1660. I860. 
 
 A 
 
 Bl-CENTENNIAL OrATION 
 
 WEST BEOOKFIELD, JULY 4, 1860. 
 
 AT THE CELEBRATION OP THE 
 
 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVEESAEY 
 
 OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE 
 
 TOWN OF BROOKFIELD. 
 
 BY LYMAN WHITING, D.D. 
 
 A ITATIVB OP NOBXn BBOOKFIELD. 
 
 WEST BEOOKFIELD: 
 PRINTED BY THOMAS MOREY. 
 
 1869. 
 
 IC.f
 
 
 INHABITANTS NOW LIVING 
 
 AND WHO MAY HEREAFTER DWELL IN THE PRECINCTS OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 QUABOAG, "ALIJAS BBOOKEFEILD," 
 
 HIS OWN LOVED BIRTH-PLACE, 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 DEDICATES THIS LABORIOUS BUT LOVED TASK. 
 
 LYMAN WHITING.
 
 ORATION. 
 
 This is a day for salutations. A family, scattered through 
 a nation have come home. Faces and names are recalled, 
 and by-gone scenes connected with them spring up in irrepres- 
 sible, glad surprises. Half-forgotten acquaintances of youth, 
 like vines after gleaning, hiding here and there a cluster over- 
 looked, but ripened to peculiar sweetness, are found by each 
 •one of us. The ancient hills, the old rocks and trees smile 
 their recognitions. The bright brooks chatter their greetings 
 from grassy banks, and old homesteads, a few, — and new ones, 
 many, — offer winning welcomes from opened gate and door. 
 A glad accost beams alike from the face of nature and of all 
 the dwellers in this endeared town-home. 
 
 " Welcome home ! " you say. '.' Glad to come home ! " we 
 reply, for 
 
 " Joyfully dear is the homeward track, 
 If we are but sure of a welcome back." 
 
 The Third Jubilee, since English hands and hearts made 
 these fields, hills, and valleys the scenes of love's great care and 
 toil, has come. We, the heirs of the costly estate, assemble to
 
 clierisli and rejoice in it. It is fitting that we exchange hearty 
 salutations. 
 
 This done, the serious heed of history must be assumed, 
 and reverently we take up the tasks of the hour. Beginning, 
 like curious children, at the mother's knee, we ask first, Hoio 
 this came to he a town ? What led our fathers here ? What 
 fixed their choice for this as their abode ? Why was Brookjield 
 settled ? 
 
 These questions will find replies in part further back than record 
 or tradition reaches. In that Infinite Counsel which tunis the 
 hearts of men as rivers of water are turned, is a cause under- 
 lying all others ; and though grand visible laws ma}^ disclose 
 the methods, and men may seem to be the only actors, we 
 really do little in stating the truth of any history, though of just 
 a single town like this, until we discern a higher power and 
 wisdom, and plans shaped by both than any man or class 
 of men have devised. God is in history, — in that of a town- 
 ship as distinctly as in that of an empire. 
 
 The great and terrible forces impelling our forefathers to the 
 New World, you all well know. The impulses which scattered 
 the children of the first emigrants, and the new-come emigra- 
 tions after the earliest, from the first homes along the sea- 
 coast, — are not as familiar. We, looking at their case, a 
 slender chain of settlements clinging to the sea-side, as if need- 
 ing land and sea both, to supply daily food ; or as if, tarrying on 
 the threshold of tlie continent, so they could more readily flee 
 back, if they could not stay here, — naturally ask. Why do 
 not those coming after, in equal prudence, stay with this line 
 of plantations, where certain sustenance, and all the comforts — 
 scanty and poor, indeed — which the new world had, were 
 gathered ? Instead of this, from all the sea-side settlements, 
 the impulse for a westward and inland migration carried nearly
 
 all of the second generation from the half-furnished and half- 
 protected homes of their fathers, into the deep wilderness. It is 
 a constant question in perusing the storv of that generation, 
 M'hat shaped these paths of most daring, and seemingly need- 
 less removals ? No doubt the marked Saxon love of land, the 
 craving for soil, in which traditional aristocracy, dignity, and 
 weight of character united ; and the common pride of possession 
 and sense of independence, pushed the young men of those 
 times into the wild lands where occupancy almost gave posses- 
 sion. Large estates were princely. House lots, in the mari- 
 time settlements, were not broad enough for youth with the 
 blood and birth of Puritan Pilgrim stirring them. The choice 
 of Quaboag by the inhabitants of Ipswich, who then, as we 
 should think, had ten times more land than they could take care 
 of, well shows this. 
 
 The first selection was of lands along the sea-board, as be- 
 fore mentioned, where united the advantages of production and 
 transport, and the twofold resources for sustenance, — land and 
 sea. The broad river, and its rich alluvial basin, with meadows 
 so friendly to tillage ; the stream serving as an highway, and 
 the adjacent highlands offering fuel, pasturage and buildmg 
 material was the second choice. The third selection, was the 
 regions of hills and ponds with connecting rivers bordered by 
 facile meadows, lying between. Many of the advantages of 
 sea-shore and river valleys united in these. The historical law of 
 the early settlement was formed essentially of these conditions. 
 Up and down the New England borders, the rugged sea-coast 
 first wins the strangers from the parent land ; their sons, by a 
 daring plunge, reach the fair Connecticut, and speedily the pros- 
 perous settlements adorn the queenly valley ; and then, between
 
 6 
 
 these extremities in locality, — if not in qualities of character, 
 others settled upon the midway summits, nestling among these 
 matchless hills and valleys, lying like a basket of pomegran- 
 ates, in an area of about fifty miles, a family of fruitful hills, 
 exquisitely rounded, and gemmed with clusters of ponds, as fair 
 in beauty as the hills are noble in form. 
 
 I wonder not that the river valley first won the companies 
 of land-fanciers, and those searching for pleasing homes. The 
 Queen of that valley was, as now, fair to look upon. Her 
 waving vestments of meadow verdures, her stately coronets of 
 hills and mountains, were enough to captivate her Saxon suitors 
 at a glance. Nor need we deny that among them were many 
 of the choicest spirits who then awaited the call of fields un- 
 explored and of lands unmeasured. But that some, on their 
 journeys thither, discerned the less shoM^y and less winning 
 charms of Quaboag — the land of hills and lakes — sturdier in 
 aspect, and so summoning higher valor in the settler, need not 
 surprise us. 
 
 Tidings of this very marked region doubtless found their 
 way to the sea-side settlements through the explorers and lead- 
 ers of the emigrations to the " River," as its region was then 
 termed ; and when the first wave had spent itself at Hartford, 
 Windsor, Springfield and Hadley, the next one paused among 
 the singularly charming swells and meadows of Brookfield. 
 
 For fifteen years the rugged path between Dorchester and 
 Cambridge, and the settlements made from them on the River 
 had been kept open by the infrequent journeyings between 
 these extremes of colonial settlement. But the land-hunger 
 craved fresh spaces. On the 31st of May 1660, in the second 
 year of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, is found the head- 
 ing in the margin, " Ipsuich new plantacon."
 
 " In alls'' to tlie peticon of seuerall the inhabitants of Ipswich, 
 this Court juclo;eth it meete to graunt the petitioners sixe miles 
 square, or so much land as shall be contejned in such a compasse, 
 in a place nere Quobogg Ponds, provided they haue twenty 
 famllyes there resident w^'^in three yeeres, & that they haue an 
 able minister setled there w"^in the sajd terme, such as this 
 Court shall approove, and that they make due provission in 
 some way or other for the future, either by setting a part of 
 land, or w* else shall be thought meete for the continuance of 
 the ministry amongst them ; and that if they shall faile in any 
 of the particculars aboue mentioned, this graunt of the Court 
 to be voyd & of none effect." 
 
 What did the Ipswich people want of Podunk lands, one 
 hundred miles from their homes ? The passion for land, as 
 before named, is partly the answer. Their petition to the 
 General Court begins — 
 
 " Forasmuch as it is found by Dayly experience that the 
 common Lands of this Towne (Ipswich) are overburdened by 
 the multij)lying dwelling houses contrary to the true intent and 
 meaning of the first Inhabitants in their granting of house lotts 
 and other lands to such as came amongst them, to the end such 
 inconvenience may be prevented " — 
 
 From the last run of Western land fever back to earliest an- 
 nals, the symptoms and forms are much the same. A curious 
 poem, dated twelve years before this grant, entitled " Good 
 News from New England," so admirably recites the modes of 
 land trade at that day, that I will place a portion of it here : 
 
 Delightfull to the eye dirl lye the woods and medowes greene, 
 
 The paths untrod by man and beast, both smooth and clenly seene. 
 Most men unlandcd till this time, for large lands Eages sue, 
 
 Had not restraint knockt of their hands, too big their fermes had grew. 
 Give eare I pray unto the praise set on a new Plantation, 
 
 First for the medow sirs says one, I have found such a station. 
 Where grass doth gi-ow as high as I, round stalkes and vc^ry thicke. 
 
 No hassocks but a bottom plain, Carts cannot therein stick.
 
 8 
 
 Boatos may come up unto our doors, the Creeks convenient lye. 
 
 Fish plenty taken in them are, plains plowable hard by. 
 No bush nor roots to hinder them, yet stately timber is, 
 
 In every swamp, yea uplands too, most clobberd trees I wis. 
 Clay there for bricke and tile, pot-earth with ease, and store. 
 
 Some men suppose black lead is there, silver and copper o're. 
 Carry but guns, and wild fowie will be brought unto our dishes. 
 
 Venison and Moose you there may catch according to youx wishes. 
 All creatures thrive exceeding well. Goats, Swine, and sheep for meat, 
 
 Horse, Cows, and Calves encrease as well, ther's store of English wheatu 
 Five, seven, or nine old Planters doe take up their station first, 
 
 Whose property is not to share unto themselves the worst. 
 Their Cottages like Crows nests built, new commers goods attain, 
 
 For mens accommodation sake, they truck their seats for gaine. 
 Come buy my house, here you may have, much medow at youre dore, 
 
 'T will be dearer if you stay till, the land be planted o're. 
 See you that garden-plat inclos'd, Pumkins there hundreds are, 
 
 Parsnips and roots, with Cabiges, grow in great plenty there. 
 Lay out an hundred pound or two, you shall have such a seat. 
 
 When you have planted but one crop, you cannot want for meate. 
 This praise doth make the purchaser his gold and silver throw. 
 
 Into his hand for house and land that yet he did not know. 
 Unseen, and yet [so] sudden bought, when once the sale was ended. 
 
 His purchase makes him misse of more, with gifts he's not befriended 
 One he hath friends to praise his parts, his lot shall larger be. 
 
 For usefull men are highly priz'd, such shall sell two or three. 
 Insatiate minds for medow, and best land they could attain, 
 
 Hath caused Townes, land lay by lot, I wish it were not vaine. 
 
 —Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. I. s. 4. 
 
 It is possible a cabin or two may have sheltered some daring 
 pioneer before this grant, but it is quite doubtful. It was really 
 a land speculation. Room for cattle, and founding a new plan- 
 tation — a Western Reserve to the emigrants of that day, who 
 would escape the tedious and perilous addition of the journey 
 to the Illinois, — the Connecticut valley. 
 
 It proved a rare resolution indeed, under any impulse, to tarry 
 in this settlement. It was a perilous solitude. Thirty miles 
 eastward was Lancaster, as far westward, Springfield, and these 
 not only the nearest but the only neighbors ; and strong as were 
 the affections between the settlements, how long in coming must 
 succor be in the day of trouble, through that houseless, roadless,
 
 almost patliless wilderness. Rivers, swamps, dens of wild beasts, 
 and haunts of men more terrible, divided these feeble bands. 
 What a race of Greathearts led and defended the ancestries 
 of these now wide-spread families ! 
 
 It was a true heroism to tarry a night here, for yonder quiet 
 stream creeping down the valley, like a silver thread, into the 
 Wiekaboag, would guide the settler to the " chief seat " of the 
 Nipmucs, — but a morning's run distant. This tribe ranged 
 more territory, and were more numerous than any of the New 
 England Indians except the Narragansetts. Elliot, ten years 
 before, spoke of Nipmuck as " A great country lying between 
 Connectacot and the Massachusetts, called Nipnet, where there 
 be many Indians dispersed." The terrible pestilence had, how- 
 ever, crippled the tribe into some subjection to their neighbors 
 who hud escaped the scourge. In a letter of William Pyn- 
 chon to G )V. Dudley, dated May 1648, about some murderers 
 in the region, he says, " There are several small factions of 
 Quaboag, and in all near places there are other small factions. 
 No one faction doth rule all." Gookin, a choice authority in 
 one class of Indian antiquities, counts Quaboag as one of the 
 ten villages of Christian converts within the Nipmuck coun- 
 try. " Their character was more gentle and peaceful than 
 generally belongs to savage life." If they were praying Indians, 
 or if some of them had received the gospel, this was doubtless 
 true ; but factions are always quarrelsome, and often unite only 
 to prevail over a common enemy, as our fathers sorrowfully learn- 
 ed from these. 
 
 The settlement was not at first a favorite to emigrants. The 
 grant failed to win settlers enough to meet the conditions of 
 tenure. 
 
 Perhaps a grant soon after [1664] made in behalf of the In- 
 dians of Putikoo-kupog " nere (^uoboag," a plantation not ex-
 
 10 
 
 ccedino; " fower tliousand acres and that it prejudice not Ips- 
 wich orant" — dehxyed somewhat the settling here. Plainly- 
 some " prejudice " turned the restless emigrants of that day 
 from here, for May 15, 16G7, an extremely discouraging record 
 is made of the place by the General Court. 
 
 " This Court, hauing pen^sed the grant which the General! 
 Court made anno 1(3(30 to the first vndertakers for that place 
 doe fiude that. 1. By their non observance of the condition of 
 their grant, the same is altogether voyd, & that now the order- 
 ing & disj)osing thereof is wholly in this Courts power. 
 
 2. Considering that there is already at Quabauge about sixe 
 or seven familyes, & that the place may be capable of receiving 
 many more, this Court will readily grant them the liberty of a 
 touneship when they shall be in a ffit capacity. 
 
 3. In the meane time this Court appoints Cap* John Pin- 
 chon, John Aires, W™ Prichard, Richard Coy, & John Young- 
 low, or any three of them, whereof Cap' Pinchon to be one of 
 the three, who shall haue power to admitt inhabitants, grant 
 lands, & to order all the prudentiall affayres of the place in all 
 respects, vntill it shall appeare that the place shall be so far 
 setled w*^^ able men as that this Court may judge meete to give 
 them the full liberty of a touneship according to lawe. 
 
 4. Because the inhabitants of Ipswich made the first motion 
 for that plantation, & some of them haue binn at chai'ges al)out 
 it, although by their remisse prosecution they haue now lost all 
 their right, yet, such of them as shall setle tliei'e by midsummer 
 come twelue moneth, they shall haue an interest in the lands 
 there in proportion w**^ others ; but if by that time they shall 
 not be there setled, they shall then loose their lands, and all 
 their charges w*** they haue been at vpon y** place. 
 
 5. They are to take care for the getting and maynteyning of 
 a godly minister among them, and that no evill persons, ene- 
 mjes to the lawe of this comon weale in judgment or practise, 
 be receaued as inhabitants. 
 
 6. For i)romoting of the aforesajd plantation, and incourage-
 
 11 
 
 ment thereof, this Court doeth now grant that plantation seven 
 yeares freedom from all publick rates and taxes to the country, 
 provided those inhabitants of Ipswich w*^'^ intend to inhabitants 
 of Ipsivich w'^^ jntend to inhabit at Quabauge by mid-sunnner 
 come twelue month doe engage to give security to the abouesajd 
 comittee, w'Mn three moneths after the date hereof, that they 
 will performe accordingly, that so others that would setle there 
 may not be hindred." 
 
 This legislative rebuke and free handling of the projectors 
 of the settlement was not without effect. They doubtless be- 
 stirred themselves to meet the new condition, and the commit- 
 tee who were mostly on the " River " were no doubt much 
 wiser managers of affairs than the Ipswich projectors. The 
 growth was such that in 1673, the Court entrusted them with 
 a town name and estate. 
 
 " In ans'" to the petition of the inhabitants of Quobauge, the 
 Court judgeth it meete to grant their request, i. e. the liberty 
 & priuiledge of a touneship, and that tne name thereof be 
 Brookfeild, provided they divide not the whole lands of the 
 touneship till they be forty or fiuety familyes ; in the mean t'me 
 that their dividings one to another exceede not two hundred 
 acres to any present inhabitant." 
 
 I am at a loss to account for the language in the 3d section 
 of the Act of 1677, appointing a committee " untill it shall ap- 
 peare that the place shall be so farr setled w*'' able men as that 
 the Court may judge meete to give them the full liberty of a 
 touneship according to law," — and then reappointing the com- 
 mittee in the act of erection, and again doing it nineteen years 
 after, (1692) some of the same persons holding the office 41 
 years, or until 1718. Were there men fond of place and of 
 profitable offices among even our fathers ? The inhabitants did 
 not begin to hold meetings, or to act with the committee, until 
 the beginning of the next century (1700).
 
 12 
 
 The River settlors must have entered into a partnership with 
 the Ipswich planters, or else a most admirable amity and care 
 for the common good prevailed, for by a deed dated 10th No- 
 vember 1665, Ensign Thomas Cooper of Springfield bought the 
 land of measurement indefinite if not limitless, " together with the 
 trees, waters, stones, profits, commodities and advantages there- 
 of, for himself and for the present planters of Quaboag," of one 
 Shattoockquis for 300 fathom of wampum. Who directed this 
 purchase or why it was made is not apparent. Mr. Cooper in 
 his deed of transfer given after the act incorporating the town 
 was passed, declares that his " acting in the premises was only 
 in the behalf of, and for the use and behoof of the inhabitants 
 of Quaboag," etc. But the Court had already granted over and 
 over the lands. Who paid the wampum, — the proprietors, or the 
 settlers, or Mr. Cooper ? Was this purchase merely to pacify 
 the Indians, and justify the occupancy of the land to the exclu- 
 sion of the local tribes ? If it satisfied them, a mercantile jus- 
 tice was done by it, but that they did not understand it as an 
 agreement to abandon these favorite haunts, is plain from their 
 staying, just as they had done, on the soil. 
 
 This transfer (no price is named) was made to John Warner, 
 Richard Coye and William Pritchard, — " to the inhabitants of 
 Brookfield aforesaid, and to their successors and their heirs for- 
 ever." This deed is recorded in Hampshire County, subscribed 
 December 19, 1673, by Lieutenant Thomas Cooper. Two years 
 after this act of General Court, a meeting house is found in 
 possession of the " twenty families," and although no minister is 
 discerned among them, yet the erection of the house of worship 
 assures us that the word of God was then preached and his 
 praises sung amid the wearisome solitude. 
 
 But their day of trial was at liand. It was truly a terrible 
 day to meet. King Philip selected either the Indians dwelling
 
 13 
 
 here as special confederates, or this lonely settlement for an early 
 victim to his exterminating conspiracy. Periiaps the two 
 united in his wary plot. Let us trace carefully this chapter of 
 woe. 
 
 Philip, sachem of Mt. Hope, — the landmark of the region of 
 the now beautiful town of Bristol, R. I., between the charming 
 waters of Mount Hope and Narragansett Bays, — perpetuated 
 his father Massasoit's temper toward the English, and especially 
 toward their favorite theme — religion. He "rejected with dis- 
 dain " the proposal to have the apostle Eliot preach. Mather 
 says, " once, taking hold of the apostle's coat, he said, ' I care 
 no more for the gospel than for that button ' " Yet Gookin 
 testifies that he had heard expressions from Philip showing that 
 his conscience was moved. We hope it was so, indeed that may 
 account in part for the intense fury of his movements. I 
 strongly suspect some yet untold and secret enmity like a hidden 
 brand, infuriated this subtle chieftain. So large and deadly a 
 plan demanded impulses to frame and execute it unknown to the 
 savage in his usual warfare. In eager hopefulness, I have con- 
 sidered the plea of reluctant consent, and of tender movings 
 toward the English, — put in for him, — and that he was more 
 the executor than i\\Q projector of the bloody work. May it 
 finally be found to be so. 
 
 But an enthusiasm in enmity, that could blend and inflame 
 all the " factions " and scattered families of savages who joined 
 with Philij), had no doubtful or irresolute original projector. 
 
 The part that bloody Jesuit, Baron Castine, — with his troops 
 of Indian wives and Popish priests, — had in it, was no doubt a 
 Jesuit's part against Protestantism. Certain it is the Indians 
 were trained in the use of firearms, and surprised the English 
 by their supply of them and skill in using them, before it was 
 known that, from tliut French nobleman's castle on the Penub-
 
 14 
 
 scot river, tlioso deadly missiles were freely furnished to the 
 savacres to be used aoainst the Eiicrlish. But if we cannot un- 
 veil the terrible irn})ulse moving this extirpating sachem, his 
 terrible deeds written in the blood of our fathers and mothers, 
 and echoing in shrieks and sighs to our day, commend the annal- 
 ist to fidelity of record. 
 
 Suggestions of a wide-spread confederacy against the English 
 had been dropped here and there, awaking the settlers to pru- 
 dent concern, if not to watchfulness. 
 
 In the beginning of April, Waban, the principal ruler of the 
 praying Indians living at Natic, came to one of the magistrates 
 on purpose, and informed him that " he had ground to fear that 
 Sachem Philip and other Indians, his confederates, intended 
 some mischief shortly to the English, and Christian Indians." 
 In May he repeated the warning. " Others of the Christian 
 Indians did speake the same, and that when the woods were 
 grown thick with green trees " the work would begin. These 
 warnings proved true, for in mid July (14th) four or five men 
 were suddenly attacked and killed in Mendon. This startled 
 the Massachusetts settlements, and put the government into ear- 
 nest action. " Bloud was never shed in Massachusetts in a way 
 of hostility before this day," says Mather. This deed is ascribed 
 to Matoonus — "a grave and sober Indian appointed by Gookin 
 a constable of Pakachoag " (part of Worcester and Ward, now 
 Auburn.) His son four years before had been executed for the 
 murder of an Englishman, and his " head set up on a pole" — 
 a fearful sting to Indian vindictiveness, — and this slaughter is 
 claimed to have been the father's revenge for that aggravated 
 justice. The tidings got to Boston " next day at Lecture time, 
 in the midst of the Sermon," and consternation spread with 
 them. 
 
 A few days after, Philip narrowly escaped from Pocasset
 
 15 
 
 swamp, and witli a few chiefs reached the Nipmuck country, 
 everywhere stirring the Indians to thirst for English Wood. 
 The government also, knowing the consequences of the In- 
 dians hereabouts uniting in such a strife, but not knowing that 
 Philip had preceded them, sent Ephraim Curtis, whom Lincoln 
 styles " the first settler of Worcester," — to observe and confirm 
 all friendly disposition among them. On the 24th of July he 
 had an interview with four of their sachems here, they 
 promising to continue in peace. They would make a new treaty 
 to that effect. To make sure of these good omens, the govern- 
 ment very promptly sent Capt. Edward Hutchinson as an am- 
 bassador to secure the promised fidelity. 
 
 It was a wise selection on the ground of much friendly ac- 
 quaintance with these capricious and treacherous neighbors. 
 Capt. Thomas Wheeler commanding " twenty men or more," 
 as escorts, with three christian Indians, to help as guides and 
 interpreters, attended him. They set out from Cambridge, 28th 
 July. " Passing," says one " the forsaken wigwams of the 
 Savages who had fled before to concentrate power for a heavy 
 blow at Brookfield," which they " reached Lord's day Aug. 1st. 
 about noon," and not remembering to hallow the day accord- 
 ing to the commandment, sent at once four men to inform 
 the Indians of their errand ; not any harm to them, but 
 a message from the Honored Governor and Council, desiring 
 the promised league for peace. 
 
 The Indians met these men with great uproar, and " an hun- 
 dred and fifty fighting men " gathered about them. " The 
 young men amongst them were stout in their speeches, and sur- 
 ly in their carriage." 
 
 After brief parley, " some of the chief Sachems " promised 
 to meet the messenoers the next morninji " about 8 of the clock 
 upon a plain within three miles of Brookfield." Some of these
 
 16 
 
 Indians know Capt. Hutchinson personally, having worked on 
 his farm. They " would speak with none but Capt. H. him- 
 self." 
 
 The suspicious appearances " did much discourage divers of 
 the company," says Wheeler, but Hutchinson feeling, no 
 doubt, the great urgency of the case and his personal stake 
 in the success of his mission, and being also persuaded by the 
 over confidence of the Brookfield men, resolved to go out to meet 
 them. Early on that sorrowful morning, — Monday, Aug. 2d., 
 as we picture the scene, anxious countenances and few words, 
 and silent preparations marked the hour. Hutchinson, thoughtfid, 
 inquisitive, foreboding, is in consultation much of the time. The 
 little band of two captains and twenty soldiers, with guns and 
 pistols, and uniform, the three Indian guides, — a great sight 
 in the lonely Settlement, — and " three of the principal inhabi- 
 tants of that town marched." 
 
 It must have been a morning of bodeful gloom, especially 
 to the women and children, and to the troops also, as watchfully 
 they descended yon hill-sides, and filed into the thick wood, 
 hiding their path from those left behind. They came to the 
 spot agreed on. Not an Indian was there. Former suspicions 
 strengthen. They gather in a circle, and in low undertone in- 
 quire of each other, what shall be done ? (Indian sentries no 
 doubt all the time were watching them.) The former argu- 
 ments are gone over, — a false issue was put upon this lack of In- 
 dian faith, and the three Brookfield men strongly urged 
 their good will, especially pleading that David, a great friend to 
 the English, was one of the chief sachems. 
 
 It was a solemn halt. The order to march, tremulous and 
 half stifled by the dense thicket is given, and in bodeful silence 
 they advance " towards a swamp where the Indians then were." 
 It is such a thicket that they can march only in a single file.
 
 17 
 
 " About sixty or seventy rods " are thus tlireacled, when a sharp 
 whoop pierces the silence — a score of muskets flash and roar, 
 — arrows whizz, and the thicket is instantly alive with murder- 
 ous savages. Yells and war-cries terrify man and horse. 
 Tomahawks gleam, — guns blaze, painted warriors spring like 
 tigers from lurking places, and the terrors of an Indian onset 
 fill the gloomy defile, — and, alas the result ! Eight white men 
 reel and groan in mortal agony. The three Brookfield men are 
 among the fallen. They are Sergeant John Ayres, Sergeant 
 Joseph Pritchard, and Corporal John Coye ; also Phillips of 
 Boston, Farley of Billerica, Coleborn of Chelmsford, Smedly 
 of Concord, and Hapgood of Sudbury. Five others were 
 wounded, among them both the captains, Hutchinson and 
 Wheeler, and his son Thomas. Flight was their onl}^ hope. 
 One of the christian Indians warned Wheeler, now chief in 
 command, not to go back the way they came, as it was In- 
 dian strategy to throng the path of retreat, with their 
 surest marksman, when 'twas the same as that of approach. 
 This counsel, and the adroit guidance by the same Indian, through 
 a long circuit from the valley, probably saved the remainder. 
 The only prisoner captured by the Indians, was one of the three 
 guides, a christian Indian named George. Capt. Wheeler bad- 
 ly wounded, was rescued by his intrepid son, who with a frac- 
 tured arm, helped his father from his wounded horse to mount 
 his own ; and tiien catching another, whose rider had been 
 killed, achieved thus their escape. 
 
 The scene of this bloody ambush cannot be fixed with cer- 
 tainty. A recent inspection with Wheeler's narrative in hand 
 however, quite assures me that tradition rightly points to the 
 defile from the head of Wickaboag pond, crossing the present 
 town line into New Braintree. Nature seldom builds a better 
 trap for the use of the Indian warrior than is fjund there. The
 
 18 
 
 local foatnrcs visible now, tamed as they are by clearing and 
 tillage, meet the conditions of the narrative very fully. The 
 deep winding valley, multiplying by its crooks the shelters for 
 an ambuscade ; its round isolated hills, — as good as so many 
 breastwoi-ks to these forest marksmen, — the adjacent summits 
 rising tier above tier, so that those posted on them could shoot 
 over the heads of those below, upon the rictims in the valley ; 
 and all overlooking the movements of the troops on the banks 
 of the brook, and over all these spread the net-work of woods, 
 underbush, crags and broken ledge ; and that gorge equals in 
 available facilities for an Indian ambuscade any spot ever ex- 
 amined. As it now lies, softened by the culture of nearly 
 two centuries, and relieved of what must have been its bodeful 
 gloom and hideous grandeur, it is a rare scene for art, offer- 
 ing uncommon combinations of quiet force and rude grace- 
 fulness, with aspects well sustaming the tragic gloom which the 
 history so painfully requires. , , 
 
 I cannot but trust that many a homestead here, and of emi- 
 grant sons and daughters, will be adorned with careful pictures 
 of it, before another centennial day shall recall the bloody story 
 which must forever thrill the descendants of the victims who 
 perished there. 
 
 The smitten bleeding troops, pale and spent, at last reach the 
 houses on the hill-top probably in rnid-afternoon. The anxious 
 families soon learn the terrible tidings. But panic did not be- 
 come helpless despair. Into one of those scanty dwellings, 
 soldiers, women and children fly, screaming in their terror. 
 Mothers snatch their babes from the cradles and little ones cling 
 to older ones, and leaving their little all, precious because so 
 little, flee to the selected house. A few timbers and boards are 
 hastily set about the walls outside, and feather beds are hung 
 up on the inside. Lieut. Curtis and Henry Young are posted
 
 19 
 
 off for help. The savages meet them. They turn in retreat. 
 The victors incensed by the mutual discovery chase them back, 
 and in noisy fury beset the little fortress. It must have been 
 an awful hour to the beleaguered inmates, cut of from all hope 
 of succor and ignorant of the numbers of the blood-thirsty 
 throng outside. All hope must at first have died within them. 
 But God was their helper. After the first storm of shot, there 
 was a check. Only Henry Young, looking from the garret 
 window, was stnick by a bullet. He died two days after. The 
 same afternoon a son of " Sergeant Prichard," (who was left 
 among the slain of the morning,) was intercepted, returning to 
 his father's house " to fetch more goods out of it" and cruelly 
 slain. As the sun went down, house after house is seen in 
 flames. The Indians pillage and then burn them. What a 
 night was that ! The poor wounded men, weak H'om loss of 
 blood and their fearful retreat, are stretched on the floor. Wo- 
 men, pale and haggard, crouch where they can, to avoid the shot 
 which came " amongst us like hail." Children, hiuigry and 
 frightened, cling to mothers as helpless as themselves. Seventy- 
 five persons are crowded into not more than four small rooms, 
 and " very meanly provided of clothing, or furnished with pro- 
 visions." Think of that sun-setting ! of the tears and moans in 
 that rude house ! Thirty miles from any other dwelling of 
 white men, and not a foot can cross the door-sill but to meet a 
 bullet or the tomahawk ! 
 
 Were the wives and children of Ayres, Pritchard and Coye 
 there ? Hear them beg of the soldiers for a word about their 
 slaughtered husbands and fathers ! Did they see them fall ? 
 hear any last words from them ? Did the Indians use the 
 scalping-knife ; and what would they do with the dead bodies ? 
 Oh, could they look once more on those loved faces, and 
 smooth the turf over their manirled forms ! lias Mrs. Pritchard
 
 20 
 
 looked throao;li tlie little window, and seen that head set upon a 
 pole Just by the door of her house, — widow she now is. Does 
 she know it is the head of her son slain just now, which his 
 murderers after " kicking it about like a foot-ball, set it up be- 
 fore the door of his father's house in our sicrht." 
 
 Our fathers and mothers were then purchasing for us these 
 lands and homes ! Do we keep in mind the price paid ? 
 
 All night says Wheeler " they did roar against us like so 
 many wild bulls," till the rising of the moon near morning, they 
 got hay and like combustible matter, and set it on fire, near a 
 corner of the house. It was daring work to go out and quench 
 it. Two men were hit while doing it. The gallant Curtis 
 again attempts to elude the sentries and get to Marlboro' for help. 
 The ammunition was lessening, and the Indians <rrowinji fu- 
 rious at the resistance they meet. He goes a little way, but 
 finding the foe so numerous is obliged to return. How their 
 hearts siiik as he calls for admission at the barred door. Hope 
 seems to die in them. But toward morning, touched perhaps 
 by some woman's or little child's persuasion, he tries a third 
 time, and on hands and knees " was fain to creep for some space 
 of ground," and so passed the tired and less wakeful Indians, 
 and " though very much sjient and ready to faint by reason of 
 want of sleep before he went from us, and his sore travel night 
 and day in that hot season " — he got safely to Marlboro' and 
 from thence to Boston. But their God had counsels for deliv- 
 erance little thought of by them. Unlooked for helpers were 
 on the way for their relief. Some emigrants on their way to 
 Connecticut coming near the town on Monday, heard the firing, 
 and discerning signs of trouble, durst go no farther, but 
 hastened back to Marlboro' where most providentially a troop 
 had Just arrived, which could go to Brookfield. 
 
 But travel was slow. Tuesday, Aug. 3d. the shooting; and
 
 21 
 
 shouting was kept up, and being baffled by the dauntless resist- 
 ance of the English, the savages " resort to taunts, mocking the 
 prayers of the people. Some went to the town's meeting house," 
 twenty rods distant, and dared the people of the garrison to come 
 out and pray and sing psalms, themselves making hideous 
 Bcreeching, " somewhat resemblino; sincjino;." 
 
 The English muskets did sore work that day on the besiegers, 
 and toward evening their dead and wounded were carried off on 
 the backs of survivors, in sight of the gari'ison. They again 
 tried to fire the house by using rags dipped in brimstone tied to 
 their arrows. The roof once caught fire from these, and only 
 by cutting through, could the besieged put out the flames. 
 This day too, they pushed a pile of burning flax and hay up to the 
 house, and so guarded the door that no way was found by which 
 to extinguish it, but by breaking down a part of the wall next 
 to the fire. A ball of fire was also shot into the garret among 
 some flax there ; but the " keeper of Israel " being pleased to 
 prosper their endeavors, these dangerous devices all failed. 
 
 Not a man was hurt that day, except Thomas Wilson, who 
 while drawing water was fired at by an Indian who guessed 
 his position behind a board fence. The ball struck him ^ in the 
 upper jaw and in the neck." " The man affrighted " says Fiske, 
 "bawled out that he was killed." The Indian knowing his 
 voice, (Wilson was a settler) shouted "me kill major Wilson," 
 " but his wound was healed in a short time." 
 
 Wednesday, 4th of August, the third terrible daj' dawns. 
 The savages galled by the shot from the garrison, began a 
 counter-work, using " posts, rails, boards and hay " to fortify the 
 meeting-house and the barn belongins; to the garrison house. 
 They needed shelter. The firing and yelling diminishes. 
 Powder grows scarce, and the English grow fearless. The as- 
 sailants again turn to the oft-tried project of burning them out.
 
 22 
 
 A cart was filled with hay and flax, and planks set up in the end 
 to shelter those wheeling it up to the house. The marksmen 
 in the house, made this of little avail. They next hit upon a very 
 promising device. Barrels were taken, poles run through the 
 heads as axles, and to these, two strings of poles " about fourteen 
 rods long " were attached, ti'uckle wheels being fastened un- 
 der at intervals, to hold and bear the poles. The end was load- 
 ed with hay, flax and chips. Two of these cumbrous machines 
 were fixed, and made ready for use that night. But the Lord, 
 who is " a present help in time of trouble," sent first a shower 
 which wet the fii'ing stuff" and doubtless damped the spirits of 
 the savages also. The sun went down on them busy over these 
 contrivances ; when " about an hour in the night," or after sun- 
 set, the shouts of white men and the bellowing of cattle startle 
 both the Indians and the garrison. Major Willard, found at 
 Marlboro with Capt. Parker of Groton, and fifty-three men, 
 five of them friendly Indians — by a forced march had in a most 
 timely hour reached them. But neither party knew the other. 
 Willard thought the Indians were in the house, and was about 
 firing upon it, when Major Wilson's voice revealed who the in- 
 mates were. The trumpet was sounded, the doors opened, but not 
 too soon, for the Indians discovering the arrival, attacked them 
 furiously, wounding two men and killing a horse before they 
 could be sheltered. Oh, the joy in that dark, overcrowded dwell- 
 ing that evening ! 
 
 All night the despairing rage of the assailants was felt. Five 
 more horses were wounded in the yard before morning. The 
 house reserved by the Indians as a kind of outpost was set on 
 fire, that the light from its flames might guide their assaults, 
 and toward morning, the meeting house and the fortified 
 barn sent their lurid flames into the sultry August sky. Then 
 discouraged, and apprehensive no doubt, that their cruel per
 
 23 
 
 fidy would be avenojed, the foe, as the day broke, shink away into 
 their hiding places and were seen no more. That Willard was 
 not cut off in his approach was eminently providential. He had 
 no information of the treachery or of the fight. All he knew, 
 was from the report of the returning emigrants, and all they 
 could tell, was conjecture. Two sentry posts lurked unseen by 
 him on his way ; one probably near the East Brookfield railway 
 station, where the remams of an Indian fort were recently visi- 
 ble, and the other perhaps not far from the old three corners 
 where the town-pound used to be. The Indians afterwards said, 
 those at the first picket let the troops pass, so that while those at 
 the next post attacked them in front, they would fall upon the 
 rear ; but Wheeler supposes that the main force at the guard 
 posts had been called in to help get the fire-carts in readiness, and 
 all were so busy and noisy over them, as not to notice the alarm 
 guns, and so the deliverers came safely to their almost hopeless 
 brethren. 
 
 Thursday, August 5th, all was still. No trace of the foe was 
 seen, save in the smouldering remnants of the buildings and 
 half-burnt contrivances left behind. The woods were scoured 
 but no Indian was found. Two days after, a man was wounded 
 by the skulking, wary foe ; and so ended the bloodshed of that 
 world-fimed scene. Toward the end of the week troops arrived 
 from Boston, and on the same day Lieut. Cooper reached them 
 from Springfield. 
 
 What a story for epic or for drama ! Such heroism, endur- 
 ance, suffering ! What a theme for pathos or for passion ! " The 
 waste and howling wilderness " on every side ; the smoke of 
 burning homes lingering in the brands of the huo-e timbers then 
 used ; trees and gardens broken down ; fields pillaged ; cattle 
 slaughtered, and, over all, the remembrance of the dead, slain
 
 24 
 
 by brutal foes who found a joy in the torture, and a delight in 
 the agony of their victims. 
 
 Five days they linger ; and on Tuesday, Aug. 10th, a melan- 
 choly train set off from the only remaining house of the settlement. 
 Capt. Hutchinson and such of the wounded as could bear the trav- 
 el, and probably many of the fifty women and children are in 
 it. Marlboro' is the haven of their hopes. Three wearisome 
 days, unsheltered by night, scantily fed by day, are spent in 
 getting there. It was but ten mi.es a day. The brave Hutch- 
 inson was so " overtired with his long journey, and spent by 
 his wounds," that five days later, " on the 19th of August " he 
 sunk into the sleep from which the war-whoop would no more 
 awake him. Next day he was buried, and his dust still sleeps 
 in that ancient sister town. Brookfield owes to his memory 
 some grateful tablet, recording his rare worth and sorrowful end. 
 
 Major Willard reached his family safely, but died two years 
 after, and for nearly a century has borne dishonor from the un- 
 accountable story given first, and given only, by Dr. Fiske of 
 this town, of his being rebuked by the court and dying of a 
 broken heart from it, on account of his most humane and gal- 
 lant rescue of our fathers. A descendant of the noble soldier, 
 has recently very ably exposed the falsity of the report and for- 
 ever extinguished the sad slander it conveyed. 
 
 The dispersion however was not complete. Thomas Wheeler, 
 son of the Captain and some other wounded men, and of course 
 a garrison to protect, and friends to nurse them remained, and 
 Wheeler relates that the " men women and children removed with 
 what they had left, to several places either where they had lived 
 before their planting or setting down there, or where they had 
 relatives to receive or entertain them." Dr. Fiske says " the 
 Court ordered the people away." So far from tliat, the court 
 sent men and munitions to the garrison. " Major Willard
 
 25 
 
 stayed at Brookfield some weeks after our coming away from 
 there, several companies of soldiers were sent up thither and 
 to Hadley " says Wheeler, and Feb. 21, 1676 : 
 
 " A warrant was ordered to be issued out to y® comittee for 
 y® army to send away y*' prouissions ordered to be at the head 
 •juarters at Marlborow by y° last day of y^ weeke ; also, to send 
 vp some liquor's & spice, w"^ a competency of canvas for a tent 
 to shelter the prouisions & amunition, as also the carpenters 
 tooles, nayles, &c, to build a quarter at Suoboag, or elsewhere, 
 w'=^ was don." 
 
 In March 1676, J. Brading informs the Council of the 
 "jeopardous condition of Quobaug garrison," and on the 
 22d of March 1676, " Capt. Nath'l Graves of Charlestown was 
 appointed Commander of the garrison at Brookfield," with lib- 
 erty, " to have 20 men, and 30 horses." 
 
 Probably the settlement was mainly scattered, but the evi- 
 dence is full that it was not broken up. The death of Philip 
 the following August (1676) broke the spirit and strength of 
 the Indian plot against the settlers, and although frequent mur- 
 ders by them made frontier life insecure, yet the settlers held 
 fast their homes, and others adventured in time to join them. 
 
 " May 22d, 1691. In answer to the Peticon of the Inhabi- 
 tants of Squabaug alias Brookfield, Colonel John P/jncheon, Mr. 
 Joseph Hawley, Samuel Marshfield, John Hitchcock and Sam'l 
 Ely, formerly appointed a Committee for regulating the settle- 
 ment of the plantation of Squabaug alias Brookfield are contin- 
 ued and impowered to that Service, taking effectual care so to 
 direct and order the said Settlement with that compactness and 
 neer Scituation of the dwellings, that they may all be drawn into 
 a Line of a Garrison, and made capable of defence against the 
 
 Indian and French Enemy." 
 3
 
 26 
 
 " May 23d. Mr. Josepli Hawley of Northampton is appoint- 
 ed and inipowered to Joine persons in marriage in said Town." 
 
 These notices by the court show plainly the non-extinction of 
 the settlement. 
 
 An act of the court adds a little light as to their condition, 
 thus : — " to Susanna Ayres late of Quaboag, widdow, alijas 
 Brookfeild, humbly desiring that what she expended on, and the 
 souldjers had of her for y® countrys vse, as five pounds tenn shill- 
 ings in swyne, by Capt. Pooles order, as also seventeen shillings 
 and seven pence Ephrajm Curtis had for himself & company 
 & horses on the countrys account w*'^ what Major Willard had, 
 which will appear by the account she may be pajd & satisfied for." 
 
 She may have been the widow of Serjeant Eyres, (John 
 Ayres) slain in Monday mornings fight at the swamp. 
 
 But the recovery from the partial dispersion was slow and 
 cautious. Whatever written history the settlement had accumula- 
 ted in those fifteen years, and no doubt records had been made, 
 perished in that fiery ruin. 
 
 A stray, torn leaf numbered (5,) as if the fifth of some book, 
 gives us the Jirst line of the written story of the Town. For 
 its own sake and as a specimen of scores of pages of early rec- 
 ords, it is copied : 
 
 " Feby. 24 : 168|. Lay'd out To Mr. Wolcott twenty acres 
 of meadow and stripes of upland and swamp, four acres Lyeth 
 on the South side of the Rhode, part Ag'st Joseph Wilcot's up- 
 land and part adgacint to eight acres which Lyeth more easterly 
 onely the parteth it." 
 
 " Also eight acres of meadow L}dng on the 7 mile river and 
 between the seven and five mile river, being part meadow ; part 
 swamp, being the whole piece In tliat neck on the East Side of 
 the five mile River and to the upland of the 7 mile river."
 
 27 
 
 May 25, 1687, a measurement of Mr. Wolcott's land is speci- 
 fied, and a grant of ten acres on the " pine plain " was made 
 March 3d before. Joseph Hawley was the Register. This 
 record, however, was not the original, but " Taken out of Mr. 
 Samuel Markfield's measuring Book, Mar. 2, 1710, by the 
 Comitees' order." 
 
 It is a little surprising that during the seven years following 
 the burning of the town, so little trace can be found of it, either 
 in the town, or in the court records of the colony. Faint and 
 few, no doubt, were the settlers that lingered among the desola- 
 tions and dangers of the place. But in Oct. 25, 1692, a plain- 
 tive and tedious petition was made, " To y® Rt. Honble his Ex- 
 cellency S"^ W™ Phipps, Gov' of y"^ Majestys Province of y® 
 Mass Bay in N. E.," setting forth that " haveing made some 
 essay to y® Resetling s'^ place (Brookfield in y" Co. of Hamp- 
 shire) and finding difficulties " (drawn out at length, mainly 
 that of non-residence of land owners, or as the petitioners state) 
 — " of y^ most suteable Land to encourige Inhabitants," they 
 pray that all former grants may be null and void unless the 
 holders " come and bee helpfull in bearing of charges," etc. 
 They also speak " as haveing some encouragement we shall 
 speedily have a minester of God's Word amongst us." Several 
 new names appear on this petition, as Owen, Lawrence, Tomb- 
 lin and Marsh. As a response to this the " Great and Genrall 
 Co't ordered that John Pynchon, Esqr., Cap' Sam" Partridg, 
 Mr. Joseph Hawley, Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Medad Pumry 
 be and are hereby appointed and Impoured to that service "' 
 (i. e. as a committee) " to direct and regulate y* settlement 
 of s** plantation and the affairs thereat." 
 
 It was during the summer of this year that the Woolcot 
 tragedy, so famed in our annais, occurred. Dr. Fiske says,
 
 28 
 
 two or three families were broken up. Doubtless the Indians 
 were such a terror to the settlers as much to impede the growth 
 of the settlement. 
 
 Nov. 24th, 1698 : " The following Resolve sent up from the 
 Representatives, was read, and Concurred with, vizt : 
 
 " In Answer to the Petition of the Inhabitants of Brookfield, 
 Resolved, That there be Twenty Pounds paid out of the Pub- 
 lic Treasury of this Province, towards the support of an Or- 
 thodox Minister for one Year, to commence from the time of the 
 Settlement of Such a Minister amongst them. 
 
 I consent, 
 
 WM. STOUGHTON." 
 
 Two years more are without record though this committee 
 doubtless nursed the infant town with faithful care, and we cross 
 into the next century before we meet a further trace. Nov. 15, 
 1701, on a tattered leaf marked [8,] is written, " Laid out to 
 Goodman Perry a parcel of land." There is an earlier date by 
 three days on a leaf numbered [24] in the same handwriting, 
 and so through all these Sibylline scraps, disorder is the con- 
 stant feature. From under the one quoted is an entry of 
 1710. But all these tokens indicate an original book, (it should 
 be re-made,) detailing the endless labors of the committee who 
 served the curious caprice of settlers as to " upland " " mead- 
 ow " and " plain." For twenty-five years the town records are 
 little else than these intricate locations, exchanges and adjust- 
 ments of land. Other records were doubtless made, but they 
 have perished in their stormy passage toward us. 
 
 Returning to the colonial records : 
 
 " June 27, 1702. " Whereas the Plantation of Brookfield 
 lying on the great Road betwixt this her Majesty's Province &
 
 29 
 
 the Colony of Ct. being a usual & necessary Stage for Trav- 
 elers & post passing betwixt the two Grants is anew beginning 
 to be settled & yet unable to support itself without receiving 
 some assistance from the Government, being a Garrisoned place, 
 Resolved <£20, towards the support of a Chaplain to that Gar- 
 rison for the present year be payed out of the public Treasury." 
 
 Next year, Nov. 26, 1703. " Considering the extraordinary 
 Impovershing circumstances the Town of Brookfeild's under 
 by reason of the present War," the same sum was voted, for 
 " support of the ministry." The same was again voted in 1705, 
 " provided such minister be approved by the ministry of the 
 Neighboring Towns." In 1706, Nov. 7, X20, and— " begin- 
 ning yesterday Nov. 15, 1707, X20 are allowed towards main- 
 taining a minister in said town, provided such minister be 
 approved by the ministry of the three neighboring towns." 
 
 Until the year 1715, the same generous gifts were repeated, 
 so that (the worthy General Court serving as a Home Mission- 
 ary Society to the feeble settlement,) the ministry of the gospel 
 was probably never remitted for much time. The fruit of that 
 pious care is seen in the moral and religious excellence of the 
 inhabitants to the present day. 
 
 " Nov. 8, 1710. 10 Pounds granted towards mending the 
 Mill Dam in the said Town, and such of the Inhabitants as are 
 by the Enemy driven from their Houses & Livings be admitted 
 into the Service as Soldiers that are capable thereof & his Ex- 
 cellency shall please to entertain : — 
 
 Consented to, J. Dudley." 
 
 " Saturday, June 14, 1712," £20 were granted " towards the 
 maintenance of Mr. John James in the work of the Ministry at 
 Ijrookfield the year curr'. Consented to, J. Dudley."
 
 30 
 
 Tuesday, June 16, 1713. The £20 were granted " for the 
 year current towards the maintenance of the ministry in the 
 Phxntation of Brookfield." 
 
 June 22, 1714. " In answer to a petition of Thomas Ayres 
 &c. Sons of John Ayres some Time of Quaboag alias Brook- 
 field, diverse years since deceased. Praying that the present 
 Committee or some other may be ordered to make Inquiry & 
 Cause a Register to be made of the several Lay Rights & 
 Proprieties of Land within the said Plantation granted to the 
 first & ancient Settlers & others to be entered in a Book for that 
 Purpose : — Ordered that the Prayer of the Petitioners be 
 Granted & that Samuel Partridge Esq', & others the present 
 Committee for Brookfield be directed & impowered to make 
 Inquiry & Cause a Register to be made of the Lay Riglits & 
 Proprieties of Land within the s<^ Plantation granted to the first 
 & ancient Settlers & others, particularly of a Grant made to 
 Mr. PhilHps some Time Minister of the said place, & make 
 Report to this Court ; And the Committee to take Care that 
 Provision be made for the payment of Mr. John James late 
 minister of Brookfield during his continuance there.' 
 
 " Concurred by the Representatives : — Consented to, J. Dud- 
 ley." 
 
 After tedious details in the committee's book of metes and 
 bounds, seeming enough to determine every acre of this soil, the 
 grateful record is reached of a meeting held Sept. 17, 1714, 
 when the Committee, " unanimously agree That the Inhabi- 
 tants Build a Meetnig House wherein to attend the worship of 
 God, which shall be sett up & erected In s* place where form- 
 erly the Meeting House was Built : near old John Ayres House 
 Lett, Lying near about the center of The town." An " Exact 
 List of the Rateable Estate," was also ordered at this meeting 
 and a special rate "for the payment of there minister." This
 
 31 
 
 however, was three years before a minister was settled. Each 
 man was required also to give a day's work to repair the Mill, 
 or pay 3 shillings ; their care for the bread of life, and for that 
 which perisheth thus thoughtfully uniting. 
 
 A year and three months after this, was an eventful day to 
 Brookfield township. " A meeting of the Committee was held 
 and of the Inhabitants also.''' " The Committee then ordered a 
 Highway of six rods wide be laid out from the place where the 
 meeting-house is to be built, down to the new County Rode on 
 the side of Coys Brook." That vote opened the grand avenue 
 climbing yon noble hill ; a feature of scenery noticed by even 
 foreign visitors. 
 
 The inhabitants on this day, " chose William Old, Edward 
 Walker, Jr., and Elisha Rise for a committee to order and to 
 take care to carry on y® building a bridge over Quaboag Rivers 
 att Mason's point." Another committee were to take a like 
 charge of a bridge " att Marks River." But the great act of 
 the day, was the following written with a special date and head- 
 ing : 
 
 " The day above s**. The Inhabitants of Brookfeild agreed 
 with the consent of y** Committe to build a meeting House 
 wherein to cany on y" worship of God. In form and manner 
 as follows : viz, 45 foott in Lenght & 35 foott in wedht : and to 
 put in Galery peices so y' they may build Galeries when thoj 
 shall have occation, & to cary on the building of s*^ house as far 
 as They can conveniently with y® Labour, & what shall be Re- 
 quired in money for y® carying of s** work to be Raised by a 
 Town Rate : & if any person or persons Refuse to Labour, 
 Having suitable warning by y^ committee Hereafter mentioned, 
 shall pay there proportion in mone3% The Inhabitants Likewise 
 agree to gett y'^ Timber this winter." A committee of nine ;
 
 32 
 
 Thomas Barns chairman, was named " For the carying of s** 
 work." 
 
 In another place is the record on that day, " that the great 
 feild upon y° plain shall be sufficiently fenced and att no time 
 laid open." This was to preserve the corn planted there ; and 
 " a pair of bars or gate at each end were to be kept shut," on 
 penalty. This fine common thus was, a century and a half 
 ago, the town corn-field ! Imagine the beauty of it. 
 
 A tax of X30 was voted Jan. 4, 1717, " for Glass & nails 
 for there Meeting House & Eight pounds for window cases & 
 other public uses." 
 
 The next glimpse of this meeting house is in votes, " att a 
 Legall Town meeting on Thursday Dec. 14 1721." They out- 
 line so clearly the house, the people and the times, that I must 
 recite them. 
 
 " Voted ; To build up the seats in the body of y^ meeting 
 house with good strong plain seats." Pew lots were then voted 
 to various persons, and, " Voted : to build a ministry pue on y® 
 Right hand of y'^ pulpit ; to y® stairs of ye pulpit to y® middle 
 stud In the window." Dea. Henry Gilbert : '' a pue next to 
 y® ministry pue," and Dea. Joseph Jennings next to him. Each 
 grantor should pay 40 shillings to the town Treasurer, " to be 
 laid out to finish the house." Seven years had passed since the 
 building began, and it was yet unfinished. On the same day a 
 vote directed the Town's Clerk to gather up, " all the copyes 
 of Records belonging to ye Town." 
 
 But to return to the great topic of the records of that period 
 — the call and settlement of Mr. Cheney. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Inhabitants of Brookfield on Apr., y« 
 5tli 1716. Voted, y* Thomas Barnes be moderator for s^ Day :
 
 33 
 
 Voted that Edward Walker, Sen., Joseph Banister and Ehsha 
 Rise, Doe further Discourse Mr. Cheney as to his proposals 
 for order to a settlement in s*^ place to carry on y® work of 
 the ministry." 
 
 Having considered Mr. Cheney's proposals, the inhabitants 
 voted, " To Give Mr. Cheney for his salery, fivety-two pounds, 
 yearly for three years ; and to Rise forty shillings a year until 
 it comes to seventy pounds. And then to stay." 
 
 Voted: " To Build him a house & Barn according to y^ De- 
 mentions y' he has given ; Mr. Cheney providing Glass, nails 
 & Iron." 
 
 Voted : " to Break up & fence & fitt to sow Eight acres of 
 Land : four this year : & four acres To be Broke up on the 
 plain this year. The other two acres to be done within four 
 years," 
 
 Voted : " To gett Mr. Cheney twenty five cords of wood 
 yearly his Life time." 
 
 Voted : " To give Mr. Cheney, each man one days work 
 yearly ; for six years. His House & Barn to be built in four 
 years. Always provided Mr. Cheney be our ordained minister." 
 
 " Agreed and allowed by the committee for Brookfield, May 
 16, 1716." 
 
 This committee appear to have had a species of ratifying pre- 
 rogative, as all proceedings at this period have the certificate 
 of their acceptance. Next comes the first recorded communica- 
 tion from Mr. Cheney. 
 
 " Gentlemen as to y« Dimentions of y® House & Barn you 
 Propose to Build for me. In case I should Settle amongst you, 
 it is my mind & desire with Respect to my house : y' y" Lenght 
 may be 42 foott. The wedht 20 foott ; as to y« stud, fourteen 
 foott stud & as to y"' barn That it may be 30 foott long, & 20 
 foott wide w*^ a Lentow on one side." 
 
 This from your servant, Thos. Cheney."
 
 34 
 
 As to y® Glass, nails & Iron I will provide & Procure myself 
 so far as Is necessary to s*^ House & Barn. Tlios. Cheney." 
 
 " The above s'* Proposals were voted on at the meeting Apr., 
 5tli, in the atHrmative." 
 
 A little later the town confirmed a grant made in 1714, 
 of three lots of meadow and plain, and then add a gift of 100 
 acres more, "to be taken up when he shall chuse." The same 
 generous spirit re-appears in Mar. 8th 17^, "taking into 
 Consideration a former grant In the antient manuscrips of 
 Brookfeild of Some Land sequestered for the ministry," they 
 confirm the same. This was about thirty acres. 
 
 " In the antient manuscrips of Brookfeild," — the great 
 longing of men in all times for a past on which to fasten remem- 
 brances, and by which to soothe and mellow in its shadows the 
 tiresome glare of the present. 
 
 Scarce half a century has passed since the first settler's cabin 
 sent its smoke through the thick trees, and part of that time 
 dispersion and desolation had been their history. Yet true to 
 a great instinct of civilization, they fondly recall " antient " 
 records and dignify public acts by revered precedent. 'Tis an 
 evidence of that reverent sympathy with the past, which virtu- 
 ous action always feels, and which this day's celebration con- 
 firms and displays. 
 
 Through another vote — Oct. 12, 1716 — -the aiFection of the 
 people to the young pastor is shown, and a tradition of earliest 
 ministerial services confirmed. " Whereas about 3 years since 
 the Gen" Cot*^ allowed to the ministry in Brookfield twenty 
 pounds, of which sum Mr. Elmore who left the ministry so as 
 he had but one half part of s'^ sum pay*^ to him, there Remaynes 
 ten pounds of s'^ sum or donation, the Committee judge it
 
 35 
 
 meete this last part be pay*^ to Mr. Thomas Cheney the present 
 minister as part of his sallery, and have given order to Luke 
 Hitchcock Esqr., to get the money for him." 
 
 By another act at this meeting, a public building of some con- 
 sequence to this history is shown. " Sold to Mr. Thos. Cheney 
 our present minister, y** Toivne's House & about six acres of 
 land it stands on, for which he is to sett of, & allow unto the 
 Inhabitants thirty pounds of the first Rates that are due to him, 
 or will be due." 
 
 What building was this ? Only the " besieged house," was 
 left standing by the Indians. Was this a garrison built in part 
 by the government, and used at this time for public worship ? 
 This is the only trace of it. 
 
 The first Tax list appears in April of the next year. One 
 hundred and two names and estates are set down in it. The 
 highest tax was £3. lis. Sd. assessed upon Jona. Hamilton and 
 the sum of all the taxes was X121. Ss. 
 
 We are surprised at the number of names now found in the 
 town, but some were plainly those of non-residents, owners but 
 not tillers of the soil, and seven of the taxes are on " the heirs," 
 of settlers who so early slept beneath the clods of the valley. 
 The effects of non-resident ownership had become grievous, 
 and in July 26, 1715, " the following order passed by Repre- 
 sentatives Read and Concurred." 
 
 " Upon Reading a Petition of Thomas Baker, Philip Goss, 
 and Joseph Banister, in Behalf of the Inhabitants of Brookfield, 
 Showing that by Reason of the Desertion of the Place by the 
 first Grantors, & by the Sale of many Grants since made. Good 
 Part of the Lands have fallen into the hands of Strangers, who 
 neither improve, nor sell to those who would settle Themselves
 
 36 
 
 amongst them, which greatly obstructs their Growth & hurts 
 their pubhc Aiiairs, Especially rendering them incapable of Sett- 
 ling & Supporting the ministry amongst them, Praying that for 
 some few years next Succeeding, and until they shall be more 
 capable of Enduring a charge. All Lands, belonging to non- 
 Residents as well as others, tho' not under Improvement, may 
 be made liable to be taxed in all Town Assessments and that 
 the committee may receive direction therein : 
 
 Ordered that for seven Years next coming all Town Assess- 
 ments in Brookfield be raised on Polls, as the law directs, and 
 on the Real Estates of the Non-Residents as well as the Resi- 
 dent Proprietors, Exclusive of Personal Estates, w'* the Com- 
 mittee for Settling the said Town are hereby directed & fully 
 impowered to levy & collect accordingly so long as they shall be 
 continued by this court, and to take care that the Town be 
 settled in the most regular compact and defensible manner that 
 mav be. Consented to. J. Dudley. 
 
 The evidently strong wish to have a minister settled among 
 them met so many hindrances that not until July 16, 1717, 
 were they able to fix a day for the act. As that vote, in a sense^ 
 begins the ecclesiastical history of the town, it claims a place. 
 
 Voted: "That the Reverend Mr. Cheney shall be ordained 
 minister for the Town. The Third Wedn., in October next is 
 apointed & sett apart For Mr. Cheney's ordination." 
 
 Voted : " That Mr. Tilly Merick & Joseph Banister aQuant 
 Mr. Cheney with the Town's mind & as to the day agreed upon 
 for his ordination." 
 
 " And now made Return y* Mr. Cheney consents thereto." 
 
 Voted: "That Tilly Merick (& others) Doe take care that 
 suitable Provition be made for such Elders & Messengers as may 
 be called to assist in our ordination." " Voted : That y* cele- 
 brate & sett apart a Day of fasting & Prayer to Implore God's
 
 37 
 
 Presents w** us in this solemn & weiglity matter, which Day is 
 left to Mr. Cheney to appoint. Full & clear votes. 
 
 Test, Thomas Gilbircl, Moderator." 
 
 Underwritten is the evidently gratified mind of the Commit- 
 tee who " Doe well aprove of the vote afores*^ And Rejoyce in 
 their unaminity in so good a work, & hope to have further oca- 
 tion to Rejoyce in their good settlement." No record is found 
 of the ordination, but the printed sermon preached by Rev. 
 Solomon Stoddard of Northampton determines it, and the forma- 
 tion of the church. " The duty of GOSPEL MINISTERS 
 to preserve a PEOPLE from CORRUPTION set forth in a 
 sermon preached at Brookfield Oct., 16, 1717, being the day 
 wherein the Church was gathered and MR. THOMAS 
 CHENEY was ordained Pastor." 
 
 This was the second church gathered between Marlboro and 
 the Connecticut River. The tokens of an unusual esteem to- 
 ward this first pastor, recur in the acts both of committee and 
 inhabitants. Through the dim records of the time, we seem to 
 discern a genial, ardent pastor, living in great intimacy with his 
 flock. He escaped contention in worldly matters, even to his 
 own loss. In 1721, he communicates to the town : 
 
 " In answer to a motion from them to have me procure my 
 own wood, I being Informed Its your desire I would do it, & 
 aquit the Town of their obligation in that particular. This is 
 to Inform you that I am willing it four or five yrs. for five 
 pounds a year, & not be obliged to take it Longer or to take it 
 during my Life, for eight pounds a year. Rather Inclining to 
 the former, which is all at present, from yours, 
 
 Thomas Cheney, . Brookfield Aprill *>» 18\" 
 
 In October of this year, a note from him acknowledges him- 
 self "satisfied and contented with what Liet. Thomas Gilbert
 
 38 
 
 hath (lone in that way " — i- e. building him a house and bam, 
 and discharges the town from furtlier obligation. 
 
 The people agreed to dig and stone a well for him, if he would 
 release them from the one days work each man for six years. 
 There is no sign of the least disagreement in the record, nor 
 does tradition bring us any, until the coming of Rev. Geo. 
 Whitefield to the town. Thursday, Oct. 16, 1740, the great 
 Evangelist on his way from Leicester to Northampton reached 
 the parsonage. The land was astir under the mighty power of 
 God upon his preaching. An almost electric force seemed to 
 have been given to divine truth through his eloquence. To see 
 and hear him was the univei^sal wish. Mr. Cheney's peo- 
 ple shared this enthusiasm, and when the great preacher came 
 to the town, they flocked to the meeting house. The pastor 
 hesitated ; it was an influence he was unacquainted with, and 
 rather feared than favored. But the flock were before the shep- 
 herd, and with characteristic discretion he yielded to their de- 
 mand ; not, however, before the throng made the meeting house 
 too small by far, and around a great rock, said to be Northwest 
 of Mr. Baxter Barnes' house they gathered. The wonderful 
 preacher began, — kindly saluting them. He was glad to see 
 them ; and then passed to enquire for the motives drawing them 
 there. " Some of you come to hear what the babbler will say," 
 is a sentence remembered by a hearer who went to her rest 
 during the ministry of Rev. Dr. Phelps. 
 
 A great reviving of religion ensued, in which Mr. Cheney 
 heartily labored and by which the religious character of the 
 town was memorably strengthened.* 
 
 *His grave is at Brookfield, a few rods from the entrance on the right hand. 
 The epitaph reads, " Here lyes buried the Body of the Kev. Thomas Cheney, the 
 faitliful Pastor of the Church in this Place for more than 30 years. Died Deer. 
 11th, 1747. Aged 57."
 
 39 
 
 A few traces of civil history recal us again to itself. A new 
 life, from some source, was visibly infused into town affairs at 
 the beginning of the year 1713. The Committee chosen by the 
 General Court petitioned for new members, " being much weak- 
 ened by the death of Joseph Hawley, Esqr." Mr. Ebenezer 
 Pomroy and Mr. Luke Hitchcock were elected. 
 
 At the next meeting new vigor is apparent. A " list of con- 
 ditions to land grants " was determined ; as, that the liolder 
 should " work upon y® land granted within six moneths from y^ 
 grant. 2. He should come and live on it within a year. 3. 
 Should live on it three years from the grant and failing in any 
 of these particulars the grant reverted to the town." These 
 decisive terms quickened and consolidated the settlement, and 
 infused both vigor and confidence into improvements essential to 
 their prosperity. Capt. Pomroy was appouited Surveyor, — " 1 
 pence pr. acrea for Laying out, to be paid by the owner^" 
 Philip Goss shortly had liberty to build a horse-bridge over the 
 corner of Wickaboag pond, his neighbors helping in the work, 
 and being relieved of their taxes for so doing. In July, John 
 Wilcutt has a grant of forty acres of upland " free," having 
 been at great expense in building a grist-mill, and begun a saw- 
 mill " which will be very Benefitiall to the Town." Prosperity 
 plainly was smiling on the town, and at the end of five years, 
 and in less than one year after the settlement of a minister, such 
 was the progress that the Committee petitioned " His Excellen- 
 cy, Samuel Shute, Esqr., Captain Gen'l and Governor in Chief 
 over His Majesty's Province of Mass. Bay in N. E. and the Gene- 
 ral Court," that the people of Brookfield, now near fifty fami- 
 lies on the ])lace, have near finished a very convenient Meeting 
 House, have settled a church and ordained an orthodox and
 
 40 
 
 learned minister ; " be made a Township, and said Com. re- 
 leased." 
 
 An act granting this petition was passed Nov. 12, 1718, and 
 Brookfield invested with all the powers, privileges and authori- 
 ties to direct, order and manage all the affairs as other towns. 
 The town was assigned to Hampshire for its county connection. 
 It remained a part of Hampshire until the erection of Worces- 
 ter County, Apr. 2, 1731, when it was transferred to this, its 
 present connection. 
 
 By comparing the population at the dates 1698, when only 
 twelve families dwelt here, and in 1718, twenty years after, 
 when fifty families were numbered, an average yearly growth 
 of less than two families is shown. 
 
 " The Town being Dismist from y® Committee, held its first 
 Town Meeting Dec. 15th, 1718." Thus begins the record, — 
 " Voted : Left. Philip Goose, Moderator." (If cackling is some- 
 times heard in town meetings since, what wonder ?) Thomas 
 Gilbert was chosen Town Clerk. " The work of the day not 
 being finished " adjourned one week. Mr. Gilbert went to 
 Hartford, Ct., to be qualified for his office. 
 
 The next year, 1719, Thomas Barnes and others of the Se- 
 lectmen of the town, petition on the basis of an order passed 
 May 1701, for a survey and plot for the town " eight miles 
 square." The work being done and the plot lost or " mislayed," 
 another as taken by Timothy Dwight, Surveyor, is offered for 
 acceptance, which was done. 
 
 Thus this matron township had territory enough to spare por- 
 tions to the daughters which soon sprung up around her, War- 
 ren, New Braintree, Ware ; and more recently the remaining 
 domain has been partitioned into the three goodly municipalities,
 
 41 
 
 — North Brookfield, West Brookfield and Brookfield ; so that 
 the original " eight miles square " is now parted among six 
 townships. 
 
 The next year, 1720, the " Town was of opinion that the 
 power was wholly in the Town to make grants of land." Land 
 was almost the only staple, the currency indeed between the 
 people. An example occurred in 1722. " In consideration of 
 three pounds in nails, (i. e. the nails costing three pounds,) 
 from y® hand of Mr. Samuel Porter for use in finishing y'^ Meet- 
 ing House, the town made a grant specified by bounds, be it 
 more or less." Gratitude, as well as economy, is evident in the 
 payment. 
 
 A surprise which I am sure others must have while perusing 
 these records as well as myself, is happily relieved by an act in 
 1731, the first discovered trace of public care for common 
 schools. 
 
 " Voted. That the Selectmen provid Schooll Dames to keep 
 Schooll in y® Seueral parts of the town for 3 or 4 months in the 
 Summer Season." 
 
 " Voted. That any number of persons that are minded to 
 build a Schooll house may set it up in y'^ highway or common 
 Land, near y** middle of the town." The same " priuilige in 
 any other part of the Town," was voted to any desiring it. 
 The spelling of the votes shows it was high time the school- 
 master should be abroad. We cannot but suppose that schools 
 had been kept during these sixty years of life in the place. In 
 some form, instruction was doubtless given to the children, or 
 this and subsequent action would not be found, as the care for 
 education would have ceased in that long time, unless fed by 
 some rills of instruction invisible to the historian. In 1733, a 
 vote of " fifty pounds for y" school for y'^ ensuing year " is seen.
 
 42 
 
 This sott'lomeiit may indeed have been beliindhand with those 
 on the coast, and with those in the valley beyond, in the matter 
 of schools at the outset ; but the eminence of our public schools 
 in recent times, has happily shown a disposition to recompense 
 any early neglects. 
 
 Two events of conspicuous consequence appear in the record 
 of 1748. The people in tlie Northeast part of the town had 
 grown weary of their distance from the sanctuary, and the 
 town being without a minister, by the death of Rev. Mr. Cheney 
 the preceding year, a design for a new precinct Avas formed. 
 On the 28th of Nov., the petition of Capt. Ebenezer Witt and 
 others, for such a division was refused ; but a generous proposal 
 was offered by the town to grant the petition on certain con- 
 ditions. Probably the election of Mr. Elisha Harding as minis- 
 ter, (the other noticeable event of the year,) M'as a large ele- 
 ment in this new precinct question, for a quite tempestuous 
 meeting it plainly was, in which the petitioners were repulsed, 
 though they voted concurrence with the church in their choice 
 of Mr. Harding as minister. The meeting was adjourned for 
 four weeks; and then " after considerable Debat," voted for Mr. 
 Harding's " encouragement to Settle in the Gospel Ministry one 
 thousand pounds old tenor currancy, & for his yearly Sallry & 
 Support, the Sum of five hundred pounds old tenor." This 
 almost over-generous stipend makes us suspect that the rest of 
 the town would pay a free tax themselves, for the sake of bleed- 
 ing the petitioners for the new precinct down to quietness 
 through their share in it. The negligent orthography of the 
 records betrays a sadly discomposed spirit. 
 
 A curious sliding scale was devised at this meetnig for Mr. 
 Harding's payment. " Accounting the Same " i. e. the money, 
 " as tho' it be in Indian corn at 20s. pr. bushel. Rye, 30*.
 
 43 
 
 Wheat, 405. per bushel and so the ^500 to be increased or 
 diminished yearly as the prices of the grains varied," — a rather 
 perilous bargain for any but a superhuman minister, and for 
 parishioners, not of like passions as we are. There is an ad- 
 vance, however, apparent in adopting a money basis for pastoral 
 maintenance in place of the entangling land grants of earlier 
 days. Afterwards, liberty was granted him to cut his own 
 firewood on the common land, " s'* Mr. Harding not to mak 
 wast of s"^ wood, especially of the young wood." 
 
 Next year, 1749, Sept. 13, Mr. Harding was ordained. A 
 brief and troubled ministry was his record. The North-men, 
 i. e. men of the north-east part of the town, pressed their suit 
 for parochial separation. The conditions named bv the town in 
 the November meeting were fulfilled in less than ten days^ i. e. 
 fifty and more persons, (and by Dec. 31, eight more) sent their 
 personal request for such permission, as had been prescribed. 
 They rested not at that. With an astonishing vigor, on the 5th 
 of April, 1749, the frame of a meeting house was raised on the 
 common, fronting which. Col. Pliny Nye's house now stands. 
 A busy winter for woodmen, hewers and framers, it must have 
 been — to cut, hew, frame and erect the huge timbers some of 
 us remember in that massive frame, — all in the short days of the 
 three winter months ! It was an energy prophetic of that which 
 the inhabitants of the North parish have ever shown ; and may 
 they never be behind their ancestors in any onward public work. 
 But this haste made waste. The location was not satisfactory. 
 On the 16th of October following, a covenant was signed by 
 forty-two of the inhabitants predicating that several persons of 
 the proposed parish " have been uneasy in the sitting of the 
 Meetinrr House where the frame now stands." They eno-ao-ed 
 to abide by an arbitration of disinterested men. The men were
 
 44 
 
 chosen, and decided tliat the house be built on the spot where 
 the frame was standing. Ten years, however, passed before the 
 building was finished, and indeed repairing and finishing went 
 on together, for in 1764, the precinct "Voted to take the 
 shingles off the Roof of the Meeting house and to repair the 
 same." 
 
 An act for a Parish Incorporation was granted March 28, 
 1750, and a church was embodied May 28, 1752 ; and the next 
 year, June 3d, Mr. Eli Forbes was ordained pastor. He was 
 a graduate of Harvard College, a class-mate with the eminent 
 Judge Gushing and Mather Byles, D. D. In the year of his 
 decease, 1804, the degree of Doctor in Divinity was conferred 
 on him. His ministry in the " second precinct " as it was com- 
 monly styled, ended March 1, 1775. His patriotism was sus- 
 pected by his parishioners, and their demonstrations toward him 
 were efficient in deciding him to remove. Tradition relates that 
 the suspicious patriots one evening followed his chaise, throwing 
 stones, and epithets, yet harder to bear. A bag of feathers and 
 a pot of tar found on his door stone one morning, determined him 
 to resign. An aged lady whose father was at the church meet- 
 ing in which the vote was taken, related to me that on the first 
 trial after Mr. F. had stated his reasons, the majority voted 
 against his dismission. He then addressed the church in such 
 determined language that a majority vote was gained. He pub- 
 lished an Ai'tillery Election Sermon in 1771, with a somewhat 
 testy preface indicating in some of its statements, that the sensi- 
 tiveness of his parishioners may not have been wholly ground- 
 less. He died in Gloucester, Mass., in the pastoral office. An 
 excellent portrait of him has been secured (a copy from an old 
 one,) by the present pastor of the church. It is in the chapel 
 of the First Congregational Church.
 
 45 
 
 Returning to the first parisli, the people had scarcely attained 
 their composure over the separation of the North parish, when 
 a fresh difficulty began among themselves. In the year 1753, 
 the project of building a new meeting house became a source of 
 trouble and contention. As often since, the question of locality 
 divided the people. Three localities were in dispute ; — first, on 
 the top of the hill where the meeting house then stood ; second, 
 " on the plain," where it now stands ; and third, " Mr. Seth 
 Banister's lawn," where the church edifices of Brookfield are 
 now seen. The people South of the hill would not willingly 
 go up the hill, as they had done, much less go over it, as desired 
 to do ; those West of the hill would go up it as they had done, 
 but would not go over to the " lawn." The contest as shown 
 in the petitions and projects for precinct meetings was arnusingly 
 acute, not to say acrimonious. The hill, emphatically divided 
 the town, in opinion, as well as in territory. Both divisions 
 called meetings one after another to act on mere tentative opin- 
 ions. A series of these precinct skirmishes at length drew a 
 proposal from the West side, to give up " the plain " entirely, 
 and to unite on the hill-top. They were a little too late. The 
 South side, with the example of the North precinct before them, 
 determined to cut the knot by a decisive act. They set up tlio 
 frame of a meetino; house " on Mr. Banister's lot," in an incre- 
 dibly short time, expecting to decide the question, by doing the 
 thin<^. But timber and self-will were rather more plenty than 
 yielding self-sacrifice, and before the echo of the hewer's axe 
 had died away, the General Court were moved by the West 
 side to arrest proceedings and to send a committee to view and 
 advise. They came, and after patiently hearing the parties, the 
 committee advised a separation and the erection of a third |)arish. 
 Their report was accepted Nov. 8, 1754, but the new house lin-
 
 46 
 
 gcrcd in finisliing, as did its fellow in the North parish. A 
 church was not gathered until April 15, 1756. It was formed 
 of twenty-five males and fourteen females. Two years after, 
 or May 24th, 1758, Nathan Fiske, A. M., Avas ordained pas- 
 tor. He continued in office forty-one years, and died unattend- 
 ed, Sabbath night, Nov. 24th, 1799. "At night he retired 
 apparently in good health, and in his sleep, his spirit departed 
 to its eternal home." — {Rev. Mr. Ward's Funeral Sermon.') 
 
 His education and talent made him superior to most of the 
 men of his time. He became a Doctor in Divinity in 1792. 
 He was a classmate of Governor John Hancock. An unusual 
 fondness for writing and publishing gave him preeminence over 
 any pastor settled in these churches, in the number and amount 
 of piablications. A famed literary club known as the " Minerva 
 Society," gave occasion for a series of essays by him, somewhat 
 in the style of the Spectator., which were published. His his- 
 torical sermon, preached " On the Last Day of the Year 1775," 
 the first local history written of the town, — though singularly 
 inaccurate, yet as a first effort, deserves the gratitude of posteri- 
 ty. He erected the house in which Rev. Mr. Stone, his succes- 
 sor, lived and died and bestowed upon the Evangelical Church 
 and Society. 
 
 The first church, though again reduced by the division form- 
 ing the third parish, nobly went forward to build and finish a 
 new sanctuary. This was done in 1755. The record is worthy 
 a place here. " Jan. 22nd, 1755, Voted, To build a Meeting 
 House for public worship at the turning of the County rode 
 near the North East Corner of a plow Field belonging to John 
 Barns being on the Plain, in said first Precinct." " Voted, 
 That said Meeting house be built with timber and wood." 
 " Voted, That the meeting house shall be forty five feet in
 
 47 
 
 length and tliirty five feet in wedth." At the same meetino- a 
 committee was chosen " to apply to the 2nd and 3d Precincts 
 in said town for their proportion of right in the old meetino- 
 house frame." Animosity to the " 2nd Precinct," is seen in 
 votes refusing Jabe/ Upham, and others, leave to be " sett off" 
 to join it. A committee was chosen to go to General Court and 
 resist such petitions, but in August their rigor was relaxed, and 
 the negative votes were " Reconsidered and Disannulled." 
 
 The " Pewfloor " was estimated by a committee — none to be 
 more than <£3 10s. nor less than 25 shillings. This was a period 
 of vigorous agitations in the now triplicated parish, but the 
 mother showed marked dignity and skill in conducting herself 
 toward the sensitive daughters. The superior men plainly were 
 there, and their calmer judgment and higher character imparted 
 pleasiu"' wisdom to their conduct of affairs. But the heavino* 
 tides of the time, either brought all the latent discontents with 
 the pastor, (Rev. Mr. Harding,) to the surface, or gave tempt- 
 incj occasion for their utterance. Pending a scheme to assess all 
 the inhabitants of the three precincts, to pay the grant of X64, 
 made to Mr. Harding as settlement, this significant vote is re- 
 corded : that " said first precinct will relinquish to the third pre- 
 cinct in said town all their right and claim to the Rev. Elisha 
 Harding as a minister free and clear of any demands for or 
 towards his settlement, provided the said third precinct will re- 
 ceive the said Mr. Harding as a minister." 
 
 Another vote sent Thomas Gilbert to the General Court, for 
 their determination as to which precinct Rev. Mr. Harding 
 " shall belong ; " and " that there may be nothing said bj the 
 Society receiving him as to paying their proportion of his settle- 
 ment." These votes occur in the first three meetings after the 
 organization of the third parish, which was Nov. 8, 1754.
 
 48 
 
 These pointed discontents had their effect in forcing him to re- 
 sign, and May 7, 1755, a council of five churches assembled, 
 and after tenderly but plainly stating his case, terminated this 
 never very happy connection. 
 
 In the American Quarterly Register,* he is briefly mentioned 
 as " a gentleman of great benevolence, and his public ministra- 
 tions were serious and adapted to edify and benefit his hearers. 
 He was distinguished for his probity and literary acquisitions." 
 
 Two years after, February 1, 1757, Mr. Nehemiah Strong of 
 Hadley was chosen pastor. He declined, because " the encour- 
 agement for his maintenance was so slender," — " X45 lawful 
 silver money the first year," to increase to <£60 by the sixth 
 year, and to continue at that, also " thirty cords of wood, cord- 
 wood length and delivered at his door ;" was the offer. In his 
 refusal he speaks of the insufficiency of the sum, " in such a 
 place, where I shall be necessitated to expend extraordinaries 
 in Ways of Hospitality," showing that Brookfield was then, as 
 ever since, a favorite stopping place for good men on journeys. 
 
 A call to Joseph Parsons, Jr. of Bradford, the same year, was 
 successful, and November 23, 1757 he was ordained. His ex- 
 cellent ministry was closed by death in the beginning of 1771, 
 in the thirty-eighth year of his age. During the last three years 
 of his ministry he was so feeble as to be unable to preach, and 
 affectionate references in the records of the time, reveal a mutu- 
 al esteem between people and pastor. At the meeting in March 
 after his decease, Dea. Thos. Rich was directed " to procure & 
 set up at the Rev. Mr. Jos. Parson's grave proper, decent grave 
 stones in memory of the dead." Twenty-four shillings were to 
 be expended. 
 
 Rev. Ephraim Ward succeeded. He was ordained October 
 
 * Vol. X. p. 53.
 
 49 
 
 23, 1771, just as the shadows of the Revolution began to darken 
 the horizon of the land. He was esteemed through his pastor- 
 ate, — which was little short of 47 years, — as the urbane Chris- 
 tian scholar, illustrating the graces of the village pastor. So 
 admirably pictured by the godly Herbert — 
 
 " as a tender father 
 Doth teach and rule the Church and is obey'd. 
 And reverenced by it, so much the rather, 
 By how much he dehghted more to lead 
 
 All by his own example in the way, 
 
 Than punish any when they go astray." 
 
 His colleague and successor, Eliakim Phelps, D. D. enriches 
 our festival by his presence. He entered on his ministry here 
 October 23, 1816, which was the forty -fifth anniversary of Mr. 
 Ward's ordination, and shared with him the choice intimacies of 
 the joint pastorate about two years. Ten years and two days 
 from his ordination, October 25, 1826, — he was released from 
 his charge that he might assume the preceptorship of a once famed 
 " Classical Female School," which for some years flourished here. 
 Rev. Joseph I. Foote was installed on the day of Dr. Phelps' 
 dismission ; memorable for his research and reproduction of our 
 too long neglected annals, after a ministry of nearly six years, re- 
 tired, and after some years of labor in other places, died by a 
 casualty on the day before which he wa s to have been inaugur- 
 ated President of Washington College, Tenn. Of him and his 
 several successors, who all now are living, some future annalist 
 will weave the chaplet of deserved honors. 
 
 But it is more than time to present a few of the honored cit- 
 zen names adorning our history. Joseph Dwight, Brigadier 
 General, and judge in the county court, Berkshire, for a time 
 resided here. His military career was chiefly in connection with 
 the expedition to Louisburgh in 1745. He was one of the gover-
 
 50 
 
 nor's conncil, whicli at that period was an eminent station, and 
 connected him witli the cliief men of his day. Joshua Upham 
 was son of a physician in Brookfield, born 1741. He and Dwight 
 were both graduates of Harvard College, and from their emi- 
 nence, doubtless contributed much to the growth of the town, by 
 guiding public attention to it and persuading settlers to choose 
 homes here. General Dwight removed to Great Barrington, 
 where he died June 9, 1765. Quite early in life Judge Upham 
 (as he became), built here one of the first woolen factories ever 
 attempted in this country, (1768.) 
 
 The great colonial contest for freedom with the mother coun- 
 try found him a loyalist, or tory, as then styled. This removed 
 him to Boston, and soon after to New York, where he joined 
 the British army, and served as aid-de-camp to Lord Dorchester, 
 and afterwards colonel of dragoons. In the service of the Prov- 
 ince of New Brunswick he went to London in 1807 and died 
 there the next year. 
 
 Judges Dorr, Merrick, Crosby and Foster, all mingled freely 
 in town and parish affairs, imparting their culture, wisdom and 
 energy to its proceedings, and communicating the honors of 
 their high official stations to their town homes. 
 
 Joseph Dorr, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Judge 
 of Probate, came to Brookfield from Ward — now Auburn. 
 He graduated at Cambridge, 1752, and after filling several 
 public staticms died in this town October 31, 1808, aged 78. 
 Pliny Merrick was son of the minister of Wilbraham, where he 
 was born September 14, 1756. He graduated at Cambridge, 
 1776, and studied divinity with a clergyman in Springfield, and 
 preached occasionally for several years. His feeble health hin- 
 dered him from settlement. To improve it, he spent two years 
 as a teacher in Virginia, and finding no essential benefit, re-
 
 51 
 
 turned, and after the requisite study of the law at Bridgewater, 
 was admitted to the Bar in Plymouth County, 1787. In the 
 spring of 1788, he came to Brookfield, where he remained until 
 his death, March 2, 1814. He was made Justice of the Court 
 of Sessions in 1807, and chosen Senator for the county in 1808. 
 His residence yet stands next to the first Meeting House of the 
 Evangelical Congregationalist Church. He used to express his 
 great attachment to his pastor, — Rev. Mr. Stone, — by saying 
 that if any man spoke evil of him in his presence, he would in- 
 stantly knock him down. He had lived in Virginia ! 
 
 Oliver Crosby, a native of Brookfield, born June, 1766, be- 
 came a justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1814, and the 
 next year was elected a Senator for the county. Though not 
 publicly educated, he raised himself to rare eminence by self- 
 culture. He was for some years one of the chief men of Brook- 
 field. His decease occurred July 24, 1818. 
 
 Jabez Upham, son of Phineas, was born in Brookfield. By 
 self-exertion he gained a degree at Cambridge, 1785. He at- 
 tained distinction as a lawyer and was twice elected Represent- 
 ative to Congress. 
 
 But the name ever preeminent in the annals of Brookfield, 
 is that of Jedediah Foster. From that home of good men, the 
 town of Andover, he came here to begin his public life not far 
 from 1745, graduating at Cambridge the preceding year. He 
 was chosen Major of forces raised in 1751, when the French and 
 Indians endangered the country. In the " Provincial Congress " 
 he had a seat, and the people chose him colonel before there was 
 a government to issue commissions. He was Judge of Probate 
 and of the Supreme Court. In March 1779, he was in the 
 Convention at Cambrido-e, assembled to form a constitution, and 
 one of the committee for draftinir it. But his citizen character
 
 52 
 
 should be specially commemorated in these pages. The perusal 
 of our records will show that no man has ever dwelt among us, 
 who held so many local trusts, — lived in such intimate sympa- 
 thy with the people, cared for and served them so abundantly 
 and excellently, — and yet so far excelled them in station and 
 character. He projected and carried through more that is to be 
 prized in our town life, than could be recounted for hours. In 
 church affairs, and for a time, in civil concerns, Deacon Henry 
 Gilbert is more frequently visible ; and he and his descendants 
 may justly claim an estimable preeminence in the early histo- 
 ry of the town. Their ancestry and posterity were alike honor- 
 able. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, seen in history in company with 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, is supposed to have been among the ances- 
 tral connections. 
 
 No one perusing our early records will fail to see that Fos- 
 ter and Gilbert bore the trusts of the town more fully by far 
 than any other citizens. We esteem that to be the highest style 
 of citizen manhood which gains and holds the affectionate con- 
 fidence of the worthiest of the common people through all the 
 tests of every-day life ; and at the same time finds high position 
 given to it among eminent statesmen, jurists and scholars of the 
 times. Few men more completely unite these conditions than 
 Judge Foster. Let an illustration of each class suffice. Some 
 years before his death the church in this town made choice of 
 him for deacon, — "He suspended his answer," say the records, 
 " till the church consented to introduce Tate and Brady's Psalms, 
 on trial, then gave it in the affirmative." Thus he achieved a 
 reform in that proverbially sensitive part of public worship, the 
 singing, and that in a somewhat stubborn generation, by coupl- 
 ing a sacred public benefit with his acceptance of a humble of- 
 fice which his station in life enabled him to honor by accepting, 
 rather than to derive honor from it.
 
 53 
 
 The othei' illustration : — As the Provincial Congi'ess at Phil- 
 adelphia was dispersing, in 1775, General Washington inquired 
 who were the Massachusetts men on whom he could especially 
 rely in the great struggle before the colonies. Mr. Foster of 
 Brookfield was named among others as one to whom the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief could confide his counsels, and from whom he 
 could expect unwavering fidelity as a patriot. A man so mi- 
 nutely careful for the welfare of a village church, and so wise 
 in advancing its prosperity, and so beloved by them ; and marked 
 in the distant council chamber of the comparatively unacquaint- 
 ed colonies as one of a few upon whom the newly chosen chief 
 could place special trust, presents a character of eminent com- 
 pleteness and worth. It deserves our affectionate, reverent 
 honor. We ought to devise some memorial to keep his name 
 on the lips of generations ; some broad avenue, some prized 
 school, or public institution dear to the hearts of the people and 
 rich in benefits common to all. 
 
 In the other precinct, the North, at that period, the names of 
 Ayers, Bigelow, Hale, Gilbert, Adams, Witt, Potter and others 
 were borne by men of comprehensive enterprise, and of great 
 executive force of character. They were really choice men for 
 framing the precedents, and putting in motion a well-ordered 
 and efficient town life. They deserve a fuller tribute than will 
 ever be written of them. 
 
 Passing the uneventful lull, which followed the stormy dozen 
 years in which date the division of the town into three precincts, 
 — the building of three meeting-houses — the dismission of one, 
 and the settlement of three new ministers, — a docket of lal)()rs 
 deserving a period of repose — we reach the first recorded tokens 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 May 17, 1773 a meeting was iield. Jedediah Foster, moder-
 
 54 
 
 ator, — to choose a cominittee to send " A Letter of thanks to 
 the Town of Boston for their care in Stating a list of the In- 
 fringements and Violations, of Rights * * made by the Court 
 and Parliament of Great Britian, and to show that the town 
 fully concur with the Town of Boston in Sentiment, etc.'* 
 Names from each of the precincts are on this committee. The 
 letter, doubtless from the pen of Foster, after being twice read, 
 was recorded on the books, and sent to Boston. One sentence of 
 this letter should be in every Brookfield household. " This 
 Town will ever be ready to assert, and in every legal and prop- 
 er way maintain those Rights and Liberties for our children^ 
 which were with so much Labor, Blood and Treasure, purchased 
 by our ancestors whose memory is and ought to be esteemed by 
 us." 
 
 The patriotism of the entire document seems at this distance 
 almost sublime. It would touchingly befit a town meeting dur- 
 ing the iniquitous rebellion raised by the oppressors at this day. 
 December 27, 1773 a meeting was held and two letters from 
 the town of Boston were read. Foster, Baldwin, Rice, Upham 
 and Gilbert, were chosen to consider and report a proper re- 
 solve relative to the importation of tea from Great Britian, 
 " And such other matters as are proper for this town to do at 
 this difficult time." 
 
 " In about one hour," the committee returned and reported, 
 (after preamble,) " we think it our indispensable duty in the 
 most public manner, to let the world know our utter abhorrence 
 of the last and most detestable scheme in the introduction of tea 
 from Gi'eat Britain, to be pedled out among us, by which means 
 we were to be made to swallow a poison more fatal in its effects 
 to the natural and political rights and privilege of the people 
 of this country than ratsbane ivould be to the natural body.''^
 
 55 
 
 Alas for the China sets, the pride of onr mothers ! This 
 burst of pati-iotic rhetoric, however, is followed by sentences of 
 nobler patriotism. " Loyalty & fidelity to our most gracious 
 King, George the Third, & due obedience to the governmeut 
 under him, by Divine Providence & by Law established in this 
 Province, we will to the utmost of our power maintain and de- 
 fend. An uninterrupted Friendship & Commerce with the 
 Country of our Fathers' nativity, we wish to continue to the 
 latest Generation ; but our dear bought rights Sf privileges we 
 will never tamely give up.'' Further on they say, " of our 
 dearest civil & religious privileges when wrested from us, we 
 shall not think our lives and property too much to be spent in 
 their defence and recovery." The self-denial and determined 
 sacrifice in those words, prophesied, as they deserved, the suc- 
 cess which crowned the wearisome strife. 
 
 In May 1774, another letter, much like the former, was sent 
 to Boston. " June 21. At a very full meeting of the inhabit- 
 ants," — after reading several letters from com-mittees in Boston 
 and Worcester, — three citizens were deputed " to wate on the 
 Rev. Mr. Ward, and desire him to attend and open this meet- 
 ing with prayer, and the request was complied with in a very 
 sollom manner." Letters and covenants were then read " and 
 long debate thereon." A number of persons signed the cove- 
 nants. A committee of six were chosen " to inspect the Traders 
 of this Town and see that they do comply with the covenants, 
 and to see that every person had the offer of signing the cove- 
 nant, and also to take care that pedlars do not sell any goods in 
 this Town." 
 
 These patriotic town meetings were frequent, and in them 
 instructions to Representatives and other officers, very ably 
 drawn; correspondence with the chief towns, and local com-
 
 56 
 
 mittees, all show the presence of active and strong leaders. 
 Jedediah Foster was chosen Representative to General Court, 
 and in December to a Provincial Congress to be held at Cam- 
 bridge ; and at the same meeting " Voted unanimously, that 
 this town do fully approve of the association of the Continental 
 Congress, and that they will strictly adhere to the same in all 
 respects." Also voted, That the ministers be desired to notify 
 contributions for the Boston sufferers, and David Hitchcock, 
 John Baldwin, and Seth Banister, Jr. (one from each precinct,) 
 were chosen to receive the same and transport them to Boston. 
 A corps of minute men was resolved on, to " be immediately 
 equiped with an effective fire-arm, cartridge box, knapsack, and 
 thirty rounds of Powder and ball," and that they should " take 
 extraordinary pains to acquire the skill of compleat soldiers." 
 These were in addition to the regularly enrolled militia. Gen- 
 erous provisions for paying these minute men for training time 
 was also made. A curious covenant, as 'tis styled, was drawn, 
 to which one enlisting should subscribe. The heart of the town 
 was swelling with the keen throes of fear and determined sac- 
 rifice if called to it, in the coming contest. Town meetings 
 were frequent, and " long debate," is a repeated description of 
 them. In reverent admiration and surprise, we come upon the 
 records of a meeting held May 22, 1776. " The question was 
 asked in the words of a resolve of the General Court whether 
 this Town would support the Hon'ble Congress in the measure 
 if they for our liberty should see fit to declare the colonies In- 
 dependent of Great Britain, and it passed in the affirmative al- 
 most unanimously. "" Honor to the Brookfield patriots ! Their 
 declaration of Independence, is one month and twelve days 
 older than that of the Congress. Foremost in declai'ing, may 
 they be the last in resigning or betraying the priceless Free- 
 dom so gloriously won !
 
 57 
 
 Near the close of this year (1776) a record of singular in- 
 terest occurs. A bounty of X60 is levied to be paid for " one 
 hundred fire-arms with a bayonet affixed thereto, provided they 
 are wholly manufactured in this town within one year." Where 
 was the Brookfield armory, and who made muskets and bayo- 
 nets here eighty-four years ago ? 
 
 At the March meeting next year (1777), it was " Voted, 
 That the Town may wear their hats excepting when they speak 
 in publick in Town meeting." At the same meeting " A list 
 of the price of articles " was adopted. These lists, common to 
 the towns at that time, were fatal checks to speculators and mer- 
 cenary plunderers of the public in the time of general distress. 
 A few of the items will repay copying. 
 
 " Farming labour, — from the 20th day of June, to the 20th 
 day of August, shall not exceed 3 shillings per day, and from 
 the 20th day of Nov'r to the 20th day of Jan'y? shall not ex- 
 ceed Is. Qd. per day. Indian corn meal shall not exceed 3s. 
 per B^, good grass-fed beef 2|- pence per lb., stall-fed do., dd. 
 Good butter, 9^ pence per lb., firkin do., 8| per lb. Good yard 
 wide Tow cloth 2s. per yard. Striped y'd wide flanel 3s. 4:d. 
 Good Walnut wood 8 ft. long, 8s. per cord. Oak do., 7s., 
 *' each cord to be delivered at the door of the buyer." " A 
 good meal of meat victuals of the common sort shall not exceed 
 9^/." " For making men's shoes shall not exceed 2s. 8d. per 
 pair." " A Doctor shall not exceed 6d, (sixpence) per mile in 
 his charge in travel to visit his Patience." " For men's com- 
 mon boarding by the week shall not exceed 7s." In suggestive 
 sagacity the prices of N. E. toddy and " phlip " and other 
 strong drinks are put at the foot and most obscure part of the 
 long file, as if they were the last articles ever to be needed or 
 bought. Well for the town had they been always so. How
 
 58 
 
 long this municipal protection was kept in force, or what special 
 good came from it, does not appear. 
 
 But, keeping step with the progress of freedom, in April, 
 1777, " Voted, That the inhabitants of this town will not only 
 strictly adliere to and observe the act of the General Court 
 called the Regulating Act, But also use our utmost endeavors 
 to detect and bring to punishment those unfriendly selfish per- 
 sons who at this important crisis shall have the effrontery to 
 counteract the good and wholesome laws of this State." In 
 November of this year a committee of nine persons were appoint- 
 ed " to provide for the families of the non-commissioned officers 
 and soldiers that are in the Continental Army." The next year, 
 March 25th, 1778, " Voted to accept of the Confederacy of the 
 Continental Congress and to enjoin it to their (our) Represen- 
 tatives that they consent to the same." And in the same ready 
 mind, the next year. May 20th, 1779, they voted for a State 
 Convention " for the sole purpose of forming a new Constitu- 
 tion." In October of this year, a shadow spread over the town 
 in the death of the Hon. Judge Foster. From the beo-innino; 
 of the great era of struggle for National Liberty, he is con- 
 stantly seen, not alone presiding over, but shaping and adminis- 
 tering the counsels of the town. The public mind safely trust- 
 ed in him in those dark hours, and with eminent wisdom and 
 fidelity did he guide the confiding people. We can hardly over- 
 rate the pressure upon the inhabitants at that time ; one man in 
 seven in the North precinct had been drafted, and not much 
 different could it have been through all the town. In the year 
 1777, they voted " to raise no money for schooling," so far spent 
 was their revenue ; and four years after, they were obliged to 
 hire money to equip the soldiers before they could leave town 
 for the aimy. But Divine Providence did not leave the people,
 
 59 
 
 led through so many deliverances, without the needed leaders. 
 The year of his father's death, Dwight Foster, — born in Brook- 
 field, Dec. 7, 1757, graduated at Brown University (1774,) a 
 lawyer for a time in Providence, R. I., — returned to his native 
 town. He was a young man of rare promise and his townsmen 
 discerned it. At the town meeting in May, " Voted : Mr. 
 Dwight Foster, Moderator, 143 yeas in favor of the new Con- 
 stitution and 11 against it ! " This curt record shows his first 
 public service, — the highest the town could confer ; and at al- 
 most the first opportunity after his return. Reverence for the 
 father doubtless quickened the heart of the people to honor the 
 son. It was an auspicious omen to preside in such a meeting at 
 the outset of his public life ; and three weeks later. May 24, he 
 was chosen to represent the town in General Court. He was 
 then 22 years of age. At the same meeting a long and states- 
 man-like document was read, said to be in his handwriting. It 
 relates to the ratification and adoption of the Constitution for 
 the State. He was chosen delegate to the convention held in 
 Boston the next month, "To complete the Constitution and 
 Frame of Government." His great eminence came from labo- 
 rious industry, " rising" before it was light " for study. He was 
 a model to young men, in method, order, promptness and the 
 great facility in the management of business, which come from 
 it. " Though of delicate and uncertain health " he accomplish- 
 ed much. In addition to the honors named, he was the succes- 
 sor of Judge Sprague in the office of High Sheriff of the Coun- 
 ty, — Chief Justice of the Court of Common pleas, for ten years, 
 — an Elector of President and Vice President when Washing- 
 ton was chosen Chief Magistrate the second time, — a member 
 of the Governor's Council, — a Representative in Congress from 
 1793 to 1801, and a Senator during the two succeeding years.
 
 60 
 
 He died April 29, 1823, at the age of sixty-six. Hon. Jabez 
 Upliam shares with him the honors of representing the State in 
 Congress. Mr. Foster alone of our citizens, had a seat in the 
 Senate. 
 
 In 1781, the town was districted by Parishes, as the precincts 
 are thereafter styled. This was done in order to raise soldiers 
 for three years, and committees were chosen to enlist and hire 
 men. They were empowered to " hire such sum or sums of 
 money " as they needed. The enlistment of Continental soldiers 
 was a work of conspicuous concern during this period. 
 
 As the tasks of the Revolution were ending, the new ques- 
 tions of self-government engaged anxious attention. Entire 
 pages of the records are filled with reports and resolves upon 
 the fundamental question of civil government. Numerous and 
 elaborate instructions were drawn ap for representatives. One 
 is " To the Respectable Capt. Phinehas Upham our Representa- 
 tive." 
 
 In 1784 the representative is most loyally instructed thus — 
 " Thirdly, It is the opinion of this Town that the articles of 
 Confederation and perpetual union between the Thirteen United 
 States, being ratified and established by each State in the Union, 
 are solemnly binding on the several Slates : and that no attempt 
 ought to be made to dissolve or weaken the same ; but on the 
 other hand if we mean to support our dignity as a nation, every 
 effort ought to be used to strengthen the Union and render the 
 Bonds indissoluble.^^ 
 
 This specific instruction might usefully be copied for not a 
 few representing the people at this day. Infamy, endless infa- 
 my be on the heads of sons who, after all these years of blessing, 
 have degenerated to traitors to the noble town-meeting loyalty 
 of our fathers.
 
 61 
 
 In 1785, a division of the county was urged by the towns in 
 the north part. A long and able protest was presented against 
 it by Foster, Hall and Upham. 
 
 The Shays rebellion has little place in the town records. 
 Many of the citizens served as soldiers, and the rebel leader him- 
 self had served as a hired man with Daniel Gilbert, Esqr., in 
 the North Parish. 
 
 A violent attack of economy was experienced by the town in 
 May of the next year. " Voted : That the person who shall be 
 chosen to represent the Town shall return all the money's he 
 shall receive over and above 5d. per day for his services at the 
 General Court, exclusive of travelling fees, to the Treasurer of 
 said Town ! " 
 
 In 1791, the question of dividing the county again returned, 
 and the selectmen of eleven adjacent towns were to be invited 
 to call meetings in those towns to choose committees to a con- 
 ference to be held at the house of Joseph Reed, Esqr. No re- 
 sult appears on the records. In October of this year is found 
 the first recorded warrant for a meeting. 
 
 In 1799, an article in the Town warrant shows that Nicholas 
 
 Jenks and others had prayed to be incorporated as a separate 
 
 religious (Baptist) Society. A protest was voted against it, 
 
 because the petition was in its principles exceptionable and in its 
 
 operation would tend to the injury not only to the inhabitants 
 
 aforesaid, but of the society themselves. It states the " o|)in- 
 
 ion that the rights of conscience ought ever to be held sacred, 
 
 and that all denominations of christians demeaning themselves 
 
 peaceably have an inalienable right of worshiping tlieir Creator 
 
 agreeably to its dictates." The protest failed and the Bajjtist 
 
 Church and Society of East Brookfield is the result of the 
 
 petitioners endeavor. 
 6
 
 62 
 
 Tlie century closed under the shadow of that great national 
 bereavement, which also closed an era, the death of Washington. 
 The town with patriotic reverence called its eminent citizen, 
 Hon. Pliny Merrick, to pronounce an eulogy on the beloved 
 Father of his Country ; for which service done on the 22nd of 
 February following, he received " the thanks of the inhabitants," 
 with the request of a copy for publication. 
 
 This century of town-life beginning as it did, amid savage 
 tragedies ; the settlement in the wilderness far from neighbors ; 
 with no extended natural feature, like sea coast, great river, or 
 national road, and with no surpassing soil, or forests, or mines, 
 was yet a remarkably prosperous century. 
 
 Superior personal character can safely be claimed for many 
 of the early settlers. Their enterprise, wisdom and culture, 
 gave the town a memorable eminence among the sister settle- 
 ments which, before the close of the century, surrounded it. 
 The names of Gilbert, Foster, Hale, Merrick, Crosby, Upham, 
 Ayres, Reed, Hamilton and Hitchcock, are set in our early his- 
 tory by counsels, acts and beneficent public influence, which 
 would adorn any annals and ensure success to any rising settle- 
 ment. These are but a part of the names that claim the grateful 
 esteem of the posterity enriched by their endurance, wisdom and 
 sacrifice. Each, family discerned through the deepening shadows 
 now settling on them, seems almost entitled to special mention. 
 The municipal acquirements found among our fathers rather 
 surprise us. No roads, bridges, or large city from which to 
 bring the implements or fruits of mechanism aided them. Until 
 about the close of the former century not a wheel vehicle had 
 passed from the River to Boston. On horseback all riding was 
 done ; and as horses were few, the roads blind, crooked, rough 
 and perilous, travel was slow and infrequent. A short distance
 
 63 
 
 made a lono; ancl perilous journey. We wonder at the rapids 
 not at the slow growth of the town. The century had been 
 truly a prosperous one. The town was well advanced in cul- 
 ture and mechanic arts at the close of it. " Seven grist-mills, 
 six saw-mills and three fulling-mills," were counted in it ten 
 years before the new century began. " Mr. Jenks," says an 
 annalist, " besides his mills prosecutes the blacksmiths' business 
 largely, and has two trip-hammers and a grindstone carried by 
 water." " Ellis & Company," he adds, " annually dress about 
 5000 yards of cloth at their works." They had reached the art 
 of coloring scarlet, equal to that imported, " an art which few 
 in this commonwealth have attained unto." Earlier is narrated 
 the establishment of " one of the first wollen factories ever at- 
 tempted in this country " by Joshua Upham in 1768, and the 
 bounty offered for one hundred muskets manufactured in the 
 town, show a remarkable advance in those trades. Watches 
 were made in the South parish by Mr. Ephraim Kingsbury, 
 about 1799, several yeai's before they were made in Worcester. 
 Mr. Cyrus Dean, now living in Brookfield,* learned his trade of 
 that watchmaker, and still occupies the original shop. A Print- 
 ing Press was set up here by Isaiah Thomas of Worcester in 
 1794, " a Printing House and Bookstore," he termed it. In 
 connection with an apprentice named Waldo, a newspaper was 
 offered to the public in September of that year, called " The 
 Worcester Intellisencer or Brookfield Advertiser." This name 
 gave place to " The Moral and Political Telegraph or Brook- 
 field Advertiser." The ownership and title were again chang(;d 
 to " The Political Repository and Farmer's Journal, by E. 
 Merriam & Co., 1798." But a short life was the portion of the 
 
 * While these pages are in press, Mr. Dean died at Brookfield, August 20th, 
 1866, aged 83 years.
 
 64 
 
 varied experiment. Tlie editors strangely overlooked local 
 news ; or what are now items of interest have only brief men- 
 tion. Thus: — "Tuesday, March, 26, 1799, the President of 
 the United States lodged in this town, on Thursday night last, 
 on his way to his seat in Quincy." No more is said. A re- 
 publican quietness toward dignity, truly ! The numbers I have 
 seen relate very little of affairs in the town or region. The 
 " business and bosoms " of the inhabitants are very dimly visible 
 in the columns. The letters by Post, however, are all publish- 
 ed. The office here served for people in Paxton, Hardwick, 
 New Braintree and all the Brookfields, and even then the week- 
 ly list is smaller than some single establishments now receive in 
 as many days. To the honor of the newspaper, an enterprising 
 article, a column in length, is found in 1799, advocating and 
 projecting a canal from Worcester to Providence, R. I. Thirty 
 years after, the vision became a reality. But though the news- 
 paper failed, the printing did not. Ebenezer Merriam carried 
 on the business of printing books, etc., for fifty years, dying in 
 1858, at the age of 80. That " Printing House and Bookstore " 
 were educators for all the region. Many of us remember the 
 curioue awe felt as we walked by the long, low, old and unpaint- 
 ed " Printing House." A mystery which stimulated the finest 
 aspirations of young and growing minds was upon it. Well do 
 I remember how precious a single capital P was esteemed, which 
 a lad had brought from the " house." The spirit of knowledge 
 seemed to lurk in the dull lead. The town is indebted to the 
 enterprising man who kept that humble lamp burning here 
 through all those years, and in addition to all other benefits, 
 trained and sent from it, that trio of sons who have put the 
 whole English speaking world under obligations by their grand 
 enterprize, the publication of their unrivalled Dictionary of the
 
 65 
 
 English Language, by Noah Webster ! Their successor in the 
 art may be creating obhgations on posterity by framing into the 
 printed page the records you are now perusing, grateful reader. 
 
 For the early settlers, there were but few physical comforts. 
 The stern necessities of life were very scantily softened in their 
 pressure by what we term comforts. Coarse was their fare, 
 rough and scanty their garb, and very rude their dwellino-s. 
 What to us would be extremely plain food was nearly luxury to 
 them. The scarcity of cattle made meat uncommon in the diet 
 of the early inhabitants. And groceries, as we term them, could 
 scarcely have been known. Birch bark for paper and a decoc- 
 tion of alder bark for ink, was the outfit of many a brave boy 
 and sprightly girl even after schools were established by law. 
 Through all the earlier years an overshadowing dread oppressed 
 the dwellers. Memory and imagination thronged with visions 
 of lurking Indians, and the boundless forests on every side of 
 them was indeed " a land shadowing with wings." The howl 
 of the wild animal, the inexplicable sounds and sights coming 
 from the unpathed woods, and the fabulous terrors told over, 
 in the grim, cavernous chimney corners, all conspired in diffusing 
 a secret and oppressive dread. It was a century of ghostly 
 tales. The traces of an old cellar are still visible, where dwelt 
 a reputed witch whose incantations were credulously recited in 
 my boyhood. It was in a wild forest far from other dwellings. 
 Imaginative and irreligious people felt those delusions more than 
 others. 
 
 But an intensified social dependence and confidence in each 
 other, brought some compensating reliefs. Neighbors valued 
 each other in a manner unknown to us. They cared for, pro- 
 tected and loved one another, and had the rewards of it. Few 
 families were blighted by drunkenness or by any vice. A drunk-
 
 66 
 
 ard, or a broken character was an abhorred anomaly, we be- 
 lieve, for the first fifty years. Life, too, was long and vigorous. 
 In 1782, a Mr. Green, above 90 years of age followed his fifth 
 child, a woman in her 62d year, above four miles to her grave, 
 " riding erect and steady on a lively horse." He died in New 
 Hampshire, above 100 years old. In the same year, 1782, died 
 in this town, Elizabeth Olds, in her 92d year. She counted 10 
 children, 73 grand-children, 201 great-grand-children, and two 
 of the fifth generation ; two of her daughters being grand- 
 mothers, making a total of her descendants 286 ; and of these 
 all but 54, or 232 were living at the time of her decease. About 
 the time above mentioned, the last survivor, as was supposed, 
 of Lovewell's fight of May 8, 1725, was living here, Mr. 
 Thomas Ainsworth. He died January 1794, aged 85. 
 
 These narrations suggest another feature of our towns, — the 
 burying places. The world over, parcels of ground devoted as 
 resting places for the dead, are found ; though in many neigh- 
 borhoods the less secure and less natural mode of private or 
 home lots are seen ; and generally from change of occupants, 
 fallen into unsightly neglect, or on their way to it. Such a 
 burial place is scarce to be found in the original Brookfield. In 
 the true friendliness of fellow mortality, dust mingles with dust 
 in common grave-yards, rather than in selfish, isolated little en- 
 closures scattered over all the lands. The place of the earliest 
 burials here is not known. Tradition indicates that it was near 
 a road connecting the Foster Hill with the main road east of the 
 meeting house. An aged citizen, Mr. Pelatiah Hitchcock, who 
 deceased some years ago, was accustomed to point out the graves 
 of the six men, (slain in 1710, in the meadow Northeast of the 
 present Railroad station,) near the entrance to what is known 
 as the old burying ground. Two men killed by the Indians
 
 67 
 
 between West and North Brookfield are said to have been the 
 first buried thei'e. One tradition is, that the six men were 
 buried there because the fog concealed the procession, as people 
 gathered to bury them, from the Indians. This may have 
 determined the site to that ground ; but the reapings of death 
 for nearly fifty years before, must have made some common 
 garner needful, and so distinct as to be discernable till now. On 
 this account I doubt the tradition found in the " Historical Dis- 
 course," and mentioned above. The " old ground " was prob- 
 ably i\ve first and only ground. There was no such dispersion 
 as the note referred to supposes. Inhabitants were here all the 
 time, and graves perpetually mark the dwelling places of men. 
 Through the entire forty years preceeding the last century, the 
 livino; were here, and death was doing its work amonor them. 
 
 " At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of Brookfield, on the 
 twenty-fifth day of October, 1756, Cap'. Nathaniel Woolcot, 
 Mod''. Voted that five acres be staked out for a Burying place 
 in the Ministry Lott." 
 
 " Voted that the Selectmen be a Committee to stake out said 
 five acres." 
 
 " On Monday y^ 17 day of April 1760 (adjourned to the 
 27th) Voted to accept the plan of five acres as it was staked 
 out by the Committee and planned by Mr. James Whitcomb, 
 Surveyor ; and ordered that it be put into the book of Records. 
 Said five acres to be for a burying place." 
 
 There is in the book a Surveyor's sketch, with the boundary 
 marks given. 
 
 In the warrant for the March meeting, 1808, the fifteenth 
 article is as follows : 
 
 " To see if the town will fence the Burial ground in the third 
 Precinct or grant the Land to the said 3rd Precinct and allow
 
 68 
 
 them the rents now due, upon condition that any individual of 
 said Town may make use of the same ; or otherwise to do and 
 act upon said subject as they shall think proper." 
 
 Voted to refer the substance of this article to Messrs. Thomas 
 Hale, Esqr., John Gleason and Lt. Rufus Hamilton as a Com 
 mittee." 
 
 March 13, 1809. " Voted to accept the report of Committee 
 respecting the Burial Ground belonging to this Town, and that 
 Capt. Simeon Draper, Lt. Jason Bigelow, Lt. Robert Cutler be 
 a Committee to spend the money now due for Rents of said 
 Burial ground in building and repairing the fence of said Burial 
 ground." 
 
 The following is the report referred to in the 4th article of 
 the warrant. (The article under which the above vote was 
 passed.) 
 
 " We, the subscribers, being appointed by the Inhabitants of 
 the Town of Brookfield a Committee to take into consideration 
 the Propriety of the Towns fencing the burial ground in the 
 3rd Parish in said Town, or grant the said burial ground to the 
 said 3rd Parish with the Rents which may be now due to said 
 Town, agreeable to an article in the warrant for March meet- 
 ing, 1808. Your Committee having attended to the business of 
 their appointment, ask leave to report as our Opinion that it is 
 not expedient to grant the said burial ground to the Inhabitants 
 of s^ 3rd Parish, as there are many People in the other Parishes 
 that have buried their Friends in said ground. But we would 
 further report as our opinion that the Town should as soon as 
 may be convenient compleat a good Wall adjoining the post 
 Road and make a good and convenient gate for People to pass 
 and repass to said burial ground and also to rebuild so much of
 
 69 
 
 the Fence on the East side of said burial ground, as may be 
 compleated with the Rents now due, and the Remainder as soon 
 as the Rents may be sufficient for the Purpose, which is sub- 
 mitted. 
 
 Thomas Hale, 
 Rufus Hamilton, 
 March 13, 1809. John Gleason. 
 
 N. B. We find due to the Town, $33. 
 
 The affairs of the present century properly belong to the Tri- 
 centeniiial orator. I will not much invade his field. Civilly, 
 the main events are the erection of the three precincts^ of the 
 former century, into ilii-ee towtiships. North Brookfield, the 
 first to separate parochially, came first to separate town estate. 
 The first recorded movement for it, is a petition, not very strong- 
 ly drawn, or honorably signed, dated June 2d, 1810. It failed. 
 The next year, a much fuller and more suitable petition, per- 
 suaded the Legislature to constitute the precinct a town. The 
 act passed February 27, 1812. The fortunes of a political par- 
 ty were so much dependent on the success of the plan, that they 
 helped it forward very efficiently. The Great Ruler had ends 
 as hio-h above theirs, as the heavens are above these hills. He 
 has been and is making those ends sure. They foiled, in the 
 first party trial after the act. The first town meeting was hold 
 Tuesday, March 10, 1812. Daniel Gilbert, Esq., was Modera- 
 tor, Moses Bond, Town Clerk. 
 
 Immediate prosperity smiled on the new Town. The manu- 
 facture of shoes for distant markets began near this time, quick- 
 ening all the pulses of industry ; busying many hands before 
 idle ; making a market for produce of the soil, before unsaleable, 
 and by growing resources diffusing the culture and comforts of 
 life to an extent reached in but few towns. Many young men
 
 70 
 
 were drawn from other towns and states, giving numbers, ener 
 e;y and character to the town, which have raised it to a praise- 
 worthy rank among her neighbors. Its late patriarch pastor, 
 Thomas Snell, D. D., pubhshed several narratives of town and 
 parish history ; a sermon on the fortieth anniversary of his 
 settlement June 24, 1838 ; a sermon on the fiftieth anniversary 
 of his settlement June 27, 1848 ; a Historical Sketch of the 
 Town, May 28, 1850 ; a Discourse, containing an Historical 
 Sketch of the First Congregational Church in North Brookfield 
 one hundred years from its organization. May 28, 1852. The 
 local history of the town has hence been quite well cared for, 
 and will, we trust, be more so in future. 
 
 In 1848, the two remaining parishes after a companionship of 
 nearly a century, took each, the forms of a separate township. 
 Both held their first town meetings March 27, 1848. In the 
 orio-inal settlement, thenceforth known as West Brookfield, 
 Alanson Hamilton presided at the first meeting, Jacob Dupee 
 was chosen Town Clerk. This meeting was opened with prayer 
 by Rev. Leonard S. Parker, then pastor. In Brookfield, Alfred 
 Rice was the first Moderator, and Washington Tufts the first 
 Town Clerk. 
 
 Thus the ancient Quaboag, first a glimmering plantation, its 
 light almost put out in blood ere its infancy was passed ; then a 
 trio of precincts or ecclesiastical municipalities, showing that 
 religion preceeded in importance all other public concerns ; these 
 parishes then ripening into townships, thus completed in two cen- 
 turies the progress from the most elemental, to the maturest 
 forms of civilized life under republican institutions. Through a 
 wasting and very critical revolution, through much internal, as 
 well as public conflict, the ancestry and the posterity kept alive 
 the spirit and form of true freedom and the simple church polity
 
 n 
 
 which shaped and educated that freedom. The plain vital doc- 
 trines of the gospel have' been preached ; taught in families, in 
 sabbath schools, and in the social intercourse of the people ; and 
 patriotism, education, peaceful and cultured social life have 
 been the visible results. 
 
 Reverently v^^e listen to the whisper of our forefathers as the 
 poet utters it : 
 
 *' Blood of ours is on the meadow, 
 Dust of ours is in the soil, 
 But no tablet casts a shadow 
 
 Where we slumber from our toil." 
 
 But better than any tablet with its shadow, shall be the 
 monument of our unfaltering fidelity to the religious and civil 
 principles which made them the men they were, and which as 
 faithfully cherished by us as by them, will make us worthy of 
 them. 
 
 You will expect me to recall a group of three reverend men 
 whose lives and toils so remarkably interblend on this soil, and 
 in the yet unwritten history of this generation. I mean the 
 pastors Fiske, Snell and Stone. Hand in hand they are seen 
 together through the larger half of this century, (the wives too 
 of their youth beside them), until the last in the group had 
 added to our historic treasures his half-century sermon. Tiieir 
 last meeting was in the pulpit of the second in order of age and 
 settlement (now the sole survivor*) at the installation of his 
 colleague, Rev. Mr. Cushino;. In the relimous life under their 
 ministries in the service of Christ, — in schools, — in domestic 
 culture, in awaking and forming the mind of this generation, 
 who can estimate their beneficent influence. 
 
 ♦Thomas Snell, D. D., died May 4, 18G2, aged 87. John Fiske, D. D., died 
 March 15, 1855, aged 84. Rev. Micah Stone died September 21, 1852, in the 
 82nd year of his age.
 
 72 
 
 The profound Edmund Burke said " when ancient opinions 
 and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be 
 estimated." It behooves us to be mindful lest the removal of 
 our " ancient men " effects the extinction of " ancient opinions 
 and rules of life." 
 
 As we began — so will we close — thankfully accepting the 
 welcome we find and feel from each other, from all the past, 
 and from the scenes amid which we assemble. 
 
 An eminent poet, who in his boyhood, dwelt in the parsonage 
 at North Brookfield for a time as a pupil to his uncle, the pastor 
 abovenamed, has woven into verse for another like occasion, the 
 story of this observance. 
 
 " Two hundred times has June renewed 
 
 Her roses, since the day 
 When here, amid the lonely wood 
 Our fathers met to pray. 
 
 Beside this gentle stream, that strayed 
 
 Through pathless woodlands then. 
 The calm heroic women prayed 
 
 And grave, undaunted men. 
 
 Hymns on the ancient silence broke 
 
 From hearts that faltered not. 
 And undissembling lips that spoke 
 
 The free and guileless thought. 
 
 They prayed, and thanked the Mighty One 
 
 Who made their hearts so strong. 
 And led them towards the setting sun, 
 
 Beyond the reach of wrong. 
 
 For them He made that desert place 
 
 A pleasant heritage, — 
 The cradle of a free born race 
 
 From peaceful age to age. 
 
 The plant they set — a little vine — 
 Hath stretched its boughs afar,
 
 73 
 
 To distant hills and streams that shine 
 Beneath the evening star. 
 
 Ours are their fields, — these fields that smile 
 
 With summer's early flowers : 
 ()h, let their fearless scorn of guile 
 
 And love of truth, be ours ! " 
 
 Ode by W. C. Bryant, Esq., for the Bi-Centennial Celebration at Hadley, June 
 , 1859.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE TWO CELEBRATIONS. 
 
 An observance preliminary to that of 1860, was held July 3d, 1858. 
 The call to it, and the Report of it in the Boston Journal of July 5, 
 1858, preserve the essential record and incidents of it. 
 
 Bbookfield, Mass. , May 22d, 1858. 
 Dear Sir: The undersigned, a Committee appointed for the purpose, by 
 the citizens of Brookfieid, North Broolifield, and West Brookfield, respectfully 
 invite you, with your family, to join us on Saturday, the third of July next, 
 for the purpose of meeting your old friends of this ancient town, and partic- 
 ipating with them in the celebration of our National Independence. 
 Hon. PLINY MEERICK, of Boston, 
 Hon. DWIGHT FOSTER, of Worcester, 
 SIMEON DRAPER, Esq. , of New York, 
 HON. AMASA WALKER of NorCh Brookfield. 
 and others, will address us on the occasion. We are also assured of a Poem, 
 by Hon. CHARLES THURBER, of Worcester. 
 
 Dinner will be provided under a large tent, at one o'clock — Tickets, $L 
 Should any of your friends who feel an interest in this meeting fail to re- 
 ceive an invitation, we will be obliged to you if you will extend one to them in 
 our behalf, as it is our wish that there should be a general attendance of all 
 connected with Brookfield, either by birth, former residence, or marriage. 
 
 One object of the proposed re-union is to make preliminary arrangements 
 for a Celebration of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of 
 this Town, which occurs in May, 1860. 
 
 In order to make necessary preparation for the dinner, we will thaTik you 
 for an early reply, (directed to the Chairman of the Brookfield Committee,) 
 giving the names of such persons as may wish to join in the festivities of the 
 occasion.
 
 76 
 
 We add, that frequent trains of cars, upon the Western R. E. will stop at 
 this place during the day and evening. 
 
 We have the honor to be 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 AARON KIMBALL 
 FRANCIS HOWE 
 LKWia ABBOTT 
 S. W. BANISTKR 
 PKIiLEY STEVENS 
 LUTHER STOWELL 
 OLIVER 0. FELTON 
 CALVIN JENNINGS 
 OTIS IIAYDEN 
 EMMOXS TWICIIELL 
 ALFRED RICE 
 
 AMASA WALKER 
 DANIEL WHITING 
 HIRAM EDSON 
 CHARLES DUNCAN 
 WILLIAM ADAMS 
 GEORGE H. LOWE 
 ROYAL nCKARD 
 EZRA BATCHELLER 
 LYSANDER BREWER 
 JAMES H. HILL 
 BONUM NYE 
 
 ALANSON HAMILTON 
 NATHANIEL LYNDE 
 EBENEZER MERRIAM 
 JOHN M. FALES 
 AUGUSTUS MAKEPEACE 
 EBENEZER FAIRBANKS 
 DAVID B. GLEASON 
 DAVID L. MORRIL 
 RAYMOND CUMMINGS 
 GEORGE W. LINCOLN 
 WARREN A. BLAIR. 
 
 ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 
 BROOKFIELD. 
 
 [From the Boston Journal.July 5, 1858.] 
 
 IN 
 
 The town of Brookfield, in the southwest part of Worcester county, and on 
 the line of the Western Railroad, was the earliest settled township in that 
 county, or between Marlboro' on the East, and Springfield on the West. It 
 was settled by a company from Cape Ann, under a grant dated May 20, 1660. 
 In the revolutionary period, Brookfield was a town of much note in that part 
 of the State ; but though now a town of much enterprise and thrift, it has 
 been outstripped by other towns possessing inferior natural advantages, and 
 settled long after the date of the Brookfield grant. The old town has been 
 divided into three — Brookfield, North Brookfield, and West Brookfield — con- 
 taining a population of 2007, 2307, and 1363, respectively. 
 
 A grand union celebration of these divisions of " the good old town " was 
 held on Saturday, the 3d instant — one object of which was to pave the way 
 for the celebration of the two Inmdredth anniversary of the settlement of the 
 town in 1660, for which extensive preparations are even now set on foot, in 
 the collection of all interesting facts that can be gleaned from the ancient 
 records of the town. 
 
 Many men distinguished in the various walks of life were born in Brook- 
 field, and a large number from diflerent parts of the county were present on 
 this occasion. 
 
 The morning of the festival day opened very Lnauspiciously ; and the thun- 
 dering of cannon and ringing of bells awoke the inhabitants to find the rain 
 falling, with but faint promise of cessation, without regard to the important 
 and interesting jubilee on the programme. Much disappointment was felt, 
 and some delay was occasioned by this ; and the number of returning wan- 
 derers by the morning trains was doubtless considerably decreased. Delega- 
 tions from the railroad station, and from the country around, including the 
 American Engine Company from West Brookfield, and the Bay State Engine 
 Company, and the Challenge (a juvenile company) from East Brookfield, 
 were received by the Cataract Company, of Brookfield, accompanied by Bond's
 
 77 
 
 Cornet Band of Boston. The churches were thrown open, and many took 
 shelter in them until the rain was over. A flag-staff had been erected on 
 the Common the previous day, 170 feet high, expressly for this occasion, and 
 the streamer from its top was anxiously watched until the wind was declared 
 to be in a safe quarter. About eleven o'clock the rain ceased, and the day 
 thenceforward went on successfully. The word " WELCOME " was 
 stretched across the principal street. Several other devices, which had been 
 ordered, had not been received. At half-past twelve the procession was 
 formed in the following order : 
 
 Geo. E. Clapp. Esq., Chief Marshal. 
 Aids — Tyler Hosman and Henry L. Mellen. 
 
 FIKST DIVISION. 
 
 Bond's Cornet Band — 20 pieces. 
 
 Cataract Engine Company of Broolcfield, Capt. Austin H. Moulton — 50 men. 
 
 Committee of Brookfleld. 
 
 Speakers and guests. 
 Citizens generally. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 American Engine Company, West Brookfleld, Cftpt. C. B. Sanford — 33 men. 
 
 Committee of West Brookfleld. 
 
 West Brookfleld Glee Club. 
 
 Citizens Generally. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 Committee of North Brookfleld. 
 
 President, Vice Presidents, Chaplain, &c. 
 
 Guests — Citizens Generally. 
 
 FOtJKTn DIVISION. 
 
 Bay State Engine Company, East Brookfleld, Capt. C. K. Willar*~-30 men. 
 
 Challenge Engine Company, (juvenile), Bast Brookfleld — Capt. Emory J. Nichols — 16 boy8. 
 
 Guests and Citizens. 
 
 The procession marched through the pi'incipal streets, making a good ap- 
 pearance, and returned to the Common, where they were joined by the ladies, 
 and from thence proceeded to the Tent, where dinner had been provided. 
 
 Tlie Dinner In tlie Tent. 
 
 Tale's mammoth tent, 240 feet long and 95 feet wide, had been erected on 
 an elevated situation near the village, commanding a fine view of the sur- 
 rounding country, in which the richly cultivated farms of intervale and high 
 land, the Quaboag river and the Podunc pond, and various interesting locali- 
 ties blend to form one of the richest views in the interior of Massachusetts. 
 Dinner had been provided for twelve hundred people, and the arrangements 
 for that number had been carried out in a highly creditable manner by Mr. 
 E. B. Shaw of Palmer, the caterer of the occasion. Seventeen tables were 
 arranged across the tent, besides which an elevated table in front of the 
 Speakers' stand was provided — occupied by the speakers and invited guests. 
 The tables were prettily laid, and amply provided with substantial provisions 
 and ornamented with bouquets and small flags. The tent was quite exten- 
 sively decorated. A line of flags was suspended from the middle of the tent 
 the entire length. All around the outside of tlie tent was festooned with 
 bunting. From the two end poles of the tent hung the following mottoes; 
 
 From the north end : 
 
 Tea Destroyed in Boston Harbor, 
 Dec. 10, 1703.
 
 78 
 
 Port of Boston closefl by the Enemy, 
 
 June 1, 1774. 
 
 Washington in command, 
 
 July 2, 1775. 
 
 Evacuation of Boston, 
 
 March 17, 1776. 
 
 From the south end : 
 
 Declaration of iDflependence, 
 
 July 4, 1776 
 
 Confederation of the United States, 
 
 July 9, 1778. 
 
 Surrender of Cornwallis, 
 
 October 19, 1781. 
 Definitive Treaty of Peace, 
 September 3, 1782. 
 
 The following mottoes were arranged before the speakers' stand : 
 
 " Forget not those who by their exertions secured to you the blessings of this Day." 
 
 " Our national honor must be preserved at all hazards." 
 
 "July 4th, 1776," 
 
 (In the centre of the stand.) 
 
 "It is henceforward what the dying Adams pronounced it — 'A great and good Day.' " 
 
 " Our country in all that is great and good — may her progress neyer cease." 
 
 The following were arranged in the rear of the speakers : 
 
 "Peace with all nations." 
 
 "John Bull and Uncle Sam — May they ever live in peace." 
 
 " Governor Winthrop, 1630 — His name and fame still live." 
 
 '• Washington — the father of his country." 
 
 (In the centre of the stand.) 
 
 "Our fathers trusted in Thee, and Thou didst deliver them." 
 
 "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." 
 
 "God be with us as he was with our fathers." 
 
 About nine hundred sat down at the table at two o'clock. This was a 
 larger number than had been anticipated during the unfavorable weather of 
 the former part of the day. The Blessing of Heaven upon the feast prepared 
 was invoked by Rev. Dr. Vaill of Palmer, and the sweet tune, " Home 
 Again," was sung by the Glee Club, under the direction of Mr. Edward Ham- 
 ilton of Worcester. An hour was then very pleasantly occupied in disposing 
 of the various dishes which made up the dinner. 
 
 The intellectual part of the feast was particularly full and pleasing. Hon. 
 Araasa Walker, of North Brookfield, presided, assisted by the following Vice 
 Presidents: Hon. Francis Howe, O. C. Felton, Abraham Skinner, Aaron 
 Kimball, Esq.. of Brookfield. Hon. Alanson Hamilton, Nathaniel Lynde, 
 Esq., Ebenezer Merriam, of West Brookfield. Col. Wm. Adams, Pliny Nye, 
 Esq., of North Brookfield. D. L. Morril, Esq., of West Brookfield was toast 
 master. At three o'clock the attention of the company was called to the read- 
 ing of the Declaration of Independence, wliich was read by Rev. S. S. Hunting 
 of Brookfield. The company then listened to the first regular toast : 
 
 The Fourth of July, 1776 — The memorable day in the history of the Amer- 
 ican nation. May its anniversary never be forgotten, and may the blessings 
 which it inaugurated for us be speedily secured for and enjoyed by every person 
 who breathes the free air of heaven within the confines of this Republic. 
 
 The Band responded with " Hail Columbia." 
 
 Hon. ^masa. "Wallcer, 
 
 Of North Brookfield, the President of the day, opened the addresses of the 
 occasion by speaking of the early history of " The good old town of Brook-
 
 79 
 
 field," which wag settled in 1G73, long before any other settlements were made 
 ill this section of the State. 
 
 Brookfield, ho said, was one of the " old towns " of the State in 1775, and 
 accordingly took an active part in the deliberative councils of that time. She 
 was not only well represented in the council, but she was also prepared for 
 war. She had more gunpowder than any other town except Charlestowa 
 (the amount was three barrels) when the war broke out, and more firelocks 
 than any other town except Lancaster. Brookfield was not lacking in patriot- 
 ism to make use of her means of defense. Some interesting statistics were 
 given of the means of defense existing, at the time of the Eevolution, in the 
 various towns. In 1781 there was a season which tried the patriotism of 
 the people more than any other. When the war was still raging, and when 
 the general government could not raise money to support the troops, the 
 towns and parishes were appealed to, and responded nobly to the appeal. 
 The precinct of Brookfield voted to tax themselves 1080 pounds sterling to 
 support twelve soldiers for three years. Corn, at that time, was worth only 23. 
 8d. per bushel. 
 
 The names of some of the noble officers and soldiers from Brookfield were 
 honorably mentioned. There was a man living, the speaker said, who could 
 remember when more business was done in Brookfield than m Worcester.^ 
 
 In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, Mr. Walker then extended a 
 cordial welcome to all who came to reunite in this festival. After a very 
 honorable reference to Judge Merrick, that gentleman was introduced to 
 the audience. 
 
 Itemarks of Jixdge IWCei'riok. 
 
 In commencing he thanked the President, and through him those present, 
 for the kindness with which he was received back again to his old home. 
 Whatever reason there had been for any who had rc-united here to-day, to 
 leave homes once lighted by paternal love, they could never be forgotten. 
 However absorbing or exacting a man's business was, these old memories 
 lasted as long as he retained his senses, and sometimes survived them. They 
 who had invited those present to come here to-day, could readily appreciate 
 their feelings when they returned to these old familiar places — coming to 
 .1 8 >clate with those who had associated with their fathers, or those who had 
 taken their places in the town. The welcome extended to them would always 
 be cherished in their hearts — not as a formally arranged festivity, but as a 
 renewal of those associations, begun in youth, which had been so long broken. 
 Assembled as they were on the day of our national independence — sur- 
 rounded by the flags of the country, and mottoes which spoke of its emanci- 
 pation from a foreign yoke, topics of a national character could not be well 
 avoided. Since July 4, 1776, this day had been regarded with joy and celebra- 
 tions. As the revolving years have brought around this day, its praise had 
 been sounded from coutitless mouths over all this vast country. Many 
 rancorous political contests had been waged, and many dangerous sentiments 
 had been allowed and recognized; but on this glorious day all had united in 
 sentiments for the perpetuation of this country, complete and inseparable.
 
 80 
 
 Succeeding generations had celebrated the day with excitements and loud 
 acclamations, and it was well they did. The day, whose anniversary was 
 thus celebrated, was not a day of pomp and ceremony. It was no time for 
 that, then. It was the time for action. But the extent of our country and 
 its various institutions, need all the warmth of patriotism to bind it together. 
 
 All, with the exception of a few who preferred to be slaves rather than 
 freemen, united in the maintenance of the same great cause. Commerce, 
 agriculture and the arts united together. Towns which had become opulent 
 by trade contributed and assumed the expenses of the war of the Revolution. 
 This was not all; the poor gave also — casting their whole living into the 
 support of liberty. Historians had embalmed the memory of many of the 
 prominent actors in the great cause, but the acts of their companions who had 
 shared equal dangers with them, but in less prominent positions, were being 
 lost to us, in a particular sense. There had been but little dissimilarity in the 
 origin of the great actors of the American Revolution. Putnam went up 
 with the soldiers who had plowed with him in the same field — uneducated, 
 but bearing as brave a heart as was ever carried into battle. Greene, in his 
 early life, was familiar with the forge in his father's blacksmith shop, 
 Washington followed the occupation of a land surveyor. Brookfield, said the 
 speaker, lierself had produced patriotism more valuable than all the auriferous 
 sands or seductive placers of gold piled up in the mountains or existing in 
 the valleys of California, or of the world ! Brookfield was ahead of the other 
 towns when the Revolution broke out. The audience had been told that it 
 had three barrels of powder when the war commenced, and it always kept it 
 " ch-y," and was ready to use it. (Applause.) 
 
 The history of the town, except in ecclesiastical and parochial matters, was 
 but imperfectly recorded, but the speaker was glad to learn that the reapers 
 in this harvest of living history were already girding themselves to bind up 
 the sheaves. Who shall say what names shall grace that page of our history. 
 Let the work be done as f\iitHfully as its importance demands. The names 
 of Ward, Appleton, and Fiske, leaders in our Israel, will figure there. These 
 considerations should be deferred till that more appropriate occasion, the two 
 hundredth anniversary, which would soon be celebrated, when the children 
 of these noble men would pay their dearest tribute to their fathers' memory. 
 But these considerations would press upon us now as we hear mentioned the 
 honorable names now represented here, and those that had been sent abroad. 
 From Plymouth Rock to the Golden Gate of the Pacific, there could hardly a 
 place be found where some representative from this old town had not rested, 
 and assisted in establishing the institutions of our country. In other lands 
 they have stood alone, and nobly represented our nation. They have flung 
 out the flag of the country, and defended it from its enemies. Whatever may 
 have been the occupation of their lives, wherever their lots had been cast, 
 they would deeply sympathize with the present residents of Brookfield in 
 their veneration of its ancient honor — and when the proposed centennial cel- 
 ebration was held, they would return to unite their voices with them in its 
 pi'aise.
 
 81 
 
 In conclusion Judge Meerick offered the following sentiment: 
 
 Brto-ncld—Brookfield as of Old. Peace be within thy walls and prosper- 
 ity within thy gates forever. 
 
 Second regular toast : 
 
 The Memory of our Departed Patriots and 8tates)nen. Their characters 
 were upright and manly— their motives were pure as the sky above them. 
 Their fame is co-extensive with the universe. May future generations emu- 
 late their virtues, practise their precepts and pay homage to their minds. 
 
 In response to this sentiment, a dirge was performed by the Band. 
 
 Third regular toast : 
 
 The Constitution and the Union. May the wisdom which framed the one 
 and the patriotism which secured the other, by the Fathers, be perpetuated in 
 the sons, so that the inheritance which was bequeathed to us may be main- 
 tained, the pride of the people, the glory of the age, and the example for the 
 world. 
 
 Hon. Wm. Appleton of Boston was expected to be present and respond 
 to this sentiment, but disappointed the audience in not being present. 
 
 Fourth regular toast : 
 
 The Sons of Brookfield. Where success is honorable, there is no such word 
 as fail. 
 
 A letter was read from Hon. Simeon Draper of New York, in response to 
 this sentiment. He had been unexpectedly detained from participating in this 
 celebration by urgent business. The spirit of the letter was accordant to the 
 words of the toast, and was highly congratulatory and eulogistic in its charac- 
 ter. 
 
 " Auld Lang Syne " was then sung by the Glee Club, with excellent effect. 
 
 Fifth regular toast : 
 
 The Patriots of Brookfield in 1776 — They showed their patriotism no less 
 by their self-denial at home than by their bravery on the battle field. 
 
 Hon. DwiGHT Foster of Worcester, descended in the second generation 
 from Brookfield, which was the residence of his grandfather, the father of the 
 late Hon. A. D. Foster of Worcester, responded. His ancestry, he said, had 
 lived here, and their graves were here, and so familiar was he with the places 
 of interest in this old town that he felt he had as good a right here as any 
 one. He referred to the ancient history of Brookfield, reading from an old 
 record of the town, of curious interest, showing the great interest and zeal 
 which this town exhibited in all its meetings during the struggle of the Revo- 
 lution. He then offered for a closing sentiment : 
 
 Our Forefathers of the town of Brookfield — May we cherish their memory, 
 imitate their virtues, and equal their characters. 
 
 Sixth regular toast. 
 
 The Veteran Schoolmaster of 1792 present with us on this occasion. — He has 
 probably taught and flogged more Brookfield boys than any other man that 
 ever lived. The remarkable success of his scholars in after life shows that his 
 instructions were good, and his discipline judiciously applied.
 
 82 
 
 The veteran schoolmaster, Mr. Kufus Dodge, who is 85 years of age, then 
 stood up and showed himself to the company. Mr. Cari of St. Charles, Mo., 
 Geo. Howe, Esq., of Boston, and Wm. Howe, Esq., of Brookfield, responded 
 briefly. 
 
 Seventh regular toast. 
 
 The President of the Massachusetts Senate — A distinguished descendant 
 of one of the most ancient and most respected families of the old town of 
 Brookfield. He has served in the councils of the nation and in the legislative 
 halls of the Commonwealth, in both with the fullest approbation of his fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 This was briefly responded to by his cousin, Henet Uphabi, Esq., of Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 The eighth regular toast — was complimentary to the clergy of Brookfield — 
 their learning, piety, success and longevity. 
 
 This toast was prepared for Eev. Dr. Sxelx. of North Brookfield, who last 
 Sunday preached his sixtieth anniversary sermon. He was not able to be 
 present, and the sentiment was responded to by Eev. C. Gushing, his colleague. 
 Four pastors were named whose aggregate pastorate had been 194 years. The 
 remarks of this speaker were particularly impressive. 
 
 Ninth regular toast. 
 
 The late Senator from the County of Middlesex — A descendant from one of 
 the most talented and brilliant families that ever lived in Brookfield. We 
 congratulate Newton and that coimty upon their adoption of one of our 
 sons. 
 
 This sentiment was happily responded to by the gentleman so warmly 
 alluded to, Dr. Hitchcock of Newton. He spoke of the county and town 
 of which he was a resident — of its history and chivalrous deeds. He spoke 
 of the marked devotion which Newton showed to the cause of liberty in the 
 struggle of the Eevolution. There, he said, labored the Apostle Elliott; there 
 were the best theological institutions, the best schools, the best young ladies' 
 seminary, the best ministers, the best physicians, the best lawyers, the best 
 fai-mers, the best mechanics, the best firemen, the best neighbors, which can 
 be found on the face of the globe. Notwithstanding all this, after so long an 
 absence he joyfully returned to greet his loved friends in his native town. 
 For him nature had never spread out such inducements as in the days of old, 
 in this goodly town. He was unable to visit them often ; other cares and 
 duties occupied his time ; but he loved to think, wherever he was, of this place 
 and those dear friends whom a kind Providence had so signally blessed. 
 
 In conclusion. Dr. Hitchcock said: 
 
 " We have to-day visited these spots where our ancestors and kindred sleep 
 in peace. They have crossed the river of death. In some instances, hardly a 
 broken slab, half legibly inscribed, tell us where they repose. How silent 
 their resting places ! So it will be with us, for we are soon to follow. We 
 are, like them, to bid a last and long farewell to loved ones. The cold sweat 
 of death will be upon our brows : the glazed eye will be unable to recognize ;
 
 83 
 
 the palsied tongue will be speechless ; and these hands cannot return the 
 gentle pressure of the idols of our hearts. When that hour shall come may 
 we be ready, so that the cold stream of death shall be to us but a rill, and may 
 the sweet music of heaven break upon our enraptured ears, destroying even 
 the sting of death." 
 
 An original ode to science was then sung by the Glee Glut, which contri- 
 buted largely to the pleasure of the occasion by its sweet music. 
 
 The celebration was eminently successful and satisfactory, notwithstanding 
 the bad weather of the morning, and the clouded sky all day. Much credit is 
 due to the following named gentlemen, the Committee of Arrangements, by 
 whose energy and enterprise the affair was rendered so decided a success : 
 Geo. E. Clapp, Esq., Geo. W. Johnson, Esq., A. H. Moulton, Charles Fales, 
 Joel Bartlett, Tyler Hosman, Wm. H. Montague, Stillman Butterworth, 
 Henry L. Mellen, George Forbes and Pliny Doane. 
 
 The great kindness and hospitality shown to our reporter merits his 
 warmest regard, and speaks nobly for the citizens of " the good old town." 
 
 THE BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBEATIOIT. 
 
 The Celebration of 1860 was announced to the public by the Cir- 
 cular following : 
 
 Beookfield, Makch 15, 1860. 
 
 DeakSie: The present year marks the Two Hundredth Anniversary of 
 the Settlement of this Town, and it is thought desirable and proper that 'the 
 event should be commemorated in a suitable manner. 
 
 A general meeting of the citizens of the several towns into which the an- 
 cient town of Brookfield has been divided, has been held, and the undersigned 
 appointed a Committee to make arrangements for the occasion, and invite the 
 attendance of all who may feel an interest in it. 
 
 We therefore respectfully extend to you an invitation to be present on the 
 Fourth of July next, the day fixed upon as on the whole the most eligible and 
 convenient. 
 
 The committee are especially desirous that all who originated in, or have 
 been residents of this place, should join in this Celebration. 
 
 The Sons and Daughters of Brookfield are scattered far and wide in all the 
 States of the Union ; but the Committee trust they will be happy to come to; 
 gether on an occasion so fraught with interesting associations and reminiscen- 
 ces. 
 
 The first settlement having been made in that part of the old town now in- 
 corporated as West Brookfield, and the site of the first Meeting House, the old 
 garrison which stood successfully the Indian Siege of 1075, the Gilbert Fort, 
 and the first Grave Yard being also in that section, the Conuuittee have decided 
 to hold the proposed celebration in that town. Ukv. Lymaj{ Wuitinu of
 
 84 
 
 Providence, K. I., has been invited to deliver the Address, and every effort will 
 be made to give interest to the occasion. 
 
 A large tent will be erected upon the Common, in which the services will be 
 held, and the dinner be provided. 
 Tickets to the Tent and Dinner, one dollar. 
 
 We have the honor to be, 
 
 Kespectfnlly, 
 
 Your Obedient Servants, 
 
 AARON KIMBALli, WM. ADAMS, ALANSON HAMILTON, 
 
 FRANCIS HOWE, EZRA BACHELLER, NATHAMPX LYNDE, 
 
 O. FELTON, CHARLES ADAMS, JB., ALFRED WHITE, 
 
 EMMONS TWICHELL, HIRAM CARRUTH, JOSIAH HENSHAW, 
 
 LUTHER STOWELL,, PLINY NYE, BAXTER BARNES, 
 
 A. H. MOULTON, AMASA WALKER, RAYMOND CUMMINGS, 
 
 GEO. W JOHNSON, BONTJM NYE, CHARLES E. SMITH, 
 
 H. L. MELLEN, E. D. BACHELLER, JOHN M FALES. 
 
 GEO. FORBES, T. M. DUNCAN, L. U. THOMPSON, 
 
 PLINY DOANE, G. B. DEWING, S. N. .WHITE, 
 
 G. W. LINCOLN, 
 
 The following report of the Celebration, is copied from The Mas- 
 sachusetts Spy, July 6, 1860. 
 
 The morning of Wednesday July 4th, opened with heavy, foreboding clouds, 
 which however, " in honor of the day," soon broke, and the sun looked down 
 with gladness, shedding splendor on the whole day and scene. 
 
 Tho decorations of Col. Beals were hung around in great profusion, mak- 
 ing the whole village. With its neat dwellings, its rich shadowy elms, and luxu- 
 riant maples, radiant with bunting, parti-colored flags, national emblems and 
 devices. The new Town Hall was bedecked with flags and streamers, and on 
 its broad front were displayed a large equestrian design representing Wash- 
 ington, with the goddess and cap of liberty on one hand, and the blind god- 
 dess of justice on the other, while below were arranged the coats of arms of 
 various of the states. Across all the principal streets were displayed flags of 
 all colors and devices, conspicuously displaying the word " Welcome " at each 
 entrance of the vihage, and across from the Town Hall was the inscription, 
 " Welcome Home, Sons and Daughters of Brookfield." 
 
 Many private dwellings were decorated with flags and evergreen wreaths, 
 as well as patriotic mottoes, most conspicuous among them being the old 
 tavern opposite the Town Hall, with the inscription., " Hitchcock Tavern, 
 1760." The Wickaboag House, near the depot, was also tastefully decorated. 
 
 The citizens of West Brookfield proceeded at 9 o'clock, under the escort 
 of the Oakham band, to Foster's Hill, the site of the first fortification, where 
 they were met by the citizens of North, South, and East Brookfield, with the 
 Brookfield Cornet band, and marched to the common. Here the final pro- 
 cession was formed, with S. D. Cooke as chief marshal, and marched through 
 the village to the grounds of E. B. Taintor, Esq., where, entering under a 
 tasteful birch, bearing the inscription, " Brookfield incorporated 1660," they
 
 85 
 
 proceeded by the lane, which was formerly the old stage road, to the old bury- 
 ing ground, near the entrance of which stood a monument inscribed:— 
 
 "Erected in memory of John White, Joseph Ktllog, Stephen Jennings, 
 Benjamin Jennings, Ebenezer Hay ward, and John Grosvenor, who were killed 
 by the Indians, July 20, 1710." 
 
 -Thence the procession returned across the old Baldwin place to the street, 
 under an ornamental arch inscribed, " 1G60. The day we celebrate. 1776 " 
 with the word " Welcome " on the reverse. 
 
 Arriving at the large tent, which was set up at the east end of the common 
 near the old Fisk store, the large company entered and completely filled the 
 tables, which had been set for twelve hundred, leaving a large margin for out- 
 siders who did not care to participate in the dinner. 
 
 The meeting being called to order, Amasa Walker, Esq., appeared as 
 president of the day, and introduced the venerable Kev. Dr. Joseph Vaill of 
 Palmer, who invoked the divine blessing. 
 
 The gathered host then spent a half hour in doing justice to the ample 
 viands spread before them by the caterers, Messrs. Cummings and Crowell. 
 
 The platform was appropriately arranged with evergreen mottoes and de- 
 vices, and set out with bouquets, which also ornamented the long tables. 
 
 Conspicuous on the platform was a banner having on one side a sketch of 
 an ancient meeting house, with a gathering Sunday crowd on foot and on 
 horseback, in the olden style, with the inscription, " Church of our Fathers." 
 The reverse bore a sketch of the Indian attack on the fortified house in 1075, 
 with the inscription, " Attack on the Last House," and " If God be for us, 
 who can be against us? " Other inscribed banners, which had been borne in 
 the procession, were conspicuously displayed in different parts of the tent. 
 
 Upon the platform sat quite an array of the old sons of Brookfield, with 
 gray and silvered locks, which formed a dignified and touching picture to the 
 view of the audience. 
 
 The edibles being disposed of, the president of the day, Mr. Walker, offered 
 in eloquent terms, a welcome to the sons, daughters, and former residents of 
 the old town, to this historical reunion. Then recurring to IGOO, he said it 
 was tlie time of the restoration of the Stuarts, one of the darkest and most 
 gloomy in English history. Louis XIV. was just entering upon his 
 brilliant but desperate career in France, and this, when the cause of liberty 
 in Europe seemed hopeless, the early settlers of New England were planting 
 the institutions of freedom in the new world. This settlement was not the 
 mere outgrowth of a crowded civilization, but an independent establishment; 
 it was a vine planted in the wilderness. There were no settlements within 
 thirty miles, Lancaster in the east, and Springfield in the west, and this was 
 made half a century before any nearer was attempted— fifty-seven years before 
 Brimfield, the first after, and eighty-nine years before Oakham, the next, 
 while the proud city of Worcester was still a swamp, and Leicester hills were 
 covered with wild forests. The great i-easons why this was made so early a 
 point for settlement, were, first, this beautiful plain was open and clear of
 
 86 
 
 trees, and all ready for the culture of the hushandmen ; second, the broad and 
 beautiflil meadows offered ample supplies of grass and hay for their stock; 
 ajid third, the beautiful poiids, rivers, and brooks, were amply stocked with fish, 
 for their earlier and later wants. 
 
 Remarking further upon the ancient glory and importance of this town, 
 above others near it, Mr. Walker introduced the Orator of the day, a native of 
 North Brookfield, the Eev. Lyman Whiting of Providence, R. I. 
 
 The Orator opened with an eloquent welcome to the gathered sons and 
 daughters. Thence passing on, he reviewed the attractions of the place for 
 early settlement, and sketched the recorded history of its occupation. He 
 called attention to the fact that it was largely the Saxon desire for landed 
 possessions that led these settlers into this wilderness, really a land specula- 
 tion, that led the western emigrants of that day lo locate in this western 
 reserve, in the place of pushing further into the distant Illinois of the Con- 
 necticut valley. He dilated in eloquent and glowing terms upon the heroism 
 and daring that led these settlers to locate at the chief seat of so warlike and 
 fierce a tribe of Indians as were the Nipmucs. 
 
 He then brought in record the various interesting historic facts and in- 
 cidents connected with this settlement, such as the grant to the original com- 
 pany from the General Court in 1660, the deed from the Indians in 166.5, and 
 the memorable and fearful events of the King Philip war in 1675, the terrible 
 events of which, as they transpired in detail on this soil, he portrayed in 
 graphic and telling periods, with occasional bursts of impassioned eloquence. 
 
 After this he came to the earliest sacred records of the town in its organic 
 capacity, holding up a dilapidated manuscript leaf containing the first record 
 extant. He also exhibited an original deed of land from Ebenezer Scott and 
 William Scott of Springfield, to Thomas Barnes of Brookfield, in 1708, ad- 
 dressed " To all Christian People to whom these presents shall come," as the 
 earliest surviving deed of laud in this town. 
 
 In reading extracts from the early records, many of historic interest were 
 given, and many of curious quaintness; many of them showing the historic 
 characteristics of the early churches, and the history of the various early 
 clergymen of this town , which he brought to the present generation, this his- 
 tory being quite full and complete. 
 
 The following is a specimen from the town records of 1721 : — " Voted to 
 build good strong plain seats in ye body of ye meeting house." 
 
 The speaker then reviewed the prominent men who in early days were lo- 
 cated here, speaking of the Dwights, the Uphams, the Fosters, and others, 
 attributing to Mr. Upham the building of the first woolen mill on the continent, 
 and dwelling at length upon the virtues and meritorious characteristics of 
 Hon. Jedediah Foster, and his descendants, to the late Hon. A. D. Foster of 
 this city. 
 
 He then came to the records of the Revolution, which are full of patriotic 
 transcripts, one of them calling on *' all the world to witness our indignation 
 at the importation of tea to be peddled out among us, which is a more deadly
 
 87 
 
 poison to our political and moral constitutions than ratsbane is to our 
 physical." 
 
 A year and twelve days before the Declaration of Independence, this town 
 voted to sustain the Colonial Congress, if they should vote to dissolve their 
 connection with the mother country. 
 
 A few specimens of the " Moral and Political Telegraph, or Brookfield 
 Advertiser," which was published a few years, commencing in 1794, was 
 exhibited — one of them in 1796, advocating the project of a canal to Provi- 
 dence, and suggesting that books be opened for subscription, among other 
 places, at Worcester. 
 
 Also a copy of " The Political Repository or Farmers' Journal," Volume 3, 
 Number 180, published at Brookfield, March 31, 1801, was held up to view. 
 
 The oration, which occupied nearly two hours, was full of historic facts of 
 great value to all interested in the town as well as to the antiquary, and occa- 
 sionally leaving dry details, the orator brought out many glowing eloquent pas- 
 sages, and closed with an eloquent tribute to the three venerable clergymen who 
 were so near contemporaneous, and who each lived to preach to the churches 
 of their first love their half-century sermons. Rev. Mr. Stone of South Brook- 
 field, Rev. Dr. Snell of North Brookfield, and Rev. Dr. Fiske of New Brain- 
 tree, quoting, as a finale, some beautiful lines of Bryant appropriate to such 
 an occasion. 
 
 Arrangements were made for the publication of this valuable history of the 
 town. 
 
 Blanks were distributed through the audience, to be filled out with the 
 names and other statistics of all the sons and daughters present, for publica- 
 tion, with the address and other proceedings of the day. 
 
 George W. Lincoln, Esq., the toastmaster, then read the sentiments as 
 follows : — 
 
 The Perils and Sufferings of the Early Settlers — The price paid for our 
 civilization and freedom — we will not forget our obligations. 
 
 Brookfield — Forty-five years under tutelage, she has attained to her major- 
 ity, and has greater reason than any ancient Spartan of being proud of her 
 sons. 
 
 This was responded to by Rev. C. Cushing of North Brookfield, who gave 
 some historic sketches of the past sons, with complimentary notices of some 
 of the more recent sons who had distinguished themselves in business, in the 
 pulpit, at the bar, on the bench, and in the medical profession, giving also a 
 list of the college graduates from this town. 
 
 The Ministry of Brookfield — Noted for long life and long pastorates; may 
 their successors emulate their virtues, and receive in like measure the bless- 
 ing of their Lord. 
 
 Responded to by Dr. Eliakim Phelps of Pliiladelphia, forty years ago pas- 
 tor of the first precinct church, (West Brookfield,) eloquently setting forth 
 the duties and influence of the ministry, and the importance always set upou 
 it by the inhabitants of this town.
 
 The Three Brookfields—Lxke the three graces, all beautiful, and so ranch the 
 more for the contrast and variety which they present; may they never cease 
 to vie with each other in all useful and honorable enterprise, as well as in 
 rendering more and more attractive their homesteads and villages. 
 
 Eesponded to by N. B. Charaberlin, Esq., of Boston, (a native). 
 
 By E. W. Bond, Esq., of Springfield, (a native) :— 
 
 The Tri-Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Brookjield — May it 
 dawn upon a people as eminent for their virtues, their noble and heroic qual- 
 ities, as the people of the first and second centuries in its history. 
 
 The System of F)-ee Schools, established by our Fathers — It opens a straight 
 and unobstructed pathway from the threshold of every abode, however hum- 
 ble, to the highest places of usefulness, influence, and honor. 
 
 Responded to by Rev. Mr. Burr of Soutli Brookfield, sketching the bistory 
 of the free schools of New England, complimenting the early connection of 
 the schools with the church, and regretting the tendency to separation there- 
 from. 
 
 Our National Banner — Wherever on the earth's surface the eye of the 
 American beholds it, may lie rejoice and have reason to bless it; on whatever 
 spot it is planted, there may freedom have a strong foothold, humanity a 
 brave champion, and religion a pure altar. 
 
 Rev. C. M. Cordley of West Brookfield, pastor of the original Brookfield 
 church, responded in historic and patriotic reminiscences, and instruction as 
 a religious civilian. He spoke of the number of members of this church who 
 had fallen at various distant points of» battle in the struggle for the establish- 
 ment of the nationality of tliis flag, and closed by expressing the hope that it 
 may soon wave over all the inhabitants of the land, as free citizens, whether 
 black or white. 
 
 A letter was here read from Hon. P. Merrick (a native), regretting his 
 detention by ill health from this celebration. 
 
 The following letter was also read : — 
 
 Boston, June 28, 1860. 
 Gentlemen — Your communication, inviting me to attend the two hundredth 
 anniversary of the settlement of the town of Brookfield, would have been 
 sooner replied to, but for the liope that I might be able to accept your invita- 
 tion, which I am compelled to decline. 
 
 I have known but little of Brookfield or its inhabitants since my childhood, 
 yet I feel much interested in the place of my nativity, and where rests the 
 mortal remains of my«uich beloved and respected father. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Wm. Appleton. 
 Messrs. Aaron Kimball, Francis Howe, and others. 
 
 N. B. — I enclose a check for one hundred dollars, which please apply 
 toward the expenses of the celebration. 
 
 Our Boy, East Brookfield — A promising minor, destined soon to come to 
 his rights; he bids fair to make a vigorous and honored member of th^. 
 old family of Brookfields. 
 
 Our boy " Warren," loho left his Parent and set up for himself in 1741.^ 
 He might have been a little wayward in his youth, but he makes a likely man, 
 and does honor to the present age.
 
 89 
 
 . Kesponded to by T. M. Duncan of North Brookfield, in prose and verse, 
 
 A Pure Church, and Free Schools, and a Government responsible to the 
 People — These were the great ideas which brought- our fathers to New Eng- 
 land, and our greatest honor will be to have aided in the development of 
 these institutions. 
 
 Rev. W. H. Beecher of North Brookfield spoke to this, speaKing of the 
 necessary result from and connection with the free schools of a free church, 
 and a free government responsible to an intelligent people. 
 
 Shattoockquis, the Indian Chief, who sold Quaboag to Ensign Cooper for 
 three hundred fathoms of Wampum — He doubtless thought he made a good 
 bargain with the white men at the time, but if he were here, to-day, he could 
 not buy it back for twice the money. 
 
 By Wm. B. Draper, Esq., of New York, (a natire). 
 
 Brookfield Two Hundred Years Ar/o — Then only one town, now divided 
 into three ; may they henceforth become as one hi all that elevates humanity. 
 
 The Early Settlers of Brookfield — The light that on their heads two hun- 
 dred years have shed, shall ne'er grow dim. 
 
 By Dr. John Homans of Boston, a native: — 
 
 The Ancient Town of Brookfield — In the period of our Revolutionary 
 struggle, distinguished for her patriotism, and for her liberal contributions to 
 the relief of her distressed fellow-citizens, and always honored in the industry, 
 enterprise, and intelligence of her sons and daughters, at home and abroad. 
 
 The Three Christian Pastors of the Last Century in Brookfield — Ephraim 
 Ward of the West Parish, Micah Stone of the South, and Thomas Snell of the 
 North — three shining lights. Two of them are already placed in the upper 
 temple, one still burns with the golden glow of a saintly old age. 
 
 Dr. Jabez B. Upham of Boston here made a brief speech, giving some 
 interesting reminiscences of the Upham family, for a long time so prominent 
 in West Brookfield, and closed with the following sentiment: — 
 
 Our Descendants, the Sons and Daughters of Brookfield One Hundred 
 Years hence — May they incline to hide, with the mantle of all-covering 
 charity, the sins, negligence and ignorance, of this our day and generation. 
 
 Master Ranger, the Last Surviving Teacher of a former Generation — May 
 he long live and have the satisfaction of knowing that his old pupils are 
 behaving well. 
 
 ' Master Ranger, a veteran of seventy-five years, and white hair, stood up 
 .and practised his old scholar, the president of the day, in the ornament of 
 making polite bows, whereupon Rev. Dr. Phelps congratulated him upon the 
 proficiency of his pupil. 
 
 The Absent Sons and Daughters of Old Brookfield. 
 
 The Merriams of Springfield — The enterprising and worthy publishers of 
 that great " American institution," Webster's Unabridged Dictionary ; they 
 are sons of whom Brookfield is proud. 
 
 By Geo. Forbes, Esq : — 
 
 Old Brookfield — She has turned out many brave boys and modest maidens, 
 and sent them to prairie and town. May she continue year by year to add
 
 90 
 
 recruits of true inanliood and •womanhood who shall be living epistles and 
 proof of lior worth. 
 
 Kov. Hubbard Winslow, D. D. of Brooklyn, N. Y., made a short speech. 
 
 Judge Danforth of New York, (a native,) seventy-four years absent, spoke 
 briefly, also Deacon Josiah Gary of St. Charles, Mo., (a native;. 
 
 The president here exhibited a note of the Massachusetts colonial currency 
 numbered 5655, and dated December 1, 1772, for the amount of five shillings 
 and four pence; also a stone pot, of Indian manufacture, of the capacity of 
 about two gallons, which was found in the earth near the Wickaboag pond. 
 
 Conspicuous upon the desk was also a lignum vitae mortar and pestle that 
 showed a long and ample service, with a card reading as follows: — "This 
 mortar was the property of John Howland, one of the Pilgrims, who landed 
 from the Mayflower at Plymouth, in 1620. His descendant in the fifth gene- 
 ration, Southworth Howland, resided in West Brookfield for half a century, 
 till 1843. His widow and surviving sons and daughters are present to-day. 
 
 George Howe, Esq., of Boston, offered the last sentiment, as follows: — 
 
 The Ladies of the Three Brookfeldfi— Among whom may be found those 
 capable of acting in the place of Victoria herself. 
 
 The band, which had through the whole afternoon interspersed their 
 music with the other exercises, here played a parting tune, and the gathering 
 dispersed, well pleased with the exercises, and having never before assembled, 
 never expecting again to assemble for a centennial celebration of the settle- 
 ment of this old town.
 
 91 
 
 CONCLUDING NOTE. 
 
 The interval between the giving of this Oration, and the printing 
 of it, arose from many and complicated causes ; — the action of the 
 several towns ; the great war of Southern Rebellion ; the author's 
 removal to a distant state, etc. etc. 
 
 The work after all the labor and care spent on it, will come short of 
 the expectations of many, — of none more than of the author. It is 
 really but a thread drawn through our multiform town history ; not 
 the history itself. A volume would be filled with fragments of the 
 great story, unwillingly left behind, as I have traversed the stern 
 and shadowy realm of our heroic past. Who will gather and pre- 
 serve these precious traditions and fragments of record? Now they 
 are within reach. Soon they will be gone past recovery. 
 
 Rev. Christopher M. Cordley, sometime pastor at West Brook- 
 field, — now deceased, — gathered for me a score of pages of capital 
 traditions, — of forts and roadsj; and family legends of the Gilbert, 
 Barnes and a few other families. They are a choice bundle of 
 local archaeolgy ; so also, are some pages by Joel Jennings, Esq., 
 as to Mason's Kill and Forts, at Brookfield, etc. Also a fine 
 sketch of his father's family, and extended notes of several other 
 worth}' households, from the pen of the Hon. Amasa Waeker. A 
 few pages fCill of curiosities as to North Brookfield's early days and 
 ways, from Hon. Freeman Walker, betray him as having a rare 
 aptitude for, and a store of that rich legejidary lore, which so beau- 
 tifies and enriches history. A few other scraps, like the Sybil's 
 leaves, growing costly as they diminish, await some patient annalist. 
 Not long will they wait. 
 
 It was my hope and purpose to edit and blend into this print, 
 these treasures from the past ; as also notices of the royal men and 
 families who planted these towns. But that would be forming a 
 volume, which was not the service to which I was called ; and, se- 
 lecting some families, to the neglect of others, would exi)oso me to
 
 92 
 
 the complaints of sensitive survivors. So these touching, precious 
 and instructive local traditions, and the family genealogies, are left 
 to some faithful lover of our truly heroic ancestry. 
 
 The substantial historic frame-work, I am happy to think, -will be 
 found in this Oration, — which, with the reverent admiration of a child 
 toward a worthy parentage, has been, with much pains-taking 
 drawn up, and is now fraternally presented to my Townsmen and 
 Friends. 
 
 To those now living, I give joyous salutations for the Times in 
 which we live ; to those who shall come after, I send hopeful assur- 
 ances now enjoyed, of a day radiant with the glories of which our 
 Fathers saw only the fainter beams of its dawn. The Redeemer 
 in whom they trusted is strong. 
 
 LYMAN WHITING. 
 
 Dubuque, Iowa, February, 1869. 
 
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