington, graduated at Princeton in 1819, was a successful teacher, and was about entering the ministry when he was stricken down by early death. Brainard T. Harrington, another son, gradu- ated at Amherst in 1852, married a granddaughter of Dea. Sullivan Taft, and has, for many years, been a teacher in West Chester, X. Y. 34 Thomas Bond scttlcil lu-re aliout this time. He was in a doiihle sense a soldici- of tlic Revi)lution. lie was one of Burgoyne's men. After the Ijattle of Stillwater, some of Burgoyne's troops had huilt a bridge with a view to a retreat. Capt. McClellan, with his Colcrain Company, was sent to destroy the bridge, and on their return, surrounded a small company of 31 En- glish soldiers, and after a sharp fight the English were all killed but two. Bond and a man named Harris, who surren- dered. The merits of the controversy were presented so clearly by Capt. McClellan to the prisoners, that they forth- with enlisted in Capt. McClcllan's company, and served with him during the rest of the war. Then Bond came home with McClellan, came to this town, married, and in 1791 l)ccame the father of James Bond, Avho was afterwards known as the most persistent litigant of Franklin County. I do not think he was a very bad man, at least I have known much worse men among the frequenters of courts, but he was tenacious of all his rights. He would carry a suit about a boundary line involving the title to an acre or two of land worth 810 an acre to the court of last resort, and by the time it was ended he would have made out of it a Pandora box from which he would let loose a whole brood of other suits. At last the juries of Franklin County l)eeame so pre- judiced against him on account of his frequent appearance before them, that he had no more chance of Avinning a suit before a jury than a railroad company of this day. Then he removed to Iowa, and it is safe to assume that he contributed his part to settle the law of that great state upon sound and correct legal principles. I have a suspicion from the name that Capt. McClellan's other ])risoner settled in this vicinity. I have forborn prose- cuting inquiries on the subject as I have no desire to add to the captain's responsibilities, but it seems not unlikely that in not sparing some other men among his enemies instead of 35 these two, the gallant captain luiikled worse than he had an}^ idea of. The act of incorporation of the town of Heath was passed Feb. 14, 1785. The first town meeting was held March 21, 1775. The warrant was issned by Samuel Taylor, J. P., at Buckland, March 14, 1785 and directed to Asahel Thayer. Col. Hugh Maxwell Avas chosen moderator, James White clerk, Hugh Maxwell, Asaph White and John Brown, select- men, and Benjamin White, tithingman. The toAvn at first chose one tithingman, a little later two, and still later three. They were uniformly men of high standing and character, like Col. Roger Leavitt, Dea. David White and T. B. Harrington. The increase in the number would indicate an increase in duties. The duties of the tith- ingman were to keep order in church, to keep the boys quiet, and to wake up any who went to sleep during the long ser- mons. In the early days the tithingman used to stop peo- ple who were driving on Sunday, unless they were on the Avay to church or on errands of urgent importance. There is an old story of a man who succeeded in getting by a Ncav Eng- land tithingman liy telling him that his father was dead Avith such a lugubrious countenance that the tithingman took it for granted that the man Avas going to the funeral, but Avhen he Avas Ijeyond reach the man turned aliout and shouted back the additional information that his father had been dead about five years. At the first toAvn meeting it Avas voted to raise thirty poimds for highAvays, and to pay for Avork from May 1 to Aug. 1, four shillings ; from Aug. 1 to end of September, three shillings, and for the rest of the year two shillings a day. TAventy pounds Avere raised to hire preaching. It Avas voted the same year to build a schoolhouse in the north part of the town, Avhich Avas the school located in the present centre of the town. The toAvn arranu'ed Avith Charlemont for the purchase of 36 Charlemont's interest in the meeting-house, and undertook to remove it to a more central location. Dec. 18, 1786, Asahel Thayer, Jonathan Taylor, Benjamin Maxwell and William Buck, Jr., were appointed a committee " to pitch upon a spot to set the meeting-house." Aug. 23, 1787, the committee re- . ported that about fifteen rods east of the North Schoolhouse on the north line of Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell's lot was the most convenient spot, and in 1787 it was voted to give Lieut. ^lax- wcll fifty dollars for an acre of land to set the meeting-house on, and to raise fifty pounds for moving the building. This acre is the present common, and the meeting-house was placed nearly opposite, l)ut a little to the east of the present Congre- gational Church. The building was moved in instalments, and it was voted to give Lieut. Eli Gould ><11, for stripping the foreside and ]»ut- ting it on again, Capt. Asaph White 89, for the other side, David Baldwin 818, for the roof, and Daniel Spooner 824 for the two ends, the work to be done by Dec. 1, 1787. April 7, 1788, it was voted to raise fifty pounds to furnish the meeting-house, and a proposition of Capt. Asaph White was accepted to do the work and receive for pay " neat cattle, swine, sheep, beef, pork, grain, flax, hides, flax seed, beans, peas, oats and boards." The people at this time were very poor. There was hardly any money in circulation, and the little there was consisted of a few well worn Spanish coins. Most of the l)usincss transac- tions were in l)arter. The i)eople had little to sfll that would bring money. They l)urncd wood for the ashes, made potash, and carried it to Boston to raise money to pa}- their taxes. In 1786 many of the people of Western Massachusetts joined in the Shay's Bcbollion. They were the original Greenbackers and wanted an issue of i)aper money. The courts were rendering judgments against them for debts they could not pay, and they wanted the courts closed and the law- yers abolished, and they had many grievances growing out of 37 the hard times. Hard times are bad, but the violent and ex- traordinarj remedies proposed infinitely worse. The only adequate remedy is hard work, industry and economy. The people of this town gave no encouragement to this re- bellion, and as they had been unanimous in support of the Revolution, so were they united in support of the government through these trying times. They set themselves resolutely to work, raised and paid what under the circumstances were large sums for the church, the schools and all public enter- prises, and in the end enjoyed the prosperity that comes from honesty and industry. Among the men particularly active in putting down the Shays Rebellion, Avas the gallant old soldier, Col. Maxwell. Miss Priscilla Maxwell tells the story that a party of the routed and scattered rebels called at a house in Washington County, N. Y., and while being fed were heard by their host- ess talking very bitterly against Col. Maxwell. The good lady listened for a time and then spoke up, " I know Col. Maxwell very well. He is a good man and has done his duty to his country, and I advise you to go directly to Col. Maxwell and make a humble acknowledgement, and tell him that his sister Peggy gave you victuals and drink and warmed you when you were hungry and cold, and she hopes he will forgive you if you will behave like good citizens in time to come." The dress of this period and of many years later was sim- ple, and almost entirely of home growth and home manufac- ture. The farmer raised flax and kept sheep, and from the flax and wool were made the clothing. The spinning wheel and the great loom were in almost every house, and were gen- erally in active use. The cloth woven by the busy housewife was colored in the dye tub, and formed the staple article of wear. The young man who went to see his girl on Sunday nights sometimes managed to procure a suit of broadcloth, which did service on special occasions for long years after, and the head 38 of the family had generally a long blue surtout, which became a sort of heirloom in the family in after generations. The diet was equally simple and plain, and almost entirely produced on the farm. Fresh beef was kept a long time through the winter packed in snow. There were corned beef and salt pork, rye and Indian bread, hulled corn and samp and milk. Sometimes in winter the farmer would make a long trip to Boston and sell some produce, and if a thaw did not set in would bring back a supply of fresh codfish. Then they learned to compound mince, pumpkin and apple pies with a skill which is now believed to be among the lost arts. Or- chards were set out early, and in the virgin soil soon bore a bountiful supply of apples, and there was a cider mill in every neighborhood. In the autumn the farmer rolled into his cel- lar a dozen or twenty barrels of cider, and the neighbor who dropped in of a long winter evening would have felt himself inhospitably received, if he had not been entertained with a dish of rosy cheeked apples and a brimming mug of cider. There were few books to read. The Bible was to be found in every house. There was Baxter's Saints Rest, a volume or two of sermons, and a memoir of some saintly woman. There were generally those cheerful and entertaining works, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Young's Night Thoughts. There were most likely Pilgrim's Progress, and Watts on the Improve- ment of the mind, and perhaps Rollin's Ancient History. Of novels there were none. The clergyman had of course a larger library, liut they were mostly of a theological character. Of books for children there were very few. When T think of the books and magazines for children of this day, illustrated with the highest art, and in the writing of which so many of the most gifted and accomplished authors are engaged, and in which older minds find a perpetual delight, I cannot without a feeling of pain think of the boj's and girls of long- ago left to subsist upon the crude })ictures and meager diet ()f the New Euirland Primer. 39 Nor were the people of that day any better off in the way of newspapers. For many years after the Revolution news- papers could not be sent by mail. They were not mailable matter. Sometimes the postman brought a few newspapers along and, if they were not lost on the way or worn out by the postman and his friends as they perused them, the sub- scrilier might get his paper a week or so after it was issued. One or two men in the town took, when they would get it, a Boston paper, two or three Springfield papers. After the Greenfield Gazette was established in 1792, more papers were taken, and not many years after most families were supplied with the county paper, and many copies of Boston religious papers were taken. But when the subscriber of those early days after long delay and much tribulation, oljtained his paper, it is not easy to see what he could have found in it to interest him. Of what we call news the newspaper of that day contained hardly any- thing. We are accustomed to find in the newspaper of to-day all the news gathered with wonderful enterprise and industry, from every part of the world up to within an hour or two of the time the paper is issued, and if we do not get the paper on the day it is issued, we feel that it is old. The newspaper man of to-day has fallen into a habit of interviewing every- body who is supposed to have in his possession any exclusive item of news, or any opinions upon any important matter, and not only in every such item extracted and every such opinion elicited, but the man who is interviewed generally finds him- self accredited with various views and opinions which had never entered his head. Then the county or local papers have taken to writing up so fully all matters of local news, that if Mr. Jones' horse has a fit of the blind staggers, we may gen- erally depend upon finding a full account of the matter with all details and circumstances in the newspaper. How different was the newspaper of the olden time ! The leading editorial was generally a call upon delinquent sub- 40 scribers to ]iay up, with the infunnation that oats, peas, beans, etc., will be received in ])ayment. Then there was gen- erally an essay — often very well written upon some point of morals or some question of the day over the name of Cato or or Seneca — and by the time the paper reached him a distant subscriber might easily make the mistake of believing it was written by the veritable old Roman whose name was signed to it. Then there would be an extract from a i)rivate letter to a friend of the editor, or some gentleman of the town writ- ten a week or two before, by an acquaintance two or three hundred miles away, giving an account of some remarkable event, said to have happened in the vicinity of the writer, but which was proljaljly made up ])y some gossiping neighbor or some story telling passer by. Then there would be an ac- count of a battle or some military operations on the continent of Europe which had taken place one or two months before, and the account of which the editor obtained from an English newspaper which had come over in a sailing vessel, and had been given to the editor by a traveller who chanced to have it in his pocket. And this was substantially what the subscriber of that day found in his newspaper when it reached a week or so after it was presented. The question naturally arises how a people with such books and newspapers acquired the general information and intelli- gence which our ancestors possessed. A recent Avriter says the New Englanders of that period acquired their knowledge l)y their inquisitiveness. Doubtless this is true to a consider- able extent, but I am inclined to think that the regular at- tendance at church, and the lively interest and discussions as to religious doctrines, contributed largely to the intellectual groAvth of the people. A traveller of that day found it very difiicult to pass a house without standing a rigid cross-exami- nation as to news, and he might think himself very fortunate if he did not find himself entangled in a controversy upon the trinitv, or oriu'inal sin. 41 "With their imperfect facilities for finding out the news the people were on one occasion nearly led into error. In 1794 Samuel Adams was running for governor, and he was* a Dem- ocrat. This was about the first appearance of Democrats. The anti Federals and Republicans had before this time at- tacked some of the measures of the administration, but had never said aught against "Washington. The Democratic Soci- eties began to be formed in 1793, and some of the leaders had assailed with great malignity the great chief himself. Samuel Adams had been a distinguished patriot, and it Avas not prob- ably generally known that he had become a Democrat. "When the people met to vote for governor, Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell seems to have been the only one present who under- stood the situation. Others took newspapers, but probably the papers had not arrived or had brought no news. Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell told the voters that Adams was the man, and they all voted for Adams. Just as they had finished vot- ing Mr. Leavitt arrived, and upon learning how they had voted said that he feared they had been too fast, that he had just re- turned from Springfield and Northampton, and had been told there that Samuel Adams was a Democrat. Then Dea. John Brown rose and said solemnly that if he had known that, he would have cut off his 'right hand before it should have cast a vote for Adams. The voters looked at one another in con- sternation. The idea of voting for a Democrat " unljeknownst " to themselves ! But they were equal to the emergency. Some one rose and moved that the moderator sweep the table, that the vote be expunged, and they all vote over again. This was carried at once, and then all but one voted for Adams' competitor. It is needless to say that the one voter who stood by Adams was Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell, and for years after, while parties were divided as Federalists and Democrats, the one steadfast Democrat was Lieut. Benjamin Maxwell. He was somewhat proud of standing alone, or else determined to have the record settled so that when the distribution of offices 42 came ill his party, no interloping Federalist should set up a claim as an original, " Jacol) Townshend " Democrat, for, on one occasion, he insisted upon having the house divided, so that he stood alone on one side, and all the rest on the other. The church was organized April 15, 1785. The council met April 13, and on that day disposed of the cases of some nicml)ers of the old church who were under censure grow- ing out of the difficulties with ^Iv. Leavitt. On the l-itli they deliljcratcd upon the case of Rev. Mr, Leavitt and decided tliat lie should be dismissed, and on the loth, the new church was formed under the name of " The Church of Christ in Heath," and it consisted of thirty-five members. Col. Hugh Maxwell was made standing moderator. The people were supplied with preaching by Rev. Messrs. Church, Whipple and others until the spring of 1790, when Rev. Joseph Strong began to preach and soon after, May 17, 1790, it was voted in town meeting to call Rev. Joseph Strong to settle and to offer him X120 settlement, to be paid in cash or produce at following prices : pork six shillings per score, beef, fifteen shillings per hundred, wheat, four shillings, rye, three shillings, corn, two shillings and sixpence per bushel, and sixty pounds a year salary to be paid in like manner. Mr. Strong accepted, and his letter of acceptance was entered on the town records. All matters in regard to the settlement of a pastor and pay- ment of his salary, were at this time, and for many years after, settled in town meeting. In July 1790 it was voted to provide for the ordination, and to sell the ])ews. There were 26 pews below, and 11 in the gallery. Those below sold at an average of about eight pounds, and those in the gallery at about three pounds each. Mr. Strong was ordained Oct. 27, 1790, and was dismissed June 10, 1803, so that from the time he commenced preach- ing here, he was here over 13 years. During his ministry there were three revivals. 43 Rev. Joseph Strong was born in Granln* Ct., April 7, 1756, and was a son of Rev. Joseph Strong of Granby Ct., and Williamsbnrg Mass., a chaplain in the Continental army, and a descendant of Elder John Strong, who was born in Taunton, England in 1605, landed at Nantasket in 1630, and settled at Northampton in 1659, and was the father of 18 children. Mr. Strong graduated at Yale in 1781, and married in 1786 a daughter of Rev. John Woodbridge who was one of a long- line of clergymen of that name. One of his children died young and is buried in the South Burying Ground. His old- est son, Hon. Joseph Strong, lived in South Hadley, was for several years a memlier of the Massachusetts Legislature, and died in Rochester N. Y. His second son. Prof. Theodore Strong, LL. D., born in 1790, about the time of Mr. Strong's settlement, graduated at Yale in 1812, was professor in Hamilton College for 40 years, and then professor in New Brunswick College, N. J., where he died in 1869. He was one of the most distinguished scholars this country has ever produced. Another son, Woodbridge Strong, M. D., born in Heath, iu 1794, graduated at Yale in 1815, was an eminent physician in Boston for forty years, and died in 1861. • Another son, Maltby Strong, M. D., born in Heath in 1796, graduated at Yale in 1819, was a physician in Rochester N. Y., and was mayor of that city. One of his daughters, Sophia Woodln-idge, born in Heath in 1793, married Benjamin W. Dwight, M. D., a son of Pres- ident Dwight of Yale College, and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and was the mother of Prof. Theodore W. Dwight, LL. D., a professor in Hamilton College, and afterwards war- den of the Columbia College Law School, and lecturer in Columbia College and Cornell University, and probably the ablest writer upon legal questions in the United States. Another daughter, Delia, born in Heath in 1800, married Prof. Charles Avery, a distinguished professor of Hamilton Colleo-e. 44 Mr. Strong appears to have been a man of fine sensibilities, and many fine qualities. He often preached "with great pathos and power. That he was a faithful pastor seems evident from the revivals during his ministry. He had a small salary, a large family to support, and he carried on a farm on which he worked hard during the day. He lived on the road running- north up the rocks, a little to the south of the house now occupied by Mr. Abraham Tanner. The people were well united in Mr. Strong down to 1803, when dissatisfaction arose and a commitee consisting of John Brown, Benjamin Maxwell, Benjamin White, James White and Seth Temple were sent to confer with Mr. Strong and in- vite him to take steps to dissolve the pastoral relation. There were some conferences and Mr. Strong addressed two letters to the people of the town, very manly and creditable letters. Among other things he wrote; "As I am placed here by the head of the Church I am not willing to do anything that will look like desertion or cowardice. I am willing to serve you in the Gospel of Christ as long as God shall enable me, provided that you will attend upon my ministry as be- cometh Saints, receive the truth in the love of it, and let me be amongst you as an ambassador of the Prince of Peace. But if you do not feel willing to sit doAvn peaceably under my ministry, although I am not conscious of having done any- thing to forfeit your esteem more than any man possesing the imperfections of human nature is liable to, yet I am willing to join with you in calling a Council to hear Avhat you have to allege against mc and to judge what is most expedient to be done." Mr. Strong insisted that all grievances and matters of com- plaint should be laid l^efore the Council ; declared his readiness to make gospel satisfaction, if he had done any wrong, and expressed the opinion that if harmony could not he restored, it was better that the relation should be dissolved. It was agreed on the part of the town that they would pay 45 him 8200 as compensation for his loss by removal, and a Council Avas called of which Rev. Samuel Taggart of Colrain was moderator. Charges were laid before the Council. The first and main one was "Entangling himself with the cares of this life to the neglect of some ministerial duties." The other charges seem almost frivolous. One was that of inhospitality in the treat- ment of some other clergyman whose name does not appear. Whether Mr. Strong mistook some wandering clergyman for a tramp, or whether he did not care to invite to the hos- pitalities of his house some clergyman with whom he had quarrelled on doctrinal points is left in doul)t. There is no certificate of evidence or Itill of exceptions pre- served, and I can only judge of the evidence from the finding and report of the council, which is elaborate, somewhat vague, and substantially in favor of Mr. Strong. The council laid down the law that a clergyman ought not to become engrossed in worldly affairs and business ; that at the same time, a clergyman with a family to support is bound to provide for his own household, and should exercise a reasonable amount of worldly wisdom and prudence. Coming to the facts, they do not find that the charge is in any general sense sustained, but at the same time they intimate, that, in some unimpor- tant particulars, Mr. Strong may have been at fault, and they conclude by deciding that the pastoral relation shall be dis- solved. A protest against the finding of the council, so far as it implied any censure upon Mr. Strong, was entered on the town records ]\v a number of prominent men, on the ground that if any fault had been proved it had been atoned for, and satisfaction made by Mr. Strong. Miss Annie Maxwell says that Mr. Strong preached the strait Calvinistic doctrines, and that about the time this diffi- culty arose there were many fluctuating minds, and that a new doctrine arose about this time which seemed to engross the attention of many; and I am inclined to think that the 46 difficulty had its orietticoats, not dresses and skirts, and stockings of their own spinning, weaving knit- ting and making up. Table linen and sheeting was made of the fiax. Very little factory cotton as it was called then, was used. There was one clothier whe dyed and dressed cloth for men and boys, Jacob Snow; and one gristmill for grinding the grain. There were two or three blacksmiths in different parts of the town, to shoe the horses and oxen, and about as many shoemakers. Mr. Eli Gould went about staying long enough in one place to make and mend shoes for the whole family. David Marsh who sat on his bench most of the time for forty years was the shoemaker of the town ; all the nicest work was taken to him. There was one tannery where the leather was made by Enos Adams. Colonel David Snow was the prin- cipal house builder, and Mr. Oliver Kendrick the mason. The spare prod- uce, butter, cheese, pork, poultry, etc., was carried to Boston for many years in a large four horse market wagon, by one man Gayton Williams, who on his return brought groceries and di-y goods for the store kept by John Hastings and Obadiah Dickinson, also medicines for the doctor. It required two or three weeks to go, sell his load, buy the goods and return to Heath. The postoffice was kept by Sylvenus Maxwell who went to 122 Greenfield twice a week for the mail. Tliere were two tailoresses, Mrs. Oliver Sawyer and the widow Thayer. The town was divided into nine school districts, which were well supplied with children. I remember a few people who at that time seemed very aged, who with their wives soon passed away. The following are their names Asa Marsh, Peter Hunt, Parly Hunt, Dea. Isaac Chapin, Solomon Temple, Dea. John Brown, Seth Temple, Dea. James White, Solomon Temple, Benjamin Maxwell, Sr. Phiueas Baldwin, Sr. Lieut. William Buck, and William Christy. The next class were the parents of the young people of the town at that time, men and women of sterling integrity and ability who trained up their children in the way they should go, whose sous and daughters did honor to their parental guidance and instruction. Many of them became teachei's of schools, some of them ministers and missionaries, doctors and lawyers. All of them so far as I know filled places of respectability and usefulness in Heath and in different parts of the country. The age of the parents of the grown up young people at that time must have been in the vicinity of sixty. The following are the names of those 1 remember : — Eev. Moses Millen, Dea. Medad Dickinson, Col. Roger Leavitt, Adjt. David White, Lt. Hvigli Maxwell, Dea. JacoblChapin, Luke White, John Buck, Eli Gould, Capt. Benjamin Maxwell, Stephen Thompson, Dea. Sullivan Taft, Dea. Moses Smith, Aaron Smith, 1st. Col. David Phineas Smith, Daniel Rugg, Jonathan Taylor, Jesse Gale, Luther Gale, David Henry, Samuel Kinsman, Caleb Miller, Daniel Brown, Oliver Sawyer, Phineas Baldwin, Ephraim Hastings, Harison Holland, Samuel Martin, Snow. The next class were the middle aged, substantial, well to do farmers, with their large families numbering as high sometimes as twelve and four- teen. These were the children that made the good schools at that time and for a few years later. They had only three months in summer, and not quite so much in winter, and the children felt that they must make the most of it. They excelled in spelling especially and mental arithmetic and reading. Indeed Heath was considered the model town of the country for its Sunday school, its common school and its choir of singers. 123 The following are the names of those who reared this fine host of children. Elijah Allen, Samuel Brown, Dea. David Eugg, Benjamin Temple, Dea. Joel Eugg, Solomon Temple, Dea. Timothy Harrington, Eobert "Wilson, Oliver Kendrick, William Christie, David Kinsman, Dayid Gould, Lieut. David White, Squire Benson. Joshua Warfield, Luther Thompson, Job Warfield, Joseph Allen, Hezekiah Coats, John Temple, Eeuben Porter, Asahel Thayer, Phillip Spooner, Nathaniel Temple, Lemuel Harris, Stephen Gerry, Eichard Temple, Amos Brooks, Gayton Williams, David Marsh. These and others whom I have no doubt forgotten, with their large fam- ilies of bright intelligent children, were the strength and pride of Heath sixty years ago. As I recall the children of those day I remember that one year prizes were offered to the best scholars in intellectual arithmetic, and the mem- bers of the school committee imposed upon Dr. Emerson, the delicate task of making the rewards. Nelson Benson and Sarah Jane Hastings wei'e the victors in the contest. Letter fkom Eev. Lowell Smith, D. D. Honolulu, Oahu, Sandwich Islands., June 27th, 1885. To the Centennial Committee of Heath, Gentlemen: — Many thanks for your circular, which came to hand on the 22d inst., inviting me to meet with you on the 19th of next August, to cooperate in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Incorporation of Heath, my native town. If circumstances would permit, it would give me great pleasure to meet with you on that occasion. I am now in my 83d year and quite feeble; — the journey both by sea and land, is so far that it would not be wise for me to undertake it, — but I will send you my photograph; — and a pamphlet of our Golden Wedding, and a newspaper, which contains some interesting reminiscences, from which you may get a few paragraphs, which may give a little variety to the speeches, poems and other communications, and exercises of the day. According to a record of births and deaths in the old family Bible of Moses and Lucretia Smith, who lived in the west part of the town; Lowell, their first born son, was born on the 27th of Nov., 1802. I lived with my 124 parents till I was about 20 years old, laboring with father on a farm in the summer, and in his blacksmith's shop in the winter. Kev. Moses Miller was pastor of the church and people in Heath at that time. In 1822 that church and people were blessed with a precious revival of religion, and quite a number were hopefully converted and gathered into the Church of Christ, among whom were my father and mother, and my- self. Then, for a year or more my convictions were very strong that it was my duty to forsake the farm and shop, and prepare myself .to preach the gospel to the destitute. I spent two years in prepai'atory studies; four years in Wlliams. College and three years in Auburn Theological Seminary. On the 20th of Sept., 1832, I was ordained in Heath, by the Franklin As- sociation, as an [evangelist missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. for the Sand- wich Islands. I was married to Miss Abigail W. Tenney of Biandon Vermont, on the 2nd of Oct., 1832. We embarked from New London, Ct., for the Islands, on the 23d of Nov. on board the Whale Ship Mentor, Capt. John Rice. After a tedious voyage of 159 days, via Cape Horn, we arrived at Honolulu on the 1st day of May, 1833. Here we have lived and labored together for 52 years, the Lord being with and blessing us according to his promise. Soon after we left for the Islands, my father sold his farm in Heath, and purchased another in the western part of Greenfield, where my brother Frederick G. Smith and family now live. In 1865, some [twenty years ago, I felt ill, and as though my missionary work was drawing to a close. Consulting our family physician, he said I had no chronic diseaae; — what I needed was rest, and a change of climate for a year, and ten years more would be added to my life. I wrote to the Prudential Committee in Boston, whogave me afurlough or leave of absence for a yeai". So in April, 1865 we left for New York, via San Francisco and Panama. Our surviving relatives and friends in the States received us most cordially, and did all in their power during the year to make us happy and recuperate for another campaign. Marvelous were the changes that had taken place everywhere, during the thirty years of our absence. Many of our dearest friends were sleeping in their graves. On my visit to Heath, I found very few persons who re- membered me. My old homestead was occupied by strangers, and I was a stranger to the families in that neighborhood. In 1866, with health much improved, w^ returned again to our Island home, where the Lord has continued to own and bless our labors until the 31st day of January 1885. " Saturday Press," one of our weekly newspapers, issued on the 7th of last February, contains some interesting j-eminiscences of the life, labors, sickness, death and burial of my beloved companion — alias — "the late Mrs. Lowell Smith." Christian Salutations to all the old and new inhabitants of Heath, who may assemble there on this interesting anniversary. Respectfully yours, LOWELL SMITH. 125 Letter from Mrs. Sarah J. Hastings Nicuols. Gentlemen of the Centennial Committee of Heath: — Sirs : — In common with many wliose liappy cliildhood was spent on these rugged hills, who grew strong by breasting the fierce winds that sweep them, or by ploughing the heavy snows that cover them in the long winter ; and in those far-off days, doing all with a sense of exultation, that ours was a privileged lot ; I have looked forward to this day with anticipa- tions of being present to share in its reunions, its mingled sunshine and shadow. Painfully do I feel the restrictions of distance and other circum stances which compel me to forego its joys; its shadows reach me even here, for I feel the disappointment and gloom which the sudden death of Col. Hooker Leavitt has cast over a movement he did so much to inaugu- rate and feel sure some able pen will render a fitting tribute to his mem- ory. As I cannot be present in body I venture to send a few reminiscen- ces of my Heath life. But the Heath that I so fondly remember, is the Heath of a past generation, most of whom sleep in quiet graveyards; a very few still live on their native hills and a few more yet linger here and there in the busy centers of action. To the most of this large audience my name even is wholly unfamiliar. Leaving home in the spring of 1837 to enter upon that teaching which has been my life work, I have been back for brief visits only, and since my honored father left Heath for his ISTashua residence in 1848, even those brief visits have only been to that hallowed spot the " I^orth burying ground" where rest the precious remains of mother and sisters. Perhaps I owe an apology for making these reminis- cences so personal; but mine was the life of a home-sheltered happy girl rather studious than active, so I can only reproduce personal impressions. Quite early in my childhood two conversations heard in my own home fixed themselves in my memory. Some relatives from the rich Connecticut valley were visiting my parents, and sitting about the family table, my uncle said, " Well! what can you raise on these rough hills'?" My father replied, " good potatoes, good oats, good cattle," and my mother added with quick enthusiasm, "good men and women." Ah! yes, good men and women the best of all raising. Should my mother's deep faith in her townspeople be justified? Often has the remembrance of her look and tone been an in- citement to one at least to struggle for the right. One winter evening in 1827 I think, as my father sat with his Boston paper, reading aloud wdth his fine, clear voice, as was his custom when particularly interested, he finished the account of the first passage of a locomotive from Liverpool to Birmingham, Eng. He made some enthusiastic remark, when my mother laughingly said " you seem to be a mighty railroad man." Dropping his paper on his knees and straightening himself back, he said, " If I had the means I'd be a mighty railroad man. Why! If I live, I as much expect to see a railroad going up the Charlemont valley as I expect to go to Brighton next week.." My mother's quiet reply was, "I as much expect to go to the moon." Nearly thirty years passed before the project of the Hoosac Tunnel began to take form in the Massachusetts Legislature, while my father was not spared to see the dream of his manhood completely fulfilled, he was permitted to see its inception and to find his fore-casting 126 justified. The glory of Heath as I knew it, was in the morality and intelli- gence of its people and the excellence of its Sabbath school, and its dis- trict schools. Your Pocumtuck had not then been lifted into notoriety, as a signal [station, but was known as Catamount hill. The literary fame of J. G, Holland had not cast its reflex light on "Holland Dell," or "Holland Elra,"i (grand old tree), but Heath was the banner town of Franklin county if not of the state for its schools. From 1820 onward, till the fac- tory villages of Worcester county and of North Adams, and the rich farming lands of the "Genesee country" began to drain its population, it numbered nearly 1200 inhabitants, and I never knew a grown person among them who could not read and write. In those years its Congrega- tional church enrolled between four and five hundred members, and its Sabbath School, held only from April to November of each year, including many adult Bible classes, numbered about the same. Its nine district school-houses, though somewhat rude in structure (they were not as neatly painted and fitted with blinds, as was the one I saw in the west district when I passed it in the summer of 1879), were comfortable and were al- ways summer and winter, manned with thorough, competent, laborious teachers, and crowded by all the children from four to eighteen that could possibly be spared from farm or home-work. It is and it ever has been a marvel to me, how so much and such thorough work could be crowded into three and a half months winter school, and only three months summer school. I look back with astonishment, as I recall some of the most gifted female teachers I have ever known, putting heart, mind and body ear- nestly into their work, going early, long before eight o'clock to make pens and set copies and often in raw, chilly days to make their own fires, and staying late to sAveep and dust, that the children might have the practical lessons of neatness and order, and all for the mere pittance of a dollar and a quarter, or a dollar and a half a week, and the privilege of " boarding round." Such labor was not a "quid pro quo but was a loving sacrifice laid upon the altar of society's welfare, and as such I believe God accepted it and crowned it with unwonted success. May I be permitted to recall some events known to the whole community, and which made a deep im- pression on my childish mind: The appearance in our midst on the occa- sion of a " court-martial," of military officers from Northampton and Springfield with epaulettes, swords and spears, who to my terrorized fancy were fiercer than Turk or Tartar. The arrival of five or six Oneida Indi- ans, who were domiciled in the hall over the old red store; there they gave exhibitions of Indian customs, and in the dark closet opening from that hall one of those Indians died. I can recall to this day, the bated breath with which I watched his comrades bear his remains to the old " North burying ground." The presentation of a stand of colors to the " Heath Independent Eifle Company," of which, I think, Hooker Leavitt was Cap- tain; Sullivan Taft Lieutenant; and George Hastings, Ensign. My sister Margaret was elected to make the presentation. The agitation of our peo- ple in regard to the abduction of Morgan, and the Anti-Masonic excite- ment, because one of our townspeople, living in the then far west, even Lockport, N. Y. had been suspected of complicity in that abduction, but 127 of which he was afterward acquitted. The profound feeling awakened by the departure in 1832 of the Rev. Lowell Smith and wife for their Sand- wich Island home, where they fulfilled such a long and noble career. Did I not fear to weary your patience, I should love to speak at length of our revered pastor, the Rev. Moses Miller, stately and dignified in form, wise and godly in life, to whom the Heath of my day owed more than to any other individual: of the careful, cautious Dr. Joseph Emerson, the beloved physician; of Deacon Samuel Hastings so long the superintendent of our Sabbath School. I can see and hear him now, as he stands ia the Dea- con's seat of the old church, to give out the closing hymn : — " How shall the young secure their way, And guard their lives from sin?" or " Life is the time to serve the Lord, The time to insure the great reward." Of my early teachers, the prompt and energectic Lucretia White, the sweet, 'attractive Eleanor Dickinson, the careful painstaking Annie Thayer; that nervous man of keen intellect, the Rev. James Ballard, or that Mr. French who dropped upon us from Vermont, to teach a "select school," with his new fangled notions, his queer devices and his no great amount of acquired knowledge, but whose work, judged by its results, must be called great, for he could rouse and hold pupils to vigorous and prolonged stduy; what better can a teacher do? But 1 content myself with a loving tribute to my honored parents. The legacy of their name and their virtues I count the richest heritage. Widely diif erent in their nat- ural characteristics, they were harmoniously blended in their influence to make a happy home. My mother, loving yet firm and strict in her require- ments of large practical judgment and executive ability, yet of refined taste and tender sympathy, ever ready at the call of the sick or suffering neighbors; by her large reading of the English classics and standard poetry fitted to be our intellectual guide and censor: and by divine grace formed to deep and trusting piety, a very queen in any household. My father, a man imbued with a deep reverence for truth and integrity, an utter con- tempt for all shams, an indignation for all cruelty and wrong, of broad views on all questions of public weal, of the largest charity for all who dif- fered from him, generous in his friendships, of such genial good-humor as to seize upon allthe pleasant things and let annoyances slide past him with as little chafing as possible, a public minded citizen, an honest man a de- vout worshipper of his God. All honor to their memory, and all honor to my native hills where I was permitted to know and love them. I long to hear others tell of the part Heath has borne in the great struggle for our nation's life, of your material develoment and prosperity since that fearful baptism of blood, of your sturdy independence in standing as a town free from debt, of your overflowing treasury, the surplus of which I ear- nestly hope may be devoted to a good town library, of all that can reflect honor on our native town, and in all past, present or future that can glorify the "child of a hundred years," one loyal heart rejoices." Rochester, N. Y. Sarah J. Hastings Nichols. 128 Letter from Kusbell J. Taylor, Esq. Aug. 11, 1885. Clias. B. Cutler, Sec. and Committee, ) of Heath Centennial. ( GeniJemew; — Your circular of April 6, 1883, was received with pleasure, but circumstances forbid my beinj^ present. I recall with pleasure the time when I lived about one half a mile east of the middle of the town, just over the Nim's hill and attended school in the district near where Luther Thompson lived. John Thompson was at the same school at the time. It was taught by Lucy and Jane Hastings, daughters of Ephraim Hastings. My grandfather and great grandfather lie in the cemetery in your town, which I visited about five years ago. I also recognize the name of Chas. D. Benson, with whom I used to stay over night, if I recollect right on "Burnt Hill." near where "' Capt." Gould lived. He was my special boy friend. Those I immediately remember are John Thompson, Chas. Ben- son, Henry Gould, Corydon Flagg (Simons) and Bernice Gould. My hap- piest days were spent on the old homestead between the Flagg pond and Nim's hill. I am also proud to record the fact that my grandfather was the first settler in the town of Heath. At that time he was one of the selectmen of Charlemont. I would not omit the Temples, Whites and others who were my relatives. I can but call to mind " Priest Miller," who preached in the middle of the town and I remember distinctly how erect was his form as he entered the sacred desk. My great-grandfather's name was Jonathan, my grandfather's name was Jonathan, my father's name was Jonathan and I have a brother Jonathan, whether there will be any more Jonathans I cannot tell. Tlie Taylor family are scattered over the whole country, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri. I sat down five years ago, by the old well, aud tears flowed down my cheeks as I re- called the scenes of my boyhood, as I saw but two or three whom I knew in the whole town. But my heart ever turns to my native town, with all the fondness which could possibly be expressed, and while I write I feel a glow of satisfaction, that the hill town of Heath was the land of my birth. Noble New England! How many thousands have gone forth from you to bless mankind! I have a manuscript book in my possession, which dates back to F eb. 9 1710; containing the names of the old aud first settlers in Deerfield. Among the names are the Stebbins, Hawks, Wells, Taylors, etc. Hon. Geo. Sheldon of Deerneld has had the book and copied from it, items for thePocumtuck Valley Memorial Association at that place. My wish is tliat the town of Heath may prosper and that the people of the town may cherish with fidelity aud loyalty the principles they have received from their venerated ancestors. Yours truly, KicnviLLE, N. Y. EussELL J. Taylor. 129 Letter from Miss Nancy Browx. Santa Ana, California, Aug., 1885. To the dear friends of Old Heath :— By invitation I have been induced to contribute a few words for this very interesting occasion. I am at present a resident of southern California, a land famed for its lovely climate, its genial, balmy air, and sunny skies, that land of beauty, sunshine, fruits and flowers, and yet my mind often reverts to those hills, my childhood's home ; subject to northwest winds and drifting snows , but where splendid men and women were made. Where were to be found better schools than we had in Heath and vicinity fifty years ago ? God was good and furnished us some superior lights in the moral heavens, aiding and guiding us in the pathway of learning. Good parson Miller,— God bless his reverend head, — and Col. E. Leavitt, with other lesser lights, who visiting the schools, lifted up the standard of education, and elevated the people to a nobler and higher plane of thought and being. I have vis- ited schools in Illinois and here in California. They have fine schools and enjoy many modern improvements which are great helps, but I am not sure that the youth here of sixteen and eighteen j^ears of age graduate much in advance of those in Heath fifty years ago. Our schools were short but they told. In all my travels and acquain- tance I am yet to learn of a single person of my age not educated in Heath or in good old Massachusetts, " the garden of the world, the glory of all lands," who can boast of such common school privileges as I can. These facts speak volumes for the high position of our schools at that time. Our moral and religious privileges were also good. Again, where could be found, in a town of that size, a church embracing one-third of its popula- tion on so high a moral and spiritual elevation ; a Sabbath School with five hundred members ? Under God and with his blessing upon his labors, great credit is due to good old Father Miller, Pastor of that church for thirty-six years, for his untiring efforts ; his earnest, persistent, energetic labors to educate and instruct the people ; most carefully studying their needs and necessities, and preparing his mental, moral and religious forces to meet their wants. A colony from Heath went to* northern New York. A resident of that place said they always knew when a member of that colony was coming, "for he carried a Bible under each arm." A distinguished religious man of North Adams, said of several who re- moved there from Heath, that they were renowned for their intelligence and extensive Bible knowledge. Prof. Tatlock of Williams College, said he never went before an audience to preach where he expected to be so sharply criticised as at Heath, for the people were so intelligent and so thoroughly instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He said it did not do for him to make any mistakes there, if he did he should be called to account before he got out of the church. The influence which went out from that church was very great. There were so many revivals of pure religion add- ing many who became pillars in the church of God. God indeed built for 130 us a goodly heritage. Let us praise him. Good Father Miller was a means in God's hands of doing much good to the people of Heath. He "was not a sensational, spasmodic preacher, but sought to enlarge the understanding, enlighten the conscience, and educate the judgment. In person he was tall, stately and majestic, with a calm, serene and placid countenance. To many of us his very presence seemed like a benediction. His wife was a model of excellence, purity and refinement ; a pattern of propriety every- where. Their children grew up as ornaments in the church of God, and went out into the world as blessings to mankind, — but they are all gone home. I had five brothers all in the church, all strong temperance men. All anti-tobacco men. Not one was ever heard to utter a profane oath. It Avas no innate goodness in those boys which protected them from those evils. It was their surroundings. The moral and religious atmosphere in which they were raised. I think many other young men could testify to the same saving influences. The days of which I speak were the palmy days of old Heath. I cannot speak of your present condition, prosperity or successes, for I am not ac- quainted with them, but I desire a glad future for Old Heath. May your sun not set in darkness, but may peace and prosperity abound, and the rays of the Sun of Righteousness yet shine in undiminished lustre all over your land. Most truly your friend and well wisher, Nancy S. Bkowx. Lettek fkom Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor Ayer. A missionary among the American Indians, and later among the freed- men. This was a private letter, and some portions of it are omitted. Henry Temple, Esq. My dear Nephew:— Your more than welcome letter written in March was duly received. . . . I love you all, I love Heath. I love her rills, her rocks, her brooks and trees. I love her church, her Sabbath School where the old and the young meet together, to give and receive instruction. I look upon things mostly as when I left, I have a number of little way marks, around my childhood home that I still love and still consider mine. More than seventy years ago, when helping drive the cows to Burnt Hill pasture, and (luestioiiing by the way whether stones grew, I laid one of three or four pounds weight in a select corner of the fence. After long waiting and several examina- tions I concluded there was no change. Another stone, one of great size; and in which I still have an interest lies in the pasture we used to go through when we went to your father's. In berry -time we little girls used to play "bake pies." That little oven in one side of the rocks is as good as ever, I suppose, and may last many generations. The little folks may all use it, but I shall remain a shareholder. Yes, Heath is my loved home and I should like ever so much to be with you in celebrating her one 131 hundredth anniversary. I suppose this means from the time of her organi- zation. I was told that my grandfather was the first settler in what is now called Heath. It was then a part of Charlemont. I have heard my father tell much about Gen. Heath after whom the place was named. I would write something of the manners and customs of old as you suggest did I know wherein you have as a people changed or improved. I might strike the wrong string. Allow me however to ask a few questions. Are citizens now among you obliged to own a certain amount of property in order to be voters, and are they liable to be fined for not attending church at least once in a specified time? Do you rememder when farmers wives and daughters in good standing wore linen dressesof their own make to church, and also carried pocket handkerchiefs which came from the same source, and cai-ried their best stockings and shoes in their pockets till they were in sight of the meeting house? Then grateful parents rendered public thanks when a baby was born. Do you know that it was once thought very ill manners to carry food to the mouth with a fork, a knife or spoon must be used instead, and still further when whole families ate from tbe same dish at table and drank beer and cider from the same mug. A teacher in Heath from one of the neighboring towns once cut a pupil's mouth while teaching her to eat fashionably, and showing her which way to put the edge of the knife. Those who have lived long enough to learn both ways may prac- tice as is most convenient. Other fashions came round once in a while with but little alteration. Now people wear what they onee laughed at and set aside. Has Heath still a "nigger pew" in her meeting house for the benefit of dark skins. I remember hearing a sharp discussion once on the impropriety of Mr. Goff sitting in Mr. Miller's pew while partaking of the Lord's supper; one party thought he might sit in the aisle. Afterwards he was sent as missionary to his far-oif dark brethren. His children felt their degredation. Sally said she was willing to be skinned all over if it would make her white, like the other school girls. We had but one pastor* during my home life; him I loved and revered. He did much, very much, for the young people of his charge. Also but one physiciant who is also well re- membered. But they and most of my elders have passed away. In all my wanderings they have not been forgotten, and the evidence from time to time that they did not forget me was very cheering. I shall know more of them in the near future. . . . My husband was a godly man, an earnest, energetic and efficient worker, was respected everywhere even among rebel Southerners with wliom he had much to do. He kept many from starvation from his own private purse. At his death there was great mourning. One aged rebel who had lost a fortune by the war, came to see the corpse, embraced it and with sobs and tears told how the departed had saved his life; said he, " I should have have gone first if he had not helped me." His funeral was attended by all classes of people to the number, I was told, of three thousand. . . . What do you think led me at first to be- come a missionary? It was not any great amount of piety or self-denial that I possessed above others. It was to pay an honest debt. I had se- * Rev. Moses Miller. t Dr. Joseph Emerson. 132 cretly resolved, sometime before I thought of going to Sanderson Academy that all I got over the common price for teaching, should go into the treas- ury of the Lord for the support of missionaries. But from time to time in making out my wardrobe I borrowed a share of it but I kept a strict ac- count. Col. Leavitt, who visited my school very often, proposed that I put myself under Miss Lyon's iustruction, if only for a short time. I took ad- vantage of his suggestion, and went the next winter, entered for six weeks. That took a good' share of all I called my own. Miss Lyon asked me why I did not stay longer, said that if it was for the want of money she would supply me. I said nothing but thought I might as well borrow money of the Lord as of Miss Lyons, so I took all the money in my posses- sion and finished the term. The next summer I received for teaching more than ever before and this enabled me to go to school the next term which was a long one and pay all my debts excepting that borrowed money. So as soon as I was asked to go and teach the Mackinaw mission, a decided answer came at once. Yes, go, there is the way to pay what you owe the Lord. But I did not say this aloud. I told them|that they should have my answer in three days. I had taken an interest in missions ever since Har- riet Atwood Xewell went to India, but it had never entered my mind that I could be a missionary myself. I could go for two years and no longer. Secretary Anderson wrote to me that the American Boai-d had never sent out missionaries in that way for a specified time, but that they had de- cided to send me, hoping I should conclude to remain longer. I answered that they must not expect that. But barriers were removed and I re- mained at Mackinaw over five years. Since then my transient homes reach from Maintoba to Georgia. Miss Lyons did not advise me not to go to Mackinaw, but said if I did not go I might have a place in her school as teacher, adding, "I would have you for my first teacher but you and I are too much alike." When she said that I felt that it my duty to go, she gave nie ten dollars worth of Colburn's Arithmetics, and bade me God speed. At Mackinaw I had a pleasant time, things moved on like clock work, every one had his appointed duty, and knew when it was done, but in the far interior I fully met my early idea of the trials of missionary life. From the difficulty of transportation up and down rapid rivers we could take but little with us. Our table furniture consisted of a few tin plates and cups and some knifes and forks. Our food was mostly the products of the country, fish, rice, deer and small game ^nd plenty of cranberries. In spring we could supply ourselves with maple sugar for the year, but per- haps the children had washed in the sap half a dozen times before it was boiled. After tlie Indians knew we were particular, they made their sugar cleaner and brought the best to us. We raised our own potatoes and a lit- tle corn. The first flour we bought at Fort Snelling was eighteen dollars a barrel. We had a small piece of bread once a day. Mr. Ayer would often give his piece to a sick Indian, I was not so benevolent. Under all snch little trials we could laugh and go on our way, but after getting a settle- ment around us in houses, a church organized, and a school in good run- ning order, to see them scattered to the four winds by tlie Sioux, was a great trial to us and a still greater to them. We remained at Pokagoma a year hoping they might dare to return, and then sought another field of 133 labor. Now thousands are carried over the same or nearly the same ground taking all they wish along with them, and instead of camping out at night, go intolPullman cars and sleep at their leisure. It is simply won- derful how the great North West is filling up with settlers. Night and day, car loads pass our door to find the wheat fields whose furrows are sev- enteen miles long, or on beyond, north towards British America, or west toward the great Pacific. Well, " the world moves," I have almost done with it but that thought does not make me sad. I am not tired of it, but I have a better inheritance and so have you; and neither men nor devils can cheat you out of it without your consent. I look to the future with pleasant anticipations. The character of God appears more and more lovely, as I better understand our relation to Him. One living and true God, not three persons, but a Trinity in one. Our Maker, our Redeemer and Sanctifer. One God who does all the work. I used to say three per- sons, but the Bible does not say so, and I see it is not right to say so. It obscures the mind for even if we say one, we think three. I say this blurs the mind, it has mine, it did when I was young and it was only little by little that I am now able to think one as well to say one. The idea of three leads to other errors; " God manifest in the flesh." He came into the world not to pay for our past transgressions but in this way he could better communicate with man and draw him from sin to holiness. Should our past sins all be cancelled, what would it avail if love to God and love to man be absent, we are not fit for heaven; but if we have this love to its full extent or as we may have it, we have heaven. God is love and who- soever dwellest in love dwelleth in God and God in him. If we fail in this love there is nothing to take its place. All the long faces, long prayers; the sacraments; all the confessions and penances cannot save us. Am I right? Mrs. Elizabeth Ayee. Recollections of the old Red House Seventy Years Ago. BY KEV. JOHN C. THOMPSON, OF HOLYOKE, MASS. The two lower rooms of its large two-story front, were used, one, as a sales-room of all kinds of goods and wares, dry goods, groceries, and what- ever would meet the wants of the people of this far away hill-town. The other, the east portion of the lower front, was the bar-room of the hotel. The upper story of the front was one long spacious hall, where the maidens and their mates were accustomed occasionally to trip the "light fantas- tic toe." In subsequent years the room was furnished with desks and sit- tings and became a most valuable educational agency in the town. Here, doubtless, many a Wm. Howland and Susan Reed began to catch that mental and moral and perhaps that spiritual inspiration which ultimately carried them forward, and made them earnest workers in the great field of God, both in this and in other lands, Here in this hall— after it became a school-room, were enjoyed some most precious revival seasons. I doubt 134 not, many a joyous soul now in heaven looks back to that room as the place where he first gave his heart to God, and experienced the new joys of sal- vation. My recollections of the bar-room are not so pleasant. Let the description of a single scene suffice. It was on Election day— the first of March. The meeting for the trans- action of the annual business of the town— on that day, was held in the old church building on the "Common." There seemed to be a general gathering of the male population of the town, old men, middle aged, young men and not a few boys, some quite young. The meeting on that day was divided into two assemblies, one, at the church for business, the other at the bar- room for pleasure, and there was a constant passing and repassing, from one assembly to the other. At the church was the common routine of busi- ness, usual at an annual town-meeting. At the bar-room the assembly was made up largely of the younger portion of the people. The room was somewhat spacious ; in the southeasterly part of it was the bar, occupied on the day of which I speak by several clerks, engaged in mixing and de- livering to the thii'sty crowd, intoxicating liquors. In the northeasterly corner of the room was a large open fire-place radiant with burning wood and coals. In the bed of burning coals were lying several round heavy pieces of iron logger-heads, I think they were called, with long, slim iron handles attached to them. As well as I can remember, the favorite bever- age of the assembly on that day was what is called " flip." It consisted of a large proportion of common home-made beer, well sweetened, and a gen- erous amount of rum. When thus duly mixed, the mug or the half mug was taken to the fire-place by a bar-tender, and one of these red logger- heads was plunged into the liquor, setting it into a lively effervescence or foam. It was then in readiness to gratify the yearning palate and throat of the willing purchaser. The apartment was crowded on that day. Those who wished to gain entrance could hardly find standing room, much less sittings ; and so great was the demand for "flip," that, I well remem- ber — it was very difficult to keep a passage open from the bar to the fire- place for the clerk to put ths heated finishing touch upon the favorite bev- erage. Being nothing but a green boy, I then learned for the first time that there was a game in flip-drinking. My inexperienced, curious eyes were, of course, open, to observe whatever was going on. I saw on every hand mugs or half-mugs of flip, being imbibed by two or three in social chat together. I soon discovered that a ring of young men was being formed near the centre of the crowded room, for purpose of social chat and flip-drinking. This ring was being continually enlarged. The method of enlargement was this : A young friend from without, was invited, or con- strained to join them ; and was given to understand the initiatory fee to their circle was a half mug of flip. A mere boy as I was, it was not long before I felt an impressive hand upon my shoulder accompanied by an earnest invitation to come into the ring. My boyish pride, at being ad- mitted into the circle of those so much older than myself, constrained me to order the initiating fee— the half mug of flip. Thanks to a kind Provi- dence and the restraining grace of God— it was the first find the last pur- chase of that kind I ever made. It must not be inferred from this account of that bar-room exhibition on 135 that election day, that the inhabitants of Heath were at that time a set of drunkards. Far from it. I did not know then, nor have I known since of more than one man who could be called a confirmed inebriate, and he subsequently reformed, died, as Ave believe, a renewed Christian man. Everybody in those days, pastor and people, drank intoxicating liquors, but for the most part they kept decently sober. One thing in their favor was, the liquors then were not drugged as they are now. But even with pure liquors, this drinking habit of that by-gone generation, subjected, them to a most fiery ordeal. Had they not possessed more manly stamina, than vast multitudes of the present generation, they would have thronged the way to the drunkard's grave ; as it was with all their commendable resistance to excessive drinking, still it is to be deplored, that the sad results which necessarily follow the habitual use of intoxicating liquors, should be transmitted by heredity, to the generations that follow them. Letter from Eev. W. A. Nichols. Lake Forest, August 5, 1885. Mr. Cutler, Sec. of the Centennial ) Committee, Heath, Mass. j Dear Sir : — Your letter kindly inviting me to be present at your approach- ing centennial was duly received. It would give me true pleasure to comply with your invitation ; but, as circumstances prevent, I send you these few words, as my representative. Memory fondly lingers over the Heath of long ago. There I fitted for college in part, at an excellent select school taught by Mansfield French, and in part with the venerable man who was the "mountain shepherd" of a Christian fold in that town for thirty-six years, and whose youngest daughter was the mother of my children. My brief residence there was in the palmiest days of her centen- nial history. On the Sabbath, the meeting-house which stood on the Com- mon, was often crowded to its utmost capacity. In those years, the Sab- bath School numbered nearly six hundred, with one exception, the largest in the State. Miss Enth White was the teacher of the youngest class of girls for many years, and all the daughters of the parish passed under her training. If all these did not become sound in sentiment, and practical in activity, it was their own fault. I believe the good people of that generation canon- ized the said Miss Ruth as the parish saint. I was teaching in Thayer's Hall in the autumn of 1833 and attended the last meeting which was held in the old church. It was on the after- noon of a cold, windy day. Every fresh blast from the northwest shook the old structure, and set it creaking from sill to rafters. The pastor seemed to catch the spirit of the elements, and kindled to unwonted eloquence on the occasion. His theme as I recollect it was that every thing temporal must have its brief history and pass down to decay. The old meeting- house then and there accommodating the worshippers for the last time, was an illustration of the fact ; but the human soul would survive all the 136 shocks of time, and take on immortality to a life to come, blessed or other- wise according to the improvement or misuse of the probationary period. Thouf,'h not acquainted with the career of the latter house of worshippers, my impression is that in breadth of utility and renown, it has hardly attained to the glory of the former house ; and yet other causes than the character of the people may account for the diiference. Every line of rail- road has its alternations of ascending and descending grade. Heath in its vigor and thrift has furnished much seed-corn for more productive soils in broader domains. The intelligence, the industry and frugality promoted by a hard soil and a rigorous climate applied under more genial circumstan- ces, have resulted in the same fibre of Yankees lengthened out. Many of these have made a stronger mark, a more enduring impression in other positions than they would have left on their native town, not because they were better men than those who remained at home, but because they have enjoyed better opportunities. The facts and figures resulting from these mountain school-houses and churches appear not so much in what they have kept at home, as in what they have trained at home to send abroad to achieve under a more ample scope for development. Our star of Em- pire has been coursing westward for hundreds of years ; but it must never be forgotton that it rose in the East, and carried in its course, the forma- tive elements for a grand and substantial West. So the West could never have become even what it now is, without the East to give it direction and secure for it the elements of character. The right kind of work at the cradle and in the nursery must precede a correct and efficient manhood. The West will continue to receive and utilize the influx of contributions from the East, until there shall be formed an equilibrium between these two sections of the Republic ; and then there may be a reflux from the West towards the East. Then your sterile hill-tops, now being reclothed with forests, during a period of rest and recuperation will be refreshed with new productive energies, aud invite a new immigration. Even noAv the emigrant from the old world, is beginning to find stronger inducement to settle down on your forsaken acres, than to push for the frontier. The emigi-ant does not find virgin soil amid your rugged hills, but he finds other facilities for securing the comforts of life, ready for his use, and at less ex- penses than it would cost tc pi'oduce them farther west. If the world stands long enough, I have little doubt that New England will be more densely peopled than it ever has been, and will then need the best of men everywhere as leaders of enterprise, and to give healthful tone to public sentiment. W. A. Nichols. Lettek fkom De. a. W. Thompson. CiRCLEVILLE, OhIO, Aug. 17, 1885. O. Maxwell, and others of the Heath Centennial Committee." Be thanked for your kindness in extending an invitation to one of the many native born Heathen (as the Colcrain boys used to call us), to return 137 to the Highlands of Heath to help commemorate the one hundreth anni- of its settlement. To bring together the native born subjects who spent their childhood and youth there, now scattered promiscuously over the different States, and some even in foreign lauds; will no doubt be very pleasant indeed for some and exceedingly so to a few, as well as to those among you, who were to the "Manor born." and most strikingly illustrates a great truism, viz: The Inheritance of the average New Englander. Do you ask what inheritance? The youth of your country and invigo- rating climate who from the force of habit or from necessity (and every want seemingly a necessity), were reared to labor, think and act for them- selves, developed for future usefulness every faculty they had an elemen- tary endowment of, to such a perfection, as to make his usefulness felt and acknowledged wherever he put forth! his energies. At the present time their industry,enterprise and success are manifest all over God'slgreat gran- aries and grain producing regions of the world, as well as in the work shops of all our mechanical industries. From your own Heath to my cer- tain knowledge the professions have been fairly well represented. In a few circumstances markedly so. But the great, the desirable inheritance is his pei'sistent untiring endur- ance, physically, mentally and religiously; well preserved not only to the three score years and ten, but to the four score years, still able to battle for the right. I regret that I am unable to be with you on this occasion, and renew my acquaintance with the youth of fifty and six years ago and have a jolly re- union though we would all be the boys in gray; of our school fellows and school teachers. When Eoger Leavitt, Miss Mary Temple and Whiting Griswold (the former at the old red school house in NorthlHeath, the latter at your village) as well as a lot of other teachers made us know and feel that knowledge was a necessity to reach usefulness, Leavitt was the first to impress my mind with the above; my regards to him. I cannot add! much to the reminiscences of your town, but would much enjoy the reunion, though absent for about half a century. One fact I will state purely selfish, my physical inheritance has been such that I have not been disabled from the duties of my profession, an entire day, at any one time for forty-six years. My brother, Doctor J. C. Thompson of this county is better preserved than I am. He is about seventy-five years old. Kindly and Respectfully, A. W. Thompson. Letter fkom Mes. A. G. Willis. Brooklyn, Aug. I6th, 1885. From the solemn and imposing scenes, attending the funeral obsequies ' of the late lamented Gen. Grant, I turn to contemplate another event, tho' of less world wide interest, yet of great interest to those immediately con- cerned. To the people of Heath ,who, this day celebrate the Centennial Anniver- 138 sary of their incorporation as a town, I wish to send my congratulations and regrets that I can not be with you in person, to commemorate an event so deeply interesting to all those who were so fortunate as to claim their birthplace there. Seventy one years ago, I first saw the light of day in one of her happy homes,— breathed her pure mountain air, and as I grew in stature and years, imbibed the spirit of freedom and independence whicli characterized her people to her schools, and the high-toned moral training and deeply religious principles inculcated in her community, I owe more than I can express. Very few of those who were my associates remain to witness this occa- sion, and those who do would doubtless feel as I would if there; "Like one who treads alone- Some banquet hall deserted. Whose lights are fled. Whose joys are dead, By all but me deserted." But though that generation has passed away, the same grandeur in nature remains to inspire sentiments of love and admiration for all that is noble in morals, or grand and beautiful in art or nature. I could recall much that would be interesting to remember; but I would not occupy too much of your time. You all doubtless remember my honored mother, Mrs. Spooner, who was a resident of your town at least three-quarters of the century, and here repose the ashes of nearly all my early kindred. I would like to speak of one (who has passed away within the last two j'ears) who loved this home of his birth and boyhood, with a love almost of idol- atry. I refer to P. S. Harris, with whom many of you were acquainted, gifted and honored in the city which was his home, a large contributer to the flue works of art in which he excelled. He died deeply lamented by all who knew him. He was truly an honor to the place he loved so well. His brother Lucius too, passed away a short time after. He too was a good and honorable man, loving deeply the home of iiis youth, and the place of his birth. Dr. J. G. Holland,— celebrated as a poet and lecturer— was a resident here for many years of his boyhood. I have just heard also of the death of another honored resident of the place, Mrs. Wm. Hunt. I must not omit to mention the honored and revered pastor of a former generation; the Eev. Moses Miller, to whom we, who were contemporary with him, owe a debt of gratitude. He was my early guide and teacher, and by him I was married in the year 1836 to Daniel Willis of Colraiu, since which time 1 have lived mostly in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, ever cherishing ;i deep and abiding love for my native town. Yours, with great respect, A. G. Willis. 139 Names of Lawyers from Heath. Judge Jonathan Leavitt. Hon. Hooker Leavitt Hon. Sylvester Maxwell. Joshua Leavitt (also a Clergyman). Henry Temple. Judge Jackson Temple. John M. Emerson. John H. Thompson. Rufus Temple. Joseph S. Ward. Henry Leavitt. Henry B. Kinsman. Names of Clergymen from Heath. Reu. Joshua Leavitt, D. D. (also lawyer.) Rev. John C. Thompson. " Stephen T, Allen. " Luther Temple. " George Benton. " WilUam C. Barber. " Cornelius E. Dickinson. Rev. Lowell Smith, D. D. (Missionary to the Sandwich Islands.) Rev. David H. Thayer. " Henry B. Thayer, D. D. " Grovernor Swan. " Ezra E. Lamb. " Samuel F. Dickinson. Rev. George L. Dickinson. Roswell Leavitt. Woodbridge Strong. Jonas Brown. Ebenezer Tucker. Samuel Taylor. Willard White. Hugh Maxwell. Cyrus K. Fisk. Loren Allen. J. G. Holland. J. C. Thompson. A. W. Thompson. Theron Temple, Frederic Temple. Hiram B. White. Francis J. Canedy. Names of Physicians from Heath. Thomas Leavitt. Maltby Strong. Harrington Brown. Thomas Taylor. Reuben Nims. Henry Maxwell. Joseph E. Fisk. David Allen. Horace Smith. Roswell Trask. Jonathan Temple. Cyrus Temple. Hiram Temple. David N". Kinsman. Ora Lamb. Edwin Blakeslee. George H. Gale. Natives of Heath who have graduated from College. Judge Jonathan Leavitt, Yale, 1785 Hon. Sylvester Maxwell, " 1797 Aseph White, Williams, 1812 Rev. Joshua Leavitt, D. D., Yale, 1814 Woodbridge Strong, M. D., " 1815 140 Jonas Brown, M. D., Williams, 1815 Maltby Strong, M. D., Yale, 1819 Eev. Lowell Smith, D. D., Williams, 1829 " John C. Thompson, Amherst, 1829 " Stephen T. Allen, " 1833 Tutor Thomas Spencer Miller, Amherst, 1839 Prof. Samuel Fisher Miller, " 1849 John M. Emerson, Esq., " 1849 Thomas B. Harrington, Princeton, 1849 Rev. David H. Thayer, Union, 1849 John H. Thompson, Esq., Amherst, 1850 Judge Jackson Temple, Williams, 1851 Prof. Brainard T. Harrington, Amherst, 1852 Rev.Ezra E. Lamb, Delaware, O., 18.58 Henry Leavitt, Esq., Williams, 1860 Piev. C. E. Dickinson, Amherst, 1860 Joseph T. Ward, Esq., " 1880 Prof. Frederic Hall, Iowa State University. 1884 Also the following Residents of Heath but not Natives : Prof. Theodore Strong, L. L. D., Tale, 1812 O. S. Fowler, Amherst, 1834 Rev. Wm. W. Howland (Missionary to Ceylon) Amherst, 1841 Rev. Samuel Hall, Marietta, 1838 The following Natives of Heath have taken a partial College course: James White, Williams, 1S08-9 Charles Maxwell, Amherst, 1829-30 Thomas Taylor, M. D., Amherst, 1830-2 Rev. Luther Temple, Marietta, 1835-6 " Henry B. Thayer, Union, John M. White, Esq., Amherst, 1856-8 Rufus Temple, Esq., Williams, 1848-9 Also the following Residents but not Natives : Rev. Lemuel Leonard, Amherst, 1831, Graduated at Theological Insti- tute of Conn. Rev. Samuel F. Dickinson, Ann Arbor, 1854-6. The Following Ladies from Heath have Married Lawyers. Miss Margaret S. Hastings married R. E. Dewey, Esq. " Hannah H. Temple " Geo. D. Burgess. Esq. " Felicia H. Emerson " Judge John Welch. 141 The Following Ladies from Heath have Miss Clarissa Leavitt married Rev, " Elizabeth Thompson " " " Bethiah A. Miller " Hannah B. Miller " " " Elizabeth Taylor " Susan Reed " " " Martha Sawyer " " " Sarah Jane Hastings " " " Anna Gerry " " " Cordelia Dickinson " " " Fidelia Temple " " " LucretiaLamb " " " Harriett White " " Mrs. Phebe Wilson Harris " " Miss Jennie Tucker " " " Carrie Gleason " " Married Clergymen. Joseph K. Ware. Giles Leach. W. A. Nichols. Lemuel Leonard. Frederick Ayer, (Missionary.) Wm. W. Howland, (Missionary.) Thomas S. Burnell, (Missionary.) James Nichols. Anthony Case. Seth Hardy. Mr. Smith. Simeon Miller. J. S. Harridon. B. B. Cutler. I. W. Peach. J. W. Barter. )llowing Ladies from Heath have Married Physicians [iss Mary Hunt married Dr. Ebenezer Tucker. " Olive Dickinson " " George Hill. " Sarah Cheney " " Joseph Emerson. " Cynthia Rugg " " Alexander Pool. " Emily Adams " " Nathan M. Bemis. " Cordelia E. Adams " " Orsamus Bemis. " Clarinda Allen " ' Jonas W. Smith. " Sophia W. Strong " Benjamin W. Dwight. " Lydia Henry " " Benjamin Stevens. " Prudence Henry " " Samuel Moore. " Esther Thayer " " David Hiscock. " Fannie White " " Moses Barrett. " Jane Flagg " " Cyrus Temple. " Abbie J. Warfield " " Hiram Temple. The Following Ladies from Heath have Studied at Higher Seminaries. Mrs. Sarah Miller Dickinson Miss Lyon's School, Ashfield or Buckland. " Mary Miller Leavitt " Keziah Hunt Leavitt " Eliza Hunt Leavitt " Elizabeth Taylor Ayer, (Missionary) 142 Mrs. Diantha Smith Wing " Clarissa Leavitt Ware " Chloe Leavitt Field " Lydia Henry Stevens " Betsey Temple Kinsman " Nancy Wilson Spooner " Electa Thayer Minnie " Diadama Rugs Goodell " Bethiah A. Miller Nichols " Hannah B. Miller Leonard " Susan Reed Howland, (Missionary) " Martha Sawyer Burnell " " Catharine Sawyer Donkin " Helen Thompson Miller " Harriett Thompson Mead Miss Sarah Grace Thompson " Elizabeth M. Dickinson Mrs. Abbie J. White Rice Miss Julia S. White Mrs. Lucy Hasting Bates " Margarett Hastings Dewey " Sarah J. Hastings Nichols " Nancy S. S. Hastings Ward *' Esther Dickinson Crittenden " Olive Dickinson Hill " Eleanor M. Dickinson " Julia Dickinson Hastings " Lucretia White Lamb " Felicia Emerson Welch " Cynthia Rugg Pool " Martha Rugg Wallace " Sarah Rugg Simons " Henrietta Harrington Allen " Ann Henry Lathrop '• Alma Emerson Miller Miss Laura Emerson " Harriett White " Mary A. White " Flora White " Seraphina Brown Mrs. Mary Leavitt Hillman " Sarah M. Dickinson Leavitt " Lucretia Lamb Miller " Harriett Lamb Hall '• Susan Lamb Davidson " Abbie Lamb Davidson " Sarah Smith Adams " Nellie L. Smith. Miss Lyon's School, Ashfield or Buckland. Mount Holyoke Seminary. <( C< (< Westfield Academy. a a <( << Amherst Academy. Hopkins Academy, Hadley. <( ■( (C <( << << (( << << Williston Seminary. Bradford Academy. Wheaton Seminary, Norton Mass. Westfield Normal School. West Haven Seminary. Rockford Seminary. Worcester High School. Maplewood Institute. Delaware College. O. Norton Female Seminary. 143 Selectmen of the Town of Heath, Fob 100 Years. 1785-86. Hugh Maxwell, Aseph White. John Brown. 1787. Jos. White. Benj. White. Thos. Harrington. 1788. Jos. White. Aseph Wliite. Thos. Harrington. 1789-90. Asepli Wliite. Benj. White. Wm. Buck. 1791-92. Hugh Maxwell. Jos. White. Willis Wilder. 1793-94. Hugh Maxwell. Benj. White. Jacob Chapin. 1795. Benj. White. Jacob Chapin. Thos. Harrington. 1796. Benj. White. Thos. Harrington. Wm. Buck. 1797. Benj. White. Aseph White. John Brown. 1798. Benj. White. Thos. Harrington. Jacob Chapin. 1799. Benj. White. Thos. Harrington. Wm. Hunt. 1800-1. Benj. White. Wm. Hunt. Eodger Leavitt. 1802. Benj. White. Rodger Leavitt. Benj. Maxwell, Jr. 1803. Benj. White. Rodger Leavitt. Jacob Chapin. 1804. Rodger Leavitt. David White. Thos. Harrington. 1805. Thos. Harrington. David White. Wm. Hunt. 1806. Benj. White. Edw. Tucker. Wm. Hunt. 1807. Benj. White. David Henry. David White. 1808. Benj. White. Eodger Leavitt. Eph. Hastings. 1809. Rodger Leavitt. Eph. Hastings. Luther Gale. 1810-11. Thos. Harrington. Rodger Leavitt. Wm. Hunt. 1812-13. Eph. Hastings. Luther Gale. Peter Hunt. 1814. David White. Wm. Hunt. Jessie Gale. 1815. Rodger Leavitt. David White. Reuben Porter. 144 1816. Eph. Hastings. Luther Gale. (Lieut.) Hugh Maxwell. 1817. Luther Gale. David White. Sol'n Gleason. 1818. Aaron Brown. Dau'l Kusxff- Winslow Maxwell. 1819. Luther Gale. Winslow Maxwell. David Henry. 1820. Kodger Leavitt. Aaron Brown. David Thayer. 1821. Aaron Brown. Luther Gale. Eph. Hastings. 1822. Aaron Brown. Ben.i. Maxwell. Dan'l Gale. 1823. Dan'l Gale. Sam. Hastings. Benj. Maxwell. 1824. Rodger Leavitt. Eph. Hastings. David Rugg. 1825. Eph. Hastings. Luther Gale. Jos. W. Hunt. 1826. Sullivan Taft. Jos. W. Hunt. David Rugg. 1827. Sullivan Taft. Benj. Maxwell. Timothy Harrington. 1828. Luther Gale. Enos Adams. Jos. W. Hunt. 1829. Asa Kendrick. Rodger H. Leavitt. David Temple. 1830. Benj. Maxwell. Dan'l Gale. Peter Hunt. 1831. Benj. Maxwell. Dan. Gale. Capt. Geo. Eaton. 1832. Luther Gale. Jos. W. Hunt. Rodger H. Leavitt. 1833. Benj. Maxwell, Rodger H. Leavitt. Winslow Buck. 1834. Benj. Maxwell. Winslow Buck. Capt. Geo. Eaton. 1835. Capt. Geo. Eaton. Jos. W. Hunt. John Henry. 1S36. Luther Gale. Jos. W. Hunt. John Temple. 1837. "Winslow Buck. David Gould. Wm. Gleason. 1S38. Jos. W. Hunt. Winslow Buck. Edw. Tucker. 1839. Jos. W. Hunt. Edw. Tucker. Rodolphus White. 1840. Jos. Chapin. David Rugg. John Henry. 1841. Edw. Tucker. Hart Leavitt. David White, 2nd. 145 18i2. Jos. W. Hunt. Hart Leavitt. Edw. Tucker. 1843. Benj. Maxwell. Aaron Smith. David Temple. 1844. David Temple. Edw. Tucker. Jos.^W. Hunt. 1845. Jos. W. Hunt. Hart Leavitt. Presby Hillman. 1846, Jos. W. Hunt. Abijali Gleason. Aaron Smith. 1847. David A. Dalrymple. David Temple. Hart Leavitt. 1848. Jos. W. Hunt. John Henry. Hart Brown. 1849. David Temple. Hart Brown. Wm. Gleason. 1850. David Temple . David Rugg. Eobt. M. Wilson. 1851. Jos. W. Hunt. Edw. Tucker. David Gould. 1852. David Temple. Wm. Bassett. John Read. 1853. Benj. A. Farnsworth. David Gould. Jos. P. White. 1854. Jos. W. Hunt. John Read. John Burrington. 1855. Jos. W. Hunt. David Temple. John Burrington. 1856. Jos. W. Hunt. Arad Hall. Wm. Bassett. 1857. Arad Hall. John Read. David Temple. 1858. Jos. Robbins. Wm. Bassett. Geo. C. Gale. 1859. Arad Hall. John Henry. John Burrington. 1860, David Temple. Jehn Henry. Horace McGee. 1861. Arad Hall. John Henry. Jos. Robbins. 1862. David Temple. Horace McGee. David M. Sprague. 1863. David Temple. Cyrus Temple. John Read. 1864. E. Payson Thompson. John Henry, Henry L. Warfield. 1865. Arad Hall. E. P. Thompson. W. S . Gleason. 1866-67. David Temple. John Read. Cyrus Temple. 1868. John Read, Dan'l Gale. Hugh Maxwell. 146 1869. John Kead. Hugh Maxwell. Jos. Robbins. 1870-71. John Uead. Edmund M. Vincent. Orsamus Maxwell. 1872. John Read. Or.saniu.s Maxwell. Horace McGee. 1873. Wm. S. Gleason. Isaac W. Stet.son. Dan'l Gale. 1874. Wm. S. Gleason. John Read. E. M. Vincent. 1875. Wm. S. Gleason. Jonathan Peterson. Wm. H. Hunt. 1876. David Temple. Hugh Maxwell. E. M. Vincent. 1877. Hugh Maxwell. John Read. Jonathan Peterson. 1878. Wm. S. Gleason. John Read. A. J. Burrington. 1879. Hugh Maxwell. Jonathan Peterson. Wm. H. Hunt. 1880. Hugh Maxwell. Wm. H. Hunt. Wm. S. Gleason. 1881. Hugh Maxwell. R. W. Gillett. Wm. H. Burrington. 1882. Hugh Maxwell. E. M. Vincent I. W. Stetson, 1883. Hugh Maxwell. Jonathan Peterson. I. W. Stetson. 1884. Hugh Maxwell. Wm. S. Gleason. I. W. Stet.son. 188,5. Hugh Maxwell. Wm. S. Gleason. Frank Rice. Town Clerks, for 100 Years. James Wliite, 1785-6-7-8-9-90. Col. Hugh Maxwell, 1691-2-3-4. Dan'l Spooner, 1795. Col. Hugh Maxwell, 1796-7-8-9. Thos. Harrington, 1800-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21- 22-23-24-25-26. Winslow Maxwell, 1827-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36. John Hastings, 1837-38-39-40-41. Lysandcr M, Ward, 1842-43-44-45-46-47-48-49. B. F. Coolidge, 1850. John F. Temple, 1850. Aaron Dickinson, 1851-52-53-54-55-60-61-62-64. Cyrus Temple, 1853-66-67. Aaron Smith, 1756-57-58-59-63. Ephr. Scott, 1868.69-70-71. Amos Temple, 1872-73-74-75-76-77-78-79-80-81-82-83-84. Hugli Maxwell, 1885. 147 Town Treasurers, for 100 Years. James White, 1785-6, Col. Hugh Maxwell, 1787-8. John Brown, 1789-90. Benj. White, 1791-2. Seth Temple, 1793-4-5-6-7-8-9, 1800-1-2-3. Benj. White, 1804-5. Wm. Buck, 1806-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24. Dan'l Kugg, 1825-26-27-28. Col. David Snow, 1829-30-31-32-33. John Hastings, Jr., 1834-35-36-37-38-39-40-41. Aaron Smith, 1842-43-44-45-46-47-48-49, 1852-53-54-55-56-57-58-59. Dr. A. H. Taylor, 1850. John F. Temple, 1851. Arad Hall, 1860-61-62-63-64-65, Jos. Bobbins, 1866. Ephr. Scott, 1867-68-69-70-71. Amos Temple, 1872-73-74-75-76-77-78-79-80-81-82-83-84. Hugh Maxwell, 1885. Representatives to the General Court. Ephraim Hastings, 1812-20-21-23-28-29-33-40-42. Kodger Leavitt, 1813-14-16. Dr. Jos. Emerson, 1815. Luther Gale, 1817-26-34-38-41-43. David White, 1835-36-37. Sullivan Taft, 1845. Presby Hillman, 1847. Jos. White, 2nd, 1850. Capt. David Gould, 1851, Ashmun H. Taylor, 1852, Jos. W. Hunt, 1853. Aaron Dickinson, 1856, Philip Gale, 1859, Arad Hall, 1864, Dan'l Gale, 1869. Edmund M. Vincent, 1874. Hugh Maxwell, 1880. 148 Population of Heath, from 1790 to 1885. Yeab. Census. Pop. 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1855 1860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 Colonial United States Massachusetts, State. United States Massachusetts, State. United States Massachusetts, State. United States Massachusetts, State. 379 604 917 1,122 1,199 895 803 741 661 642 613 545 560 568 Errata. Page 13, line 21, for "De Vandrenil" read "De Vaudreuil." Page 15, line 31, for "country" read "county." Page 16, line 31, omit word "to." Page 20, in last line, for "in" read "near." Page 21, in last line, for "seven" read "eleven." Page 28, line 8, for "where" read "when." Page 31, line 33, for "Ames" read "Arms." Page 49, line 4, for "IJrown" read "Bond." Page 49, line 28, for "striking" read "stirring." Page 53, line 32, for "then" read "there." Page CI, last line, for "arrainged" read "arraigned." Page 02, line 12, for "own" read "nou." / >/^ I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 078 586 6 f