The Challenge of Change - three centuries of Enfield Connecticut history

CHAPTER 2 - THE FIRST SETTLERS

The first settlers of Enfield came from a group whose families had crossed the ocean to wife that they knew would be won the of hardship and deprivation compared to what they had known in England. But the unsettled country offered them the chance to pursue their ideals and regulate their lives without be restrictions and possible persecution of a government that had no sympathy with their aspirations. Religion was a motivating force in their lives, the background of much of their thinking. Their beliefs determined the basis of Enfield's government and climate of life for many years.

To ensure the success of their ideas, in Enfield's early days-as in many other towns-no grant of land would be made to a man who did not subscribe to their principals and share their ideas of right living. Also, any inhabitant who proved to be an undesirable citizen would be escorted to the town boundary in warned out-of-town.

Their concerns that children should be taught to read had an early age stemmed from the importance that they placed on the ability to understand the Bible and a loss of God. No other subject except writing is mentioned as having been taught in the first school the in it was some years later that arithmetic and other subjects made their appearance. The in some of the colonies colleges were founded very early-Harvard in 1639, William and Mary in 1693, Yale in 1701-in order to have educated creatures who could read descriptor is in the original Hebrew and Greek. Of Enfield's first five ministers, two were graduates of Harvard, two of Yale, and one of Williams.

The land up on which the Enfield settlement was made the long to the town of Springfield, settled in 1636 under the leadership of Williams Pynchon. He had come to America and 1630, one of the group that accompanied Winthrop. He settled first at Dorchester, then moved to Roxbury where he engaged in the fur trade. From 1632 to 1634 he was Treasurer of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but he resigned in 1634 to go to the Connecticut Valley where conditions for carrying on the fur trade were better. He was very successful in this business, treated the Indians fairly, and was always on good terms with them. 8 families came with Pynchon and he brought land on both size of the Connecticut River at add won for his new town, eventually settling on the east bank.

In 1643 the general cord Massachusetts added a large territory to Springfield settlement. This included the present towns of Westfield, Suffield, part of Southwick, West Springfield, Holyoke, Agawam Chicopee, Enfield, Somers, Wilburham, Ludlow, Longmeadow, and Hampden. Gradually population spread out into this great antique track of land that surrounded Springfield on all sides. In 1669 Westfield was settled, Hatfield followed in 1670, then Deerfield and Brookfield in 1673, Suffield in 1674, and Enfield in 1680.

So, with Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford already established along the Connecticut River to the sour when the first families arrived at Freshwater Plantation, as Enfield was then called, there were towns within reasonable distance in every direction except to the east. Their OLE in unknown wilderness with no one happens for many miles until in 1687 the town of Woodstock was founded by a group of pioneers from Roxbury. From then on the row to the east was known as the road to Woodstock.

Before 1680 there had already been some activity on the Freshwater Brook area. In 1653-1654 John Pynchon had been granted 50 acres of land between Freshwater Brook and Grape Brook. A number of grants of metal land or made in the 1660s and one grant of land "to keep swine." A little later Pynchon was granted an additional 50 acres provided he built a sawmill within three years. This is probably the sawmill on the Freshwater Brook that was burned by Indians during the King Philip's war. To the years a few more men were given grants of meadow land until for August 4th, 1679, this and tree appears: "arrangements made for settling lands at the Freshwater Brook."

To carry out these arrangements Springfield appointed committee of five men to undertake the business of granting land at Freshwater Plantation to new settlers. This knew it must soon have reached Salem or in the autumn of that year to young men were living there, John Pease, Jr., and Robert Pease, came to local store this land. Tradition has it that they spent the winter in a hot dog into the side of until somewhere in the vicinity of the present Enfield Cemetery. (GO TO Family Tree for John Pease) They must have been favorably impressed with a land offered, for the following summer they came back with her families and were the first to be granted land. They were followed in the next three years by about 30 other settlers mostly from Salem.

In December of 1680 to business of laying out the streets and highways of new settlement was tackled. John Pease, Jr., who was a surveyor by profession, laid out the town plat and highways. The Main Street which we know as Enfield Street was to be 12 rods wide. From the present South Road to Post Office Road Street was 20 rods wide to provide a parade ground for the militia. Three highways were provided to the east into to the West. The latter to gate access to the River, one leading to the very crossing any other to the Deep Hole with a fishing was especially good. Through the years other roads were added as more families moved in in the need arose. Each man was expected to clear to brush from the row in comment is locked as far as the middle of the road and to keep a clear. Trees growing along streets were to be preserved "both for shade and comeliness."

In 1679 when plans were being formulated for laying out home lots, 60 or 70 acres were to be set apart could use of the ministry and the church, and 40 acres of the support of the school. There also lots to the reserved for some useful persons. The useful persons in one case was a black Smith according to the following:

1699 The town for the encouragement was Smith to engage in grant to Andrew Miller a house lot line by the middle highway which is a reserved lot, an also 50 acres of land belonging thereto, with a proportion of meadow, always granted he said Miller upon conditions e-com and live on it can do the worker of a Smith for the town serving the town in the work seven years.

In 1712 piece of land at the lower end of town was granted to Philip Parsons on condition of his settling up a tan yard there. Thus men who could supply some service bottle to the town were induced to settle.

As early as 1681 up land worked out for raising money to pay the Indians for the land. It was decided that each similar should pay three pence in acre to Major Pynchon or manage the business with the Podunk Indians.

The deed is dated March 16, 1688, and is signed by the Indian chief, Totaps, alias Notatuck, who made his mark, and by John Pynchon as well as three Indian witnesses and three Springfield men. The boundaries of land were the Asnuntuck (or Freshwater) Brook on North, the Connecticut River on the West, and Poggotoffine or Saltonstall's Brook on the South. The land was to run from the River east to the mountains, a distance of about eight miles. The price paid was 25 pounds sterling. The Indians retained the right to hunt and fish on the land.

The land from Freshwater Brook North to Longmeadow Brook, which is also part of the town of Enfield, is not included in this deed as it already belonged to Springfield, having been bought from the Agawam Indians some years before.

In 1683 the population had reached a point with a settlement seemed large enough to be a town in its own right. Consequently, with a consent of Springfield, a petition was sent to the general cord of Massachusetts which was to meet in Boston on May 16 of that year asking that the Plantation at Freshwater Brook be made into a township in its own right, to be called Enfield. This petition was granted.

The same year, John Pease, Jr., was chosen constant, the first Enfield settler to hold office. The first Enfield Selectmen were John Pease, Sr., Isaac Meecham, Sr., Isaac Morgan were appointed by the Springfield committee in 1684 to carry on the affairs of the town to the best of their judgment when members of the Springfield committee were not available.

In 1692 the only two remaining members of the Springfield committee turned over their book records to the Town of Enfield which is now on its own.

After the main settlement of Enfield Street on the Ridge just east of the River, the next section of town to attract people was a mountainous land near the eastern boundary. Much of the land between Enfield Street in the mountains was low in swampy and covered with thick woods. This tract was regarded as a unhealthful place because of the danger of malaria, so people prefer to live up in the Hills. Even in outdoor seller holes scattered about this area which show were some of the early houses stood. Keep in the woods, has some of them are, it is difficult to imagine that the surrounding land once included followed fields. The soil must have been poor and thin compared to that of the Connecticut Valley and time erosion must have taken its toll. Perhaps that is one reason many of these hillside farms were abandoned.

The first man to venture out east was Benjamin Jones. He and Stanley spent several summers they are in the early 1700s, returning to Enfield for the winter. Eventually they moved there permanently. Other settlers followed an apt part of town became known as the East Precinct, which in 1734 became the Town of Somers.

About 1713 people began to spread out into other parts of the town to the sections we now now as Scitico, Wallop, and Jabbok or Shaker Pines. By 1720 to hold township was thinly settled. This was rapid progress for those days.

Although King Philips War was over before the settlement at Enfield was begun, the memory of it must ever many. Later, often on for many years, there were surprise raids on the small frontier towns to the North, the most notable being the attack on Deerfield in 1704. Frantic calls for help would sometimes be sent as far as Hartford. Against his background the Enfield citizens apparently did not feel entirely secure, for a place the refuge call before was constructed on the land east of Enfield Street and north of Oliver Road. A stockade in enclosing about an acre of land was erected. There was a small Brook running through this tract in a well was dugged for a water supply. But there is no evidence that the Fort, so-called, was ever used.

For many years the boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut was a dispute. Massachusetts based her claim upon the survey of Woodward and Saffery need in 1642. This survey Connecticut refused to accept, alleging that the boundary line was too far south, and in 1695 had another survey made. This, in turn, Massachusetts refused to accept. Enfield along with Suffield and most of Woodstock lay between the two lines. As the early as 1704 the subject of breaking away for Massachusetts and joining Connecticut came up in a town meeting.

This met with no response in a matter dragged on for years. Finely in 1749 Enfield, Suffield, Somers, and Woodstock became part of Connecticut.

FOOD AND SHELTER

During the first hard years the settlers must have depended a great deal on food from hunting and fishing in the gathering awhile fruits and plants. The eastern part of the town was a favorite hunting ground. The records tell of deer, Baer, wools, and catamount in the mountains. Every spring the shad came up the Connecticut River and in those days there were also salmon to be had. Trout could be found in the smaller streams. In spring great flocks of passenger pigeons flew over the land. The pigeons and shad, coming as they did at the end of winter when the supplies were sometimes low, were a godsend. While berries and fruits must have been more than welcome in their season and many wild plants whose used is being revived today were probably well-known.

Of necessity, every man-even the minister-was a farmer doe he may also have had some other occupation. Grants of land to early settlers included fields and metals as well as the home lot.

An idea of the crops raised in Enfield after the town was well-established can be bad from a list of 1738 showing the value of each item. It was customary, as money was scarce, to make payments in kind. This list is taking from town meeting records.

One of our most common foods, the potato, was unknown until about 1720. But to take its place there were scored whose culture and use had been learned from the Indians. It was E. in a variety of ways including hasty pudding (which is like a porridge), succotash, jonny cake, and other ways not familiar to us today. Another Indian plan that was found useful by the early settlers of New England was a pumpkin. This too was used in many different ways. It could be dried and would keep for longtime.

For fruit, Apple and peach orchards were set out and many quinces were raised.

Farm animals were a valuable possession. Oxygen and horses were worked animals, while cattle, sheep, and swine provided meat and Mel, as well as leather and wool for clothing.

The town had enclosed fields called Commons where farmers in the neighborhood keep their animals. Fence viewers were appointed to see that the Commons were well fence since any channel at-large could do great damage to crops. Each farmer had a distinctive earmark or brand, registered with the town, to identify his stock. Stray animals were taken to the nearest town in There until claimed by the owner. Every section of the town had a pound with some nearby farmer as the pound keeper.

No trace of these pounds remains but the road in Hazardville whose name was changed to Park Street some few years ago is still known to old inhabitants by its former name of Pound Road. And old map shows this town that the corner of what is now called Park Street and Hazard Avenue. Another pound was located on Town Farm Road somewhere between Abbe Road and Broad Brook Road, but no one knows exactly where.

Of the earliest houses in Enfield there is no record. It is only tradition that tells of the Pease Brother's dugout. There may have been other inhabitants in this general type as the dugout or cave homes were not uncommon in early settlements. Their core the also have been some log houses bought, all whatever kind, these places were very proved by our standards.

A typical time your home of those days had one home with aloft above reached by latter. It would have had a dirt floor or 1 called split logs late flat side up, called a puncheon floor. Oiled paper was sometimes used in the small windows instead of glass, which was expensive and hard to come by. Sometimes there were wooden shutters in the windows. There would have been no running water-just a well outside or perhaps a nearby spring; no sink, just a bench worked able to hold basin and pails for washing; no stove, only a fireplace for cooking and heat. There were few articles of furniture in the first homes and most of these were homemade-a bench, a stool or two, a chest, perhaps a bed that folded up against the wall when not in use.

As time when on, larger and better homes were constructed but with all the mechanical aides that we have today it is difficult to realize the immense amount of hard labor went into the building of a house of the revolutionary era. An article written in 1925 has this to say:

It was no easy matter in those days to get together the material for house. Do great members, mostly of 0, were all prepared by hand, likewise clad boards and shingles. If range were held together by wooden tags were tends in even nails were handmade.

It is interesting to know in this connection that for several years and inspector of nails was elected along with the usual town officials.

The larger homes build when people were more prosperous or of course better furnished. Usually there was a large fire place with an oven built into it at one side.

In some homes meals were served on a table board laid with trestles. This could be taken apart when the meal was over and put aside. A salt dish would've been in the center of the table. Some families may have had a pewter plate or two for serving dishes. For everyday cooking there were iron kettles to hang on the crane in the fireplace and a bake kettle, which was an iron pay an on Leigh's with a cover in a long handle, to use on the hearth. Meat could be roasted on a spit. Once or twice a week there would be a baking day when the other was used. First of fire had to be built in the other and kept going until the oven was early heated. Then the ashes were raked out. Foods that took the longest time to bake, like a pot of beans, were put the back with use of a long handle wooden shovel called a peel. Another foods were put in and the oven closed.

At night the fireplace furnished some light. Other ways of providing light were with pine knots called candlewood, Betty lamps which were shallow recepticals with wicks that burned grease or oil, and candles. Making candles and so were essential tasks of the housewife.

The spinning wheel was always going, for the housewife was responsible for clothing her family. She could not solve the problem by going to a store and buying cloth. She started with a fleece cheered from a sheet, which had to be cleaned of bits of leaves, sticks, etc., then thoroughly washed. The next at was dyeing it, but the housewife first had to make the dye. Next it was carded-which meant pulling it smooth between two paddles with wire teeth. It was finely ready to spin into yarn. Dion was woven into cloth and whatever Carmen was needed could then be cut out and sewed together. If linen cloth was needed, one started with flax plants, and there were many more steps in preparing the flax for spinning. Some of them which required more strength and most women possessed were done by men.

Little girls were taught to knit at about five years of age and could then help to make stockings for the family. A little later they were taught spinning and when they learned to weave.

CHURCH AND SCHOOL

As for mentioned, when the town plot was laid out the track was reserved as a ministry land to be used for the benefit of a church. Settlers who excepted grants of land were under obligation to establish a church and support a minister. In 1683 it was decided to erect a small building 20 by 20 at could be used as a meeting place on the Sabbath. There are the people planned to assemble both morning and afternoon for services led by one of the prominent men of the settlement since they had no minister. This meeting house wherein the vicinity of the present Enfield Street Cemetery.

In 1684 the town was taken to court in Springfield because it had no minister. One was explained that efforts were being made to find one the town was excused.

Not until five years later was Enfield successful in finding a young man who agreed to fill this position-Rev. Nathaniel Welch of Charleston-but before he could be installed or moved his family to Enfield he died, at the age of 33 years.

For years later, with the town still lacking a preacher, plans were made to encourage some young man to come here to settle for his lifetime, as a custom was an. He would beginning a home lot with dwelling house, field and meadow land of which six acres would be cleared for him, and in Orchard would be planted. Also he would be supplied with firewood.

No one was found to take advantage of these provisions until 1699 when Rev. Nathaniel Collins of Middletown came to Enfield as the first minister. His salary was to be 70 pounds yearly. Every man 16 years and older was to give him one days worked each year for four years. To this last provision all agreed except for or five persons. Enfield always had its dissenters. Mr. Collins served as minister until 1724 when he resigned. From 1729 to 1735 he was the town clerk. He died in 1756 and is buried in the Enfield Cemetery. He had a large family in some of his descendants are living Enfield at the present time.

On part of the house law granted to Mr. Collins - the Martha Parsons House now stands, and there at the first parsonage was built. It is thought that when the present structure was built in 1782 the first parsonage was used as an ell. When the present ell was built, probably sometime in this 1860s, the old one was demolished.

The church and what it stood for played a large part in the lives Enfield's early citizens. The Sabbath to be an at sun down on Saturday and from then until sun down on Sunday no unnecessary work was done. There was a long preaching service in the morning and another in the afternoon with an hour or so admit day for launch. Sermons were at least two hours long, the time measured by an hour glass on the pulpit. No churches were heated in those days and in winter it must abandon ordeal to sit through those long services. But no one who is physically able stayed away.

Many had to walk or ride horseback long distances. The settlers living in the East Precinct, as Somers was called, founded so difficult to get to the meeting house in winter that and 1721 there were allowed to have their own services during the winter months. Later, in 1727, the Somers Congregation Church was organized. It was located on land now part of the North Cemetery on Springfield Road.

Jonathan Edwards' sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," preached at Enfield in 1741, is an extreme expression of the harsh religions of his day. But because the ideas he expressed so vividly were generally excepted is no wonder that people were preoccupied with religion and their own salvation. Then too, the importance of religion must have been brought home to them by the great uncertainty of life and every occurring presents of death in their midst. So will was known in the fields of medicine and sanitation that the fall seriously ill was almost a death warrant. The ordinary childhood diseases which in our time have practically disappeared were a real scourge then. Statistics record many deaths of babies and little children, and old graveyards have many small stones with pathetic epitaphs carved on them:

Next in importance after providing for a meeting house and a preacher was a matter of the school. In 1674 Massachusetts had passed a law that every town of 50 families should provide a school master to teach children to read and write This would set have applied to Enfield as part of Massachusetts but it was probably some years after the establishment of the town before there were 50 families in Enfield. Meanwhile parents were supposed to see that their children were taught reading and writing.

It was not until 1702 that Enfield voted "the town half a school master," and the next year John Richards was invited to keep school and teach the children 5 to 29 years old. His salary was to be 14 pounds yearly any was to have 20 acres of land if he came. There was no school building at the time Sophie Ashley did come to Enfield he must have kept school in some house.

The town voted to build a school house in 17 await and "to said it can be most convenient place in the Street." It was 16 by 18 feet and must have been the only such build for some years though there are indications that the outlying districts were not forgotten. Now and then records mention the school being moved to some other location for limited time so that no part of town would be deprived. This probably means that the school master moved around. Such an arrangement was called a moving school.

In 1754 it was voted to build five school houses and 500 pounds was voted to take care of his building program. They were located in-

Wallop-upon a hill called College Hill

Scitico-near James Ferman's, in the most convenient place

South End-Mayor Joseph Hall's barn

Middle of the town-place where it has always stood

North End-year John French's, in the most convenient place

There was nothing compulsory about children attending school in those days. The town provided a school master any building and was up to the parents whether their children took advantage of this opportunity. As to school supplies, so essential today, nothing of the kind is mention simply because there were not. The family geese provided the quilt tends to writing and was part of eight teachers job to sharpen these tends as needed. Ink was homemade, paper scarce. What they wrote on is a question. In some towns we hear of Birch Park having been used. Slates did not coming to use until later and black boards were unheard of. Lessons were taught mostly by rote. The school master may have had a primer and some of the children may have had a hornbook. This latter was not really a book but consisted at a single sheet paper fastened to a thin piece of would and covered with a bit of horn. On the paper was printed the help of that, some so bulls for practice, and Lord' prayer. Books of any time were rare and precious but every family had a Bible and many children learned to read from that. It was not until after the Revolution that textbooks began to make their appearance. One of the first was Noah Webster's famous spelling book published in 1783.

The following description of an Enfield school of the 1770s is taken from a paper written for the Centennial of 1876:

(The desks fastened to one side of the Rome were like a long slanting shelf. The children using them faced away from the center of the room.)

SLAVES, TRAVEL, AND CUSTOMS

Now and then when reading the Enfield records of years long past one comes upon mention of a Negro, or "a man of color," as these people were often called. These items are mostly found in the town and church lists of backed systems, marriages, and deaths. Usually not much information can be gleaned from these terse matter of fact statements but they do show that Enfield had a small number of colored inhabitants from early years.

In 1680 there was estimated that there were about 30 slaves in all Connecticut. These had come from Barbados, sometimes three or four a year. The slave trade must have increased as the years went by four Sanford in his History of Connecticut tells of a cargo of slaves being brought up the river to Middletown and lodged in the jail to be sold at auction. By 1774 when the white population of Connecticut numbered 191,392 there were 5,085 Negroes and 1,363 Indians.

Also in 1774, Connecticut forbade further importation of slaves and provided that Negro born after March 1,1784, were to be free at the age of 25. Six years later Enfield appointed the committee to go to the next assembly with a petition that "the Negroes in the state the released from their Slavery and Bondage." This thinking was ahead of its time nothing came of it. The Census of 1790 show that Connecticut had 2,759 slaves and 2,801 free Negroes.

A few of the Enfield Negroes are designated as "mine negro Coffee," "Flora A. black woman belonging to Mr. Prudden," "Caesar a Negro belonging to Capt. Pease," leading one to conclude that these were slaves. On the other hand there was apparently a whole family of colored people by the name of Freeman, one of home was a black Smith, evidently free Negroes.

One item of special interest is in the 1848 record that tells of the death of John Buke (or Buker), a colored man and Revolutionary pensioner, age 95.

The connector river offer early settlers a ready made highway and easy method of travel. The rapid said Enfield prevented large boats from going further the river but small boats could be polled over the rapids. Their goods could be changed either to cards or two small boats and continue to Springfield, hence the name Warehouse Point.

On the original map of the town plot one of the roads leading West to the connector river is designated as Ferry Lane. Until the first bridge was built across the river in 1808 this ferry to provided a way of reaching Suffield and other towns to the West. The land south of Ferry Lane was the home Watt granted to Lot Killam in 1681. In recent years this land belonged to the Edgar family and is at present owned by Mrs. Tart. A small brick building facing South some yards west of Enfield Street (once a blacksmith shop) is the only indication of the old road to the ferry.

Another ferry hear the mouth of Freshwater cap or must have been started prior to 1778 because in that year the town sent two men to the General Assembly "to try to get the ferry now in Isaac Kibbe's hands to be established for the town of Enfield." This ferry was north of Freshwater.

Until the close of the Revolution the most common ways of getting from one place to another were walking and by horseback. With a pillion, which was sort of a cushion attached to the back of a saddle, a horse could carry two persons. Carriage is were rare in Enfield do a few persons owned chaises which were two-wheeled carriages. Not many timers owned even a farm wagon or a cart. Roads were very poor, more like trails, full of brush and anything but smooth. "Working on the road" simply meant cutting the brush, not at the sides of the road has today, but clearing the road itself.

An interesting sidelight on early travel is the fact that when the third meeting house was built in 1775 (our Old Town Hall) the agreement specified that should be "complete with stepstones." These stepstones were what we know as horse blocks, and churches in those days commonly had a row of them in front of the building for the convenience of those who arrived on horseback.

When the present Congregational Church was built in 1848 roads were better in carriages more common. So instead of horse blocks, sheds were provided at the rear workforce in carriage could be left during services. This was the custom with most churches and these rows of sheds existed until the automobile came in, when they were adapted for other uses were taken down.

Through the life of the early Enfielders may seem hard and grim to us they had their holidays and social affairs just as we do. Many of their holidays grew out of the need for neighborly help. Clearing the trees from a piece of land or putting up the frame of a house or bator or impossible tasks for one worker alone. With no machinery the only practical way to accomplish these tasks was for all the neighborhood to help. Men, women, and children turned out for these occasions and at new or after the work was done there was a feast of good food and an opportunity to chat with friends and catch-up with the news (no newspapers, magazines, radio, or TV in those days), and the children had their games.

Election day was one of their holidays. The minister preached and elections are meant to the women baked special election cakes. And old recipe that probably goes back to the early 1800s starts with four pounds of flour, two pounds of butter, and other ingredients in proportion, with two gills of yeast instead of the baking powder which would be used today. It was evidently meant to feed a goodly number. Recipes for election cake in modern terms can be found in some standard cookbooks today.

Training day involve the military review when the militia gathered at the training ground and were put through their paces and displayed their marksmanship. Everyone attended to enjoy the show.

Whenever a new house or barn was built there was a raising, which meant a break in the regular routine. House frames were made of much heavier members that is now the case and raising was hard and dangerous work that required the combined manpower of the town.

The frame of the building was held together by mortise and tenon, and the beams and posts and the sills were prepared and numbered before the raising started. One group of man worked on the front part of the frame. After the posts had been fitted into the top beam, or girt-working on the ground-the real raising started. When demand could reach no higher, long poles were used to finish pushing the frame into the upright position. Another group of men standing inside the foundation, also would long poles, prevented the frame from going too far. The tenons were slipped into the mortises in the sill, and fastened with wooden tags called treenails. This process was then repeated by a third group working at the back.

Another use of manpower in place of one of today's mechanical devices occurred when the church built in 1775 was converted to a Town Hall. There was no used for the steeple in a method proposed for getting rid of the was to attach a rope and pull it down. It was a good enough plan, but the first try resulted in the rope breaking an amend going down instead of the steeple.

The raising of a new meeting house was a very special occasion and a day for rejoicing. This entry occurs in the town meeting records for June 24, 1706:"The town agree and voat all to meett all with one consent on day when mr Right the carpenter shal apoint to raise the meeting house and the hole town shal atend the work the first day and then those men shall atend the work afterwards which mr Right shal chuse and the town engage to pay them.

"The town furder ingag to satisfie for all the Provision and drink the select men shall see case to provid for the asd worke."

Many kinds of working "bees" were held, the best-known probably the quilting bee. But any work could be made a special occasion in this way with some kind of competition-such as spinning, or clearing the rocks from a field, for example.

Two of our holidays are conspicuously absent from the list, Fourth of July and Christmas, but Thanksgiving was probably observed in much the same way as today.

Holidays also suggest the subject of children's gains. Like children everywhere, they skated, flew kites, and played tag, ring-around-the-roses and London Bridge is falling down. Other gains were hopscotch, blind man's buff, and for indoor amusement cat's craddle, checkers, and backgammon-games familiar to us.

Just as the children handed down their games to today's children, so we are the heirs to the town their fathers started and guided to its early years as best they could according to their lights.

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