KEEP 
 A Discourse. 
 
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 A DISCOURSE 
 
 -^DBLIYB!^BD ^ AT ^ BLANDFORD. ^ MASS.f^ 
 
 GIVING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE 
 TOWN AND THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 -BY- 
 
 REV. JOHN KEEP, 
 
 I" 
 
 Pastor of the Congregational Church in Bla^idford 
 from 1 80^ to 1821. 
 
 I'RINTED FROM A RECENTLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT COPY 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES W. EDDY, 
 
 WARE, MASS. 
 1886. 
 
 ' 1 '
 
 Blandford, March, 20, 1821. 
 
 A History of some of the interesting evepts respecting 
 the first settlement of the town of Blandford, its progress 
 and the character of the people to the present period. 
 
 N. B. With much difficult}' has this statement been 
 made. The Records of the town and church are ver}' de- 
 ficient.
 
 Deut, xxxii : 7. 
 
 'RKMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF MANY GENE- 
 RATIONS, ASK THY FATHER AND HE WILL SHOW THEE, THY 
 ELDERS AND THEY WILL TELL THEE." 
 
 This instructive and affectionate language was addressed 
 by Moses to the people he had rescued from bondage, and 
 had conducted forty years through the wilderness to the 
 borders of Canaan. During the whole of this period he 
 had felt for them the deepest interest, and so long as life 
 was allowed him he was prepared to devote himself to their 
 benefit. But God had forbidden him to enter Canaan He 
 was only permitted to ascend to the top of Pisgah, and to 
 view at a distance the fertile country, which several hun- 
 dred years before had been given to the seed of Abraham, 
 who had alread}^ encamped on this side Jordan. Fresh in 
 his own recollection were the tremendous scenes they had 
 witnessed previous to their deliverance from bondage. 
 The toils and perils of the wilderness, the entire destruction 
 of all who had crossed the Red Sea, except himself, Caleb, 
 and Joshua. The whole book of Deuteronomy is his fare- 
 well address, and the text evinces his ardent desire that the 
 people might cherish the remembrance of what had trans- 
 pired and carry with them to Canaan a grateful sense of 
 the divine goodness. 
 
 Ever}' person of common sense feels an interest in knowing 
 something of his ancestors. The well informed mind will 
 eagerly peruse the page of history and receive from the 
 example of others some of its most valuable lessons of in- 
 struction. But a small portion of what transpires in the 
 world is ever recorded. The occurrences of the domestic 
 circle and the more public transactions of a town seldom 
 employ the pen of the historian. At the same time these 
 scenes furnish the most interesting events that ever occur- 
 red in the world : and although they are not emblazoned 
 on the page of history, we may dwell upon them with
 
 delight, and as we cherish their remembrance, impart to 
 each other a rich entertainment, by a recital of what our 
 fathers did and said. And as we drOp a tear on their 
 grave, awake to renewed activity in the instruction of our 
 own children, that they to may talk of their father's works 
 and deeds, and treading in their steps may walk in the path 
 of virtue. 
 
 In presenting to you the history of this town I shall not be 
 able to enliven the narrative by much variety of anecdote, 
 or to enrich it by a continued series of facts, which will 
 awaken to any considerable extent either public or private 
 interest. But to the most of you the little which I can give 
 will excite some interest and I trust prove instructive as 
 well as amusing. I shall probably present some things 
 which might better be read on some other day than the 
 Sabbath, and in some other place than the desk. But I 
 hope the tendency of the whole will be salutary and that 
 the impression left ma}^ be such as to make the mind solemn 
 and to awaken gratitude. My statement, imperfect as it is, 
 has cost me much time and labor. Materials are scant}' 
 and obscure. 
 
 The original records of the town were burned in Boston, 
 and when the town clerk began his journal he was far from 
 being very particular or lucid. Jacob Laeytoh of Suffield 
 held the first grant of this town, then six miles square. 
 He sold it to John Fay, Francis Brinley and Francis Wells 
 of Boston. They employed General Newburv of Windsor 
 to survey the town. By this survey it appeared that the 
 original grant covered an area of seven miles square. 
 When the proprietors petitioned the court for the grant of 
 the aditional mile their request was allowed on the condi- 
 tion that they would put into the town forty settlers. 
 
 This was then a frontier town, and it was the wish of the 
 court to fill it with inhabitants, so as to keep the Indians in 
 check, and prove a safeguard to the older settlements. With 
 this specified condition the proprietors complied, and as an 
 inducement to the settlers to encounter the dangers and 
 toils of a wilderness, they gave to each of the first forty 
 or fifty families two sixty-acre lots, one for each upon the 
 main street as it now runs through the town, and one each 
 in the second division of lots. All these families came from 
 the town of Hopkinton and its vicinity, about thirty-four 
 miles from Boston. After they had formed their company 
 in Hopkinton and resolved upon the expedition, they sent 
 a few young men as pioneers, to mark the course and to 
 erect a few log huts for the temporar}^ accommodation of
 
 the company upon their first arrival. These youths 
 reached the centre of the town the last of April. The day 
 of their arrival a snow storm commenced and continued 
 three days, collecting at the depth of between three and 
 four feet. They were ten miles from Westfield, the near- 
 est settlement, and seven miles from the nearest house. 
 I need not tell you what must have been their feelings in 
 the wilderness in such circumstances. No shelter except 
 what they could form by the boughs of trees, no fire to 
 warm their bodies or food, except what they would make 
 by some rock or stone. Happily for them the cold soon 
 subsided, and in about four days the snow was so much 
 melted as to permit them to pursue their business of felling 
 trees and burning them, and of erecting log huts for the 
 generous reception of their friends whom they left in Hop- 
 kinton. 
 
 As nearly as I can ascertain the fact, the tirst families 
 moved into the town in the autumn of 1735. In the follow- 
 ing spring the residue of the company arrived. They 
 made their settlement upon the main street which now runs 
 through the town. The name of the man who first came 
 with his family into town was Hugh Black. He settled on 
 the place where Captain Luke Osborn lived aud died. On 
 this spot stood the first house ever inhabited in this town. 
 Here commenced the civilization of the wilderness in the 
 immense tract of countr^^ which overspread these moun- 
 tains. 
 
 The next man who came with his family was James 
 Baird. He erected his dwelling upon the lot where the 
 house stands which is now occupied by William Sanderson. 
 A distance of nearly four miles from Mr. Black, the only 
 English family in town. To us it is a matter of siu'prise 
 that the two families did not settle in the same neighbor- 
 hood. But it is commonly the fact that those who have the 
 enterprise and hardihood to penetrate with families into a 
 wilderness manifest great fondness for independence, and 
 choose to settle where surrounding improvements may 
 testify my hand has done all this. 
 
 At the house of Hugh Black the proprietors began to 
 number the farms which they designed to give to the first 
 fifty families. The settlers drew lots for the choice, and I 
 have it in my power to give you the names of the twenty- 
 five who obtained the farms upon the west side of the pre- 
 sent town street. Beginning with Mr. Black, Elder 
 Reed was next, then Thomas McClentock, Mr. Tag- 
 gart, Mr. Brown, Mr. Anderson, Armor Hamilton,
 
 Rev. Mr. McClentock, Robert Black, Mr.— Wells, 
 now occupied by Captain Watson, Matthew Blair, 
 Elder Stewart, John Hamilton, James Montgomerj-, two 
 
 lots, John Boies, Samuel Ferguson, Brown, David 
 
 Campbell, Deacon William Bo'ies, Robert Wilson, Robert 
 Sinnet, Robert Young and William Knox. Most of these 
 persons here named settled upon the lots they drew. In 
 some instances an exchange was made, and in some in- 
 stances a sale. We perceive, that on some of the lots, 
 descendants of the same name reside. 
 
 The north lot taken up was the one which is now partly 
 occupied by Israel Gibbs. The whole distance between 
 the house there and Montreal in Canada was one trackless 
 wilderness, without a single English family. A fort had 
 been erected at Williamstown, another at Crown Point. 
 But they were occupied only by a few soldiers in time of 
 war. The first framed house was built upon the lot now 
 occupied by Captain Elijah Knox. The team which drew 
 the first cart that entered the town was driven by Israel 
 Gibbs, the father of deacon Ephriam Gibbs, who still sur- 
 vives. Mr. Gibbs made his settlement on the place now 
 occupied by Samuel Boies. I cannot ascertain how many 
 families came on with this team. The day the}" started from 
 the place now bearing the name of Sacket's Tavern, at the 
 foot of the mountain, they travelled about two miles and 
 encamped for the night in the woods. The next day the}' 
 succeeded in reaching the top of Birch Hill, and encamped 
 again for the night, where beasts of prey roamed, and 
 venomous reptiles denned. The third dav they reached 
 the log house on the lot where John Hamilton now lives, 
 and found a comfortable lodgment in the bosom of friends. 
 A portion of them were going still further north. The 
 place which is now termed the Causeway was then a thick 
 hemlock swamp. The whole of the next day was occu- 
 pied in getting through this swamp. One of the most 
 athletic of the men, James Baird, was so fatigued that im- 
 mediately after he had left the swamp, he lay down under a 
 hemlock tree and there retired till morning. Some state 
 that his family of eight persons remained with him. The 
 others of the company urged on a few rods further to the 
 house which had been provided for them. 
 
 In a similar manner, all the first families urfjed their toil- 
 some journey to then- respective places of residence. Thev 
 must have commenced their settlements under many 
 disadvantages. This is true of every new settlement. But 
 those who now penetrate our western and southern wilder-
 
 ness have it in their power to command many facilities 
 which could not be possessed by the first settlers of this 
 town, and one obvious reason is, that the whole country 
 was then in its infancy. 
 
 Some of the first settlers must have been men of great 
 firmness and enterprise. Others were irresolute and 
 poorly qualified for the adventures of the wilderness. For 
 many years the inhabitants were poor. Often did they 
 petition the proprietors of the town for great indulgences, 
 and the general court for grants of money, salt and exemp- 
 tion from taxes. As it was the frontier town the court was 
 favorabl}^ inclined toward them. In 1755 they gave the 
 town a swivel as an alarm gun, a quarter barrel of powder, a 
 bag of bullets and one hundred flints. In 1758 the court 
 gave the town five pounds for the benefit of schools, and 
 several times excused them from sending their equal pro- 
 portions of men, as soldiers into the service. Twelve 
 years after the town was settled, it was voted that a letter 
 be sent by Thomas McClintock to the proprietors of the 
 town to lay the weakness of the town before them, and 
 to entreat them to beg his excellency entreating that help 
 may be sent, — that some method be ordered for their 
 boarding, because the town is not in a capacity to board 
 them. The help requested in this vote is some person to 
 preach to them. And it is evidence that the people at 
 that time found it difficult to board their preacher. Roads 
 were slowly obtained, and this with great difficulty and 
 expense, and communications to the different parts of the 
 town, as well as out of it were attended with labor. For 
 the first years, and from what I can find, for about ten 
 years the inhabitants were obliged to go ten miles to a 
 grist-mill for all their grinding. This would occupy a day 
 for a man who owned a horse, but many had not this ac- 
 commodation. When the families first came on there was 
 little hay cut. A cow and a very few sheep, a man fore- 
 handed could keep through the winter. Hence, many 
 were obliged to keep their horses, in the winter season, at 
 Westfield. For such, it would be necessary in order to 
 get their grain ground, first to go after their horse, then 
 take their corn to Westfield to mill, and return with the 
 meal, and then go back again with the horse and come 
 home on foot. This would make a man sixty miles travel 
 to get home to his family with one grist of meal. This was 
 a common occurrence in the first settlement of this town. 
 The first grist-mill which did much business, was erected, 
 I believe, in the 3^ear 1755, about twenty years after the
 
 8 
 
 town was settled. It stood upon the stream a little below 
 where Deacon Smith now resides. 
 
 These facts respecting the grist-mills are of special im- 
 portance to enable us to judge of the fatigue and expense 
 which must have been incurred by the tirst settlers in fur- 
 nishing their families with bread. Indian corn was the 
 chief support of the inhabitants for a long time after they 
 had commenced their settlement. This grew luxuriantly 
 when the land was new. The first frame barn was built 
 by Israel Gibbs, thirty feet square, and the rum consumed 
 when filling it with hay was less than one quart. For 
 several of the first years of their residence here the inhabi- 
 tants suffered much from fear of the Indians. In 1749 ^^^ 
 the families except four were so alarmed as to flee from the 
 town. Some to Westfield, others to Sufiield, Windsor, 
 Simsbury and Weathersfield. Some of these families 
 returned in the fall, others retired till the next spring before 
 they returned. Early in the settlement three forts were 
 erected for the safety of the people : one upon the lot now 
 occupied by Captain Elijah Knox, the other where Mr. 
 Tuttle now lives, and the other the lot occupied by Samuel 
 Boies. For more than a year all the families w^ere col- 
 lected every night into these forts as a safe lodging place. 
 How great the inconvenience and discouragement of 
 such a mode of life I And after the people presumed to lodge 
 in their ow'n dwellings the cases were frequent, in which, up- 
 on an alarm, they would in the dead of night hurry wath 
 their families to the fort. When they were in the field for 
 w^ork, they would take whh them their arms, set one as a 
 sentinel while the others labored ; nor did they deem it 
 safe to meet on the Sabbath for religious worship except 
 they took with them their arms. 
 
 These fears and dangers attended all the settlements in 
 this country. The Indians were its original owners and 
 they were unwilling to be driven back. Hence, frequent 
 bloody Indian wars. As the event, however, proved the 
 inhabitants of the mountains were not so much exposed to 
 Indian warfare and depredations. The banks of rivers 
 were the common resort of the Indians, and the mountains 
 w^ere considered by them as groun<i on which they might 
 occasionally hunt. Many in the river towns were killed 
 by the Indians. My father's grand-father w^as shot on 
 Sabbath morning when with his wife upon the farm horse 
 he was riding to Springfield to attend meeting. But I 
 cannot learn that a single life was lost by the malice of 
 the natives, or a single gun fired at any of the settlers in
 
 this town, by the Indians, Often were the people driven 
 to their forts by false alarms, and when Indians were seen 
 they were either friendly or harmlessly pursuing their 
 game. 
 
 In the original grant of the town ten acres were reserved 
 in the centre for public uses. In 1742 the burial ground 
 was laid out, and all the inhabitants of the town that paid 
 rates were warned to appear at the burial place at 8 o'clock 
 in the morning on the sixteenth of September for the pur- 
 pose of clearing up the ground. Any who should be 
 absent was to pay a fine of six shillings. 
 
 Very limited were the means of Education which the 
 children of the first settlers enjoyed. Parents taught 
 their children what they could, without any expectation of 
 an opportunity to send them to school. The first school 
 was taught b}' James Carter, a sea captain, in the house of 
 Robert Black, because it had in it two rooms. For several 
 years the schools were kept in dwelling houses. Two 
 months in the year were all that could be allowed. No school 
 was taught by a woman till about 1770. Id 1762 or '6^ the 
 the town was divided into three districts, and a vote passed 
 to put three school houses : one where the house for the 
 hearse now stands, one near Andrew Wilson's, and one 
 near Cornelius Cochran's. The one in the second division 
 was not built till the year after. When these houses were 
 erected the people made such advances in the means of 
 education as to be willing to employ a teacher three months, 
 allowing one month to each district. This was only fifty- 
 nine years ago. In 1756 a road was opened between this 
 town and Great Barrington. The journey, however, from 
 one place to the other was hazardous. Two men were 
 known to have died on account of the fatigue of the way. 
 For a considerable time the only method of conveying 
 heavy articles was upon a dray. 
 
 The civil concerns of the town proceeded much as we 
 should expect in a place so retired and where inhabitants 
 are universalh^ engaged in agricultural pursuits. In their 
 town meetings the attention has been called to the internal 
 regulation of the town in most instances. It appears, how- 
 ever, from their records that this people have not been in- 
 different to the great question which has agitated and con- 
 cerned the country at large. While under the king the}' 
 were loyal, when measures were taken to gain from parlia- 
 ment a redress of grievances they bore a part, and, when 
 able, sent their delegates to the great public meetings, at 
 Concord, Watertown and Boston. In many instances how-
 
 lO 
 
 ever, thev pleaded their poverty as an excuse for the omis- 
 sion. When independence was declared and arms against 
 the mother countrv assumed, some were forward in the 
 opposition and boldly declared their loyalty to the king. 
 Hence, committees of safety were often appointed, and 
 several were forbidden to go any farther from home than 
 the limits of their farms. But it does not appear that these 
 men occasioned the town any trouble or expense. 
 
 The town cheertully bore its expense in the war, furnish- 
 ed its proportion of soldiers, and sent a delegate to vote in 
 the acceptance and ratitication of both the state and the 
 national constitutions. For the benefit of those who were 
 called into the army, a hospital was erected, that they 
 might receive the small pox by inoculation. The small 
 pox was common in the country at that time, and for several 
 years after. But the dreadful malady seems now to be 
 almost exterminated trom the earth, by the benign and 
 happ}' effects of kine pox inoculation. 
 
 Much of the heavv military stores, which during the war 
 of the revolution, were carried from Boston to Albany, 
 passed through this town. And previous to the opening of 
 turn-pikes upon the rivers east and west of us, the main 
 road through the town was much travelled. In a few 
 instances some individuals have refused to paj- their taxes, 
 and in a few cases the town has been involved in a law- 
 suit, and in one instance in the year 1776 rebelious 
 feelings rose to such a pitch as to render it necessary to 
 appoint a committee to secure the glass windows in the 
 meeting house. 
 
 Till within iwenty-hve years the town meetings have 
 been very frequent. The method of doing business was 
 both awkward and slow. As an apolog}' for this it must 
 be remembered that the people generally had enjoved but 
 little opportunit}' for an education. From the records it is 
 evident that the people were often divided in their town 
 meetings, and very warm in their feelings. For many 
 years did the custom prevail of adjourning the meeting to 
 the tavern, a practice which is fraught with many evils. 
 If business in a town meeting is properly managed^ it can 
 ordinarily be closed without any adjournment. In the 
 year 1781 there were holden twelve regular town meetings 
 (of the inhabitants), and all this to do but a little busines's. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that previous to the year 1 787 by 
 far the greater number of town meetings respected theiV 
 religious concerns. Till then and for several j-ears after, 
 the supply of the pulpit was managed in town meetings.
 
 II 
 
 Meetings respecting the house of worship and preaching 
 have been muhiplied in this town to an astonishing extent. 
 
 A full and thorough knowledge of the character of the 
 inhabitants of this town from its first settlement to the pre- 
 sent day, a period of eighty-five years, may be obtained 
 by a particular and attentive perusal of the journal of the 
 town clerk of those meetings in which the religious con- 
 cerns of the town were transacted. It is not my design to 
 pass over this important part of our history. I have confined 
 myself thus far more particularly to the civil concerns of the 
 town, that I may present events to you in such a manner as 
 will best enable you to retain them. In giving you facts re- 
 specting the religious or eccsleiastical concerns of the town, 
 I will first lay before you the history of the meeting house, 
 and then the history of the settlement of ministers, with 
 which will be interwoven the history of the church. 
 
 The town was incorporated in the year 1741. Previous 
 to this period it had borne the name of Glasgow. The 
 inhabitants of the city of Glasgow in Scotland sent word to 
 the people of this town, that if they would continue its then 
 present name, they would give the town a bell. It was 
 the design of the people that it should bear the name of 
 Glasgow, and they made their petition accordingly. But 
 Shirley, who had been late appointed governor of the pro- 
 vince, had just arrived from England in the ship Blandford. 
 In honor of the ship he chose to have the new town, which 
 applied for an act of incorporation, to bear its name. 
 Hence the name of Blandtbrd instead of Glasgow was 
 given to the town. But this application would not have 
 been made, it is supposed, at the time it was, had not the 
 survey of General Newbury embraced a mile of more im- 
 portance than was originally embraced in it. Hence by 
 the unexpected gain of the mile, the people lost their ex- 
 pected bell. 
 
 The four men who were the original proprietors of the 
 town, entered into covenant with the first settlers to set up 
 a frame of a meeting house, and to cover the outside, and 
 to put in glass windows. This they were to do for the peo- 
 ple, beside giving them the ten acres of land in the centre, 
 and two hundred sixty acre lots. The frame of the meet- 
 ing house was set up in 1740. The men who assisted in 
 raising it were the most of them from Westfield and Suf- 
 field. The frame stood one year the sport of winds and 
 tempests before it was covered. The boards which were 
 used for the covering were brought from Southampton and 
 Westfield, but the glass windows were not supplied till
 
 12 
 
 after the lapse of more than twelve years. Thirteen years the 
 people met in this house for worship, without any floor in it 
 except some loose boards, the earth and the rocks on which it 
 stands. Their seats were blocks and boards and movable 
 benches. A plain box in the side where the pulpit now is, 
 was put in for the accommodation of the preacher. The first 
 floor was laid in 1753, four years after the ordination of their 
 second minister. In several previous 3'ears they had put 
 upon the house repairs. In 1749 ^ committee was appoint- 
 ed to expend a grant which was made for repairs, and in 
 the year following, another committee to direct the first 
 committee how to manage the concern entrusted to them. 
 Hence, it is probable that divisions existed on the subject. 
 In 1750 the town directed their committee to borrow 
 money to buy glass for the windows. Three years after 
 the floor was laid other repairs were made. In 1758 the 
 roof was repaired. In 1759 a vote passed to build the pul- 
 pit, to make a pew for the minister and to finish the repairs 
 upon the roof, and to build seats in the body of the house, 
 upon the ground floor. This was a great eflbrt as it was 
 carried into eflect. I am unable to ascertain in w^hat man- 
 ner precisely the inside of the house was fitted up. The 
 best account I can get is this : The bod}' of the house was 
 designed to be filled with seats. But this was not actually 
 accomplished. Seats were made next to the pulpit and the 
 lower end of the broad aisle. Two pews were erected in- 
 cluding the ground on which the posts stood w^hich sup- 
 ported the gallerv. But these pews w'ere not built till 
 some time after the seats were put up in the form which 
 now bears the name of slips. It was next allowed to in- 
 dividuals w^ho felt disposed to occupy the ground on the 
 walls of the house with pews, if they would make them at 
 their owm expense, finish them at the end of a year, and 
 build up the wall of the house to the girts. November 10, 
 1760, it was voted to lay the floor in the front gallery. 
 The next year the gallery timbers on the side were put up 
 and the stairs built. In 1779 the galleries remained un- 
 finished. In 1 781 it was voted to take up the seats in 
 the body of the house except two next to the pulpi*^, and to 
 fill up the ground wath pews. In the following year the 
 two side galleries were made by the seats taken from be- 
 low, and the walls ceiled up to the plates of the house. 
 In 1786 the house was plastered. In 1792 the two seats 
 each side of the aisle were taken up and four pews made 
 in their place. The steeple was built by subscription of 
 individuals. In 1789 the tow^n voted to give the subscri-
 
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 Series 9482