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From: Sue <>
Subject: [MAHAMPSH-L] Ware - two references to Muddy Brook
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 09:56:24 -0700

"Historic Hampshire in the Connecticut Valley"
by Clifton Johnson, Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, MA 1932

Contains two references to Muddy Brook

Chapter IX page 205-215

WARE

THE FALLS OF WHICH WERE A FAMOUS INDIAN FISHING-PLACE
[page 205]
Ware is the outjutting southeast corner of Hampshire. Three ranges of rocky hills traverse it from north to south, but between them are productive valleys. Its main stream is Ware River, which enters the town at the northeast corner and leaves it at the southwest corner. The fine water power of this river has been the chief factor in the development of Ware's extensive manufacturing. Swift River is the western boundary line of the township, and other streams are Muddy, Flat, and Beaver Brooks, each flowing down a separate valley into Ware River. Beaver Brook passes along [page 206] the base of the Brimstone Hill range, and is joined by Penny Brook just before reaching its outlet. About a mile north of Ware Village, Rattlesnake Brook flows down from Rattlesnake Hill.

Coys Hill, the town's highest elevation, rises above Ware River on the eastern border to an elevation of 500 feet; and, in spite of its height, the old-time road from Brookfield to Hadley passed over the summit.

The Indians used to capture salmon by setting weirs at the foot of the Ware River falls, and the English got both the name of the town and the river f rom their own translation of the Indian #ame for places where weirs were built. During the season while the salmon were running, the Indians congregated here and there along the stream, built temporary camps, and caught the fish. The weirs were rough walls of stone on which was erected a structure of stakes and brush. From either shore one of these reached out slightly down stream until they nearly met. There, at the opening, a large coarsely-woven basket was placed.

Occasional Indians visited the falls for many years after the white men came. One was nicknamed "Holein-the-Rock," because on an occasion when surprised by hostile savages, he escaped by hiding in a pot-hole among the rocks below the falls.

At an early period, nearly the entire region that now comprises the town was granted by the Massachusetts General Court to a military company that had been effective in fighting Indians who were on the warpath. So little value was placed on this grant by the military men or their heirs, that according to tradition they sold it to John Read of Boston for two coppers an acre, and it became known as "Read Manor."

The first settler was Captain Jabez Omstead, [page 207] who came about 1729 from Brookfield and built a sawmill and a gristmill at the falls in what is now the very heart of Ware Village. He was a man of great shrewdness and energy, and he probably was a mighty hunter, for much of Ills life was passed in the woods. There is doubt as to his ability to read or write, based on the fact that in signing legal documents he was in the habit of making his mark, just as the Indians did. It was rumored, too, that he was part Indian.

Ware as a whole remained unsettled for many years after the adjoining towns, because people thought the soil was too poor for cultivation. There was a degree of truth in this belief, if we except the valleys, and the appearance of the soil sometimes has inspired strangers to make humorous comments like the following:

"Dame Nature once when making land,
Had refuse left of stone and sand.
She viewed it well and threw it down
Between Coys Hill and Belchertown,
And says, 'You paltry stuff, lie there,
And make a town and call it Ware!"'

It was the custom of the Indians to burn over the territory of Ware to aid them in their hunting. This practice destroyed the forests to a great extent and injured the soil. So bare of timber was the region, that early settlers when on the top of Coys Hill could discern a stray beast anywhere in the whole Ware River valley.

[page 208] The early Ware settlers were obliged to attend and support preaching at the "Elbows," so called from the bends of the Ware and Quaboag rivers which there unite to form the Chicopee. The meetinghouse was at Palmer Center; and in 1732 when the Ware people petitioned to be incorporated as a town, their chief plea was that they dwelt so far from any place of public worship that they could not enjoy the privilege of attending, "for which their hearts were sincerely desirous."

The petition was not granted; but 10 years later they were allowed to establish the Ware River Parish, and the next year it was voted "to hire Mr. Dickson to preach among us." Then for years the question of a site for a meetinghouse agitated them. Not until 1750 was a house of worship actually erected. It stood exactly in the geographic center of the town, about two miles west of Ware Village. Here, in the Flat Brook valley, developed Ware Center, which for a long time was Ware's most important community. Stores, taverns, and schools were grouped about the meetinghouse, behind which was the burial place, and in front of which was the training-field.

Rev. Grindal Rawson, the first settled minister of the church, was ordained in 1851. He was able and cultured, [page 209] but eccentric; and in person awkward and ungainly. While serving later elsewhere he was told that some of his parishioners made him a subject of mirth, whereupon he preached the next Sabbath from the text, "And I was the song of the drunkards." Many of his hearers got up and went out, and the text of his next sermon was, "And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one." Not a person ventured to retire that time. The turmoil in Mr. Rawson's Ware parish continued, and finally he resigned.

Until 1826 there was only one religious society in the town, and the inhabitants all "went up to Ware Center to worship God." In the meetinghouse, too, was transacted all of the town's business.

A new meetinghouse to replace the first was built on the same site in 1800. The only real common in town is in front of this building. When it was used for trainings in the old days a great crowd gathered there; and at Ebenezer Nye's tavern close by was sold "rum enough to float a battleship."

The first recorded action with regard to schools was this in 1757: "Voted to devide ye peraish into two parts for a school, and flat Brook to be ye deviding Line."

Rev. Reuben Moss, who became the parish parson in 1792, assembled the different schools yearly in the meetinghouse for a public competition in reading, spelling, and the catechism, with honorable mention the prize for the greatest efficiency. Teachers invariably "boarded round," dividing their time among the families according to the number of children of school age in each. If a teacher were devoted to his work, the assistance given to children during the evenings was of [page 210] even more value than that rendered during school hours. Not until about 1850 did the custom of boarding round go out of fashion.

In 1820 a "Select School for Young Ladies" was opened in Ware by Miss Caroline Dutch of Utica. She taught writing in fancy styles, and ornamental work, introduced a geography with an atlas, and above all gave careful training in "deportment."

In every school pupils were required to "make their manners" to the teacher, when they came forward to recite and when they left the schoolroom at the end of a session. Making manners consisted of a bow from a boy and curtsy from a girl. The date of building the first schoolhouse in Ware Village is uncertain, but we know that among the early ones were the "Old red schoolhouse" and the "Old white schoolhouse."

The first regular tavern was kept by John Dowling on the road west of Muddy Brook as early as 1752. His wife, commonly known as "Old Granny Dowling," long survived him, and made a livelihood by "farming" the poor. In those times they were put up at auction and went to the lowest bidder, who got as much work out of the paupers as possible to supplement the small sum received from the town.

In the earlier part of the 19th century, great coaches drawn by four or even six horses passed daily along the main town roads. Taverns became numerous as the years went on, and in 1782 Ware had at least eight. No roads were laid out previous to the incorporation of the town in 1761. The inhabitants used such as nature had provided and made only small improvements. Roads had existed in the New World wilderness long before there were formal highways. Deer and other wild creaLures were the earliest trail-makers; and later came the [page 211] Indians, often following the animal paths, but shifting from them or treading new ones to suit their own needs. The white men adopted the red men~s trails as bridle-paths, to be gradually developed into wood-roads, cart ways, and stage routes.

Massachusetts had two main routes of travel east and west-the Hadley Path and the Bay Path. The latter was laid out in 1673 following an important trail of the savages from Boston to Springfield, and the streams were crossed at natural fords. Sometimes a large tree was felled to span the water for foot travel, and later two tree-trunks, laid side by side and covered with split timbers, formed a bridge for saddle and pack horses. The Hadley Path was marked out soon after 1660. This was a branch of the Bay Path, starting from Brookfield, and it crossed the Ware River a short distance above the falls. The name evolved into the "Bay Road" after wheeled vehicles became common and it no longer was a bridle path.

In 1762 a pound was built near the Ware meetinghouse, round in shape and of stone. Before that a barn had served as a pound.

The first post office was established at Ware Center in the Babcock Tavern in 1815, but was moved nine years later to Ware Village.

In 1776 the inhabitants numbered 773, and there followed a slow increase for three quarters of a century. [p. 212] But by 1880, when Ware had become the manufacturing metropolis of eastern Hampshire, the dwellers had multiplied to about 5,000.

One of the oddest of Ware's industrial experiences had to do with an alleged silver mine on the Greenwich road not much more than two miles from Ware Village. About 1816 strange rumblings were heard coming from a ledge there, and the local settlers went to consult Parson Hosea Ballou of North Dana, who had won a reputation as a soothsayer. They told him that straw placed on the ledge soon burst into a blaze with no apparent cause, and that rumblings from the rock made dishes rattle in their houses.

The clergyman had what he called a philosopher's stone. He placed it in his soft hat, which he drew down over his face, and said he saw wonderful workings of nature, and that the ledge contained vast deposits of what seemed to be silver. As a result 18 Ware farmers formed a company, bought the property, and in a crude sort of way worked the mine for several years, chiefly by hacking away at the face of the ledge. Once a peddler made an offer of $1500 for their mine, which they rejected. Again they visited their reverend soothsayer, and after he had consulted his philosopher's stone he informed them there was enough wealth in the ledge to

make their children's children immensely rich. So they puttered at the ledge a while longer, and then quit. Their deed read that the mine was to be their property "forever as long as grass grows and water runs, provided it shall be worked." As it no longer was worked, of course it reverted to the former owners.

Among other early industries of the town were an iron furnace in which smelting was done with charcoal, machine shop, cotten and woolen mills, "tan works," mill where augers were made, a fulling-mill for homespun, and a shingle-mill that later became a wagon factory. For a considerable period, enough bricks for local needs were made right in the town. On Swift River at West Ware was a sawmill as long ago as 1795.

Straw bonnets were manufactured partly in shops, but for the most part the work was done in dwellings about town. Boots and shoes were made in considerable quantities in small shops, and at benches set up in the homes. One man made shoes entirely without metal which were intended for wear in powder factories.

The Ware River at Ware Village drops 70 feet in less than a quarter of a mile, and the value of its water power was early recognized; but only a minor use of the power was made until after 1813. Then' progress toward becoming a leading industrial center in this part of the State waxed rapid. Manufacturing on a large scale in Ware dates from about 1845. Hitherto, the comparatively small factories had employed almost exclusively native Americans gathered from the outlying farms. Now began an influx of foreigners in such numbers that a wholesome assimilation was impossible. Social conditions suffered, and in 1851 it was deemed necessary to appoint a Committee of Law and Order of 9.0 members. At the next annual meeting the selectmen [page 214] were instructed not to license immoral exhibitions "nor let the use of the town hall on Saturday or Sunday evenings for any purposes contrary to law." The desired readjustment was speedily effected.

In 1850 about 3000 gallons of whale oil were consumed in lighting the Otis mills. Like other companies, it used to pay employees semi-annually, and between whiles the help lived on credit from the company store.

Ware took an active interest in the War of the Revolution, and sustained its part well. Into the Union army at the time of the Civil War went 351 Ware men.

In September, 1796, a meeting at the Ware Center schoolhouse voted to establish a "Librarian's Society," and each subscriber contributed $1.00 to buy books. That sum procured about 50 volumes, with sermons, histories, and essays predominating. Fiction was represented by "Pilgrim's Progress" and two other titles, To preserve the books fines were imposed: "For every leaf that seems to have been turned down, 3 cents. For every drop of grease from a candle or lamp, 6 to 25 cents at the estimation of the Librarian or the committee of inspection. For effacing a book with dirty [page 215] hands or any other way, from 8 to 25 cents. For tearing a leaf or injuring the cover, not less than 5 cents." The Society flourished for many years, but came to an end in 1822.

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