HISTOR.Y OF THE TOWN OF WHATELY, MASS. INCLUDING A NARRATIVE OF LEADING EVENTS FROM 1660-1871. · Josiah Howard BY J. H. TEMPLE, FOURTH PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. WITH FAMILY GENEALOGIES. PRINTED FOR THE TOWN, BY T. R. MARVIN & SON, 131 CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON. Entered according to ACT OF CONGRESS, in the year 1872, BY J. H. TEMPLE, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress. HARVARD LIBRARY PREFACE. THIS attempt to gather up the memorials of a hundred years, grew out of an invitation from the citizens of Whately, to deliver an Address at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. The materials collected have been embodied in these pages. Some chapters are inserted as they were written for that address, and the book is now published in accordance with a unanimous vote of the town at its annual meeting in November. Somewhat isolated in position, and with nothing of natural advantages to attract notice,-except the quiet beauty, and rich variety, and broad expanse of landscape, as seen from the central village and the bills lying westwardly-Whately has laid claim to no special distinction among her neighbors. But the public spirit of her people, and the generous liberality displayed in arranging and carrying out to a successful issue the commemoration of her centenary, and in providing for the preservation of her annals in the printed volume, are worthy of imitation by the other towns in the Commonwealth. Records are perishable, and are always incomplete; they are at best but the outlines; the filling up must come from personal reminiscences of character and actions, and those incidental items of civil and social affairs, which are transmitted by oral tradition-distorted and colored, of course, by pride and prejudice-but with enough of truth to explain the records, and enough of reality to help the practical antiquary in giving a life-like picture of the time of which he treats. The territory comprising the town was included in, and for one hundred years was a part of Hatfield. The history of the colony, then, properly begins with some account of the mother settlement. Whatever is characteristic of the growth, is to be found in the germ. What society was in 1771, is a result of causes pre-existing, and working through the preceding generations: hence a sketch of leading events, from the first purchase of these lands by the settlers from Connecticut, seemed necessary to a clear understanding of any peculiarities of opinion, and the domestic customs and religious faith of our fathers. The writer has confined himself to a narrative of facts. It is easy to swell a volume by speculations, and long-drawn comparisons between the past and the present; but in these pages it is assumed that, with the facts plainly before him, the reader is competent to make comparisons, and draw contrasts, and establish a philosophy-more satisfactory to himself, at least, than any which the author might suggest. Official documents have been the source relied on for historical matter; and no pains or expense has been spared to secure accuracy and fullness. That some errors will be found, is expected; that all which might have public value and interest, has been collected, is not claimed. And some commonly accepted traditions have been set aside, because well authenticated records require it. The Family Registers of the first settlers of the town, including two generations, were collected and published by the author, in 1849. Those records have been enlarged so as to embrace all the permanent inhabitants; and the families have been traced down to the present time, by James M. Crafts, Esq., with important aid (which he would gratefully acknowledge) from Chester G. Crafts, and Leander L. Morton. The frontispiece, representing the ravine where the "Swamp Fight" of Aug. 25, 1675, commenced, is from a drawing by Mrs. A. H. Hall, a descendant of Dea. Salmon White. The autographs, which comprise the names of most of the first settlers of the town, have the merit of being fac-similes of original signatures. The writer would do violence to his sense of justice, and his appreciation of kindness, not to acknowledge his indebtedness to Sylvester Judd, Esq. (now deceased), who was his early friend, and who, in one portion of his field, left so little to be gleaned. |