Early African Americans in Colrain

At our final meeting for 2015 in October an interesting program presented by Bob Drinkwater of the Association for Gravestone Studies focused on the presence of free and enslaved African Americans in western Massachusetts in the 18th and 19th centuries. Local town and Federal census records, as well as gravestones in town cemeteries, reveal that African Americans were here early on in greater numbers than was previously known, generally living in some obscurity on the fringes of society.

After the French and Indian Wars, some later settlers of Colrain brought black slaves with them. The census of 1790 lists slaves in the households of five men.

Stone posts and a sign at the entrance to the Brick School Cemetery in East Colrain.

In East Colrain a granite gravestone installed in 2005 by the DAR in the Brick School Cemetery marks the burial place of Peter Green, who was born in Africa in about 1750, lived as a slave in Colrain and fought in the Revolutionary War. He is believed to have earned his freedom by that service. On his death in 1836 he was probably buried here with no stone to mark the place. His wife, Violette, was also born in Africa, but her place of burial is unknown.

Gravestone for Peter Green in the Brick School Cemetery. Born circa 1750, died 1836.

Their son Peter is also buried in the Brick Cemetery. He was married, with children, who in the census of 1850 are described as “mulatto.” The Colrain Historical Society collection includes a deed recording the sale of land in Colrain by Peter Green, Jr., “Negro,” to William Newhouse, “Yeoman,” in 1813.

Gravestone for Peter Green in the Brick School Cemetery. Born 1787, died 1866.

Another son, Charles, in 1840 took Angeline Palmer into his Colrain home for her protection. She was a 10-year-old freeborn black girl who escaped an attempt by her Belchertown employers to sell her into slavery in Georgia. Charles was a blacksmith.

Gravestone for Charles Green in the Brick School Cemetery. Born 1791, died 1864.

- submitted by Belden Merims

photos by D. Purington

In Memory of Susan Freedom: Gravestones of African Americans in Western Massachusetts

Headstone for Susan Freedom (1784-Dec. 28,1803) in the Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA. Photo credit: John P. O'Connor on Findagrave.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Business meeting and election at 7:00 p.m.

Program at 7:30 p.m.

In the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House 

at 8 Main Road, Colrain

“In Memory of Susan Freedom: Gravestones of African Americans in Western Massachusetts” will be the topic of an illustrated program at the next meeting of the Colrain Historical Society. The event will be held Thursday, October 8 in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road in Colrain.

From pre-Revolutionary days, African Americans, free and enslaved, were a presence in Western Massachusetts, among them Susan Freedom, whose gravesite is in Springfield. Members of the Green family are buried in the Brick Cemetery in Colrain. Historical archaeologist Bob Drinkwater, who has been researching these gravestones as well as local records for several years, will discuss his findings and what they tell us about the past lives of African Americans in this area.

The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow an important business meeting and election at 7:00. The program is open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For information call Belden, 624-3453.

Hilltowns History Fair & Conference

Hilltowns History Fair & Conference Flier (click image for larger view)

The Mary Lyon Foundation is presenting an exciting day of history at Mohawk Trail Regional School on Saturday, September 19! There will be re-enactors, paper marbling, antiques, book sales, a dynamic keynote, face painting, historical societies, 4-H booth, "mudman" pottery, wood and metal working , 18 workshops, a history app station, demonstrations, exhibits, food vendors, great music and MUCH MORE!

Please visit the Mary Lyon Foundation website for more information:  http://marylyonfoundation.org/programs-2/conferences-and-publications/

Three of the eighteen Conference presentations are Colrain related topics. 

4. Frankton and Shelburne Street Railway ~ Edward Gregory and Muriel E. Russell, Local Historians ~ Edward Gregory and Muriel Russell will present a short history of the Frankton Mill site which was located beside the North River on the Colrain Shelburne Town Line. This presentation includes a visual trip along the Shelburne Falls & Colrain street Railway route, with pictures of sites all along the trolley line to Colrain Center.

15. Gardner Symons & Robert Strong Woodward: Unique Local Artists ~ Deborah Wheeler, Colrain; Janet Gerry, Conway; Lee Toy Goodman, Buckland ~ Artist Gardner Symons (1865-1930) of New York City and Colrain was very influential in launching the professional career of local Buckland artist Robert Strong Woodward (1885-1957). Their unique portrayal of New England landscapes and their passion for capturing the natural beauty of western Massachusetts will be highlighted in this workshop.

18. All Is at Stake: The Civil War through the Letters of Colrain’s Edwin Davenport ~ Liz Sonnenberg, Colrain Historical Society ~ Edwin Davenport was 21 years old in 1861 when he left his family’s farm in Colrain, Massachusetts to travel in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois. But as the Civil War bore on, his sense of duty called him home again to enlist with the Union Army. Joining a regiment of Massachusetts soldiers on an expedition to Port Hudson, Louisiana, Edwin found himself embroiled in the North’s campaign to regain control of the Mississippi River. His early adventures in “the West” and the war come alive in detailed letters home to his family on Catamount Hill. Come hear the story through his eyes.

A Conway Genealogist Tells Conway Tales

Photo credit: Conway 250th

Conway genealogy will be the subject of the program at the next meeting of the Colrain Historical Society. The event will be held Thursday, September 10 in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road. A business meeting at 7:00 p.m. will precede the program at 7:30.

A resident of Conway since 1974, Lee Whitcomb brought a life-long passion for genealogy and history to the genealogy working group preparing for Conway’s 250th anniversary in 2017. The result will be an updating of the town’s history, with genealogies of many of the town’s residents and a website containing much of the new information. What she has learned about early Conway residents, their lives and some connections to Colrain will be the topic of her illustrated talk. She will also address issues of genealogical research.

Refreshments will be served and the program is open to the public. For information call Belden at 624-3453.

Children's Literature Festival

The Colrain Historical Society was host to budding historians ages 5-12 for an hour August 6. Fourteen participants in the Children’s Literature Festival at the Buckland Shelburne School, director Toni Wilcox and a few grandparents toured the current exhibit in the Pitt House barn and in several outbuildings.

Highlight of the tour for many was the opportunity to pull the large antique fire hose, as long-ago firemen did, around the yard. They also enjoyed examining Ross Purrington's red meat wagon.

The current exhibit, which was open three Sundays this summer, shows a variety of objects from the collection which we have discovered in the ongoing process of inventory. The exhibit can be seen by appointment. Call Belden at (413) 624-3453.

Building the Turners Falls Dam

A view of the modern Turners Falls Dam, just upstream of the Turners Falls - Gill Bridge. (July 2007, photo by Denimadept. Source: Wikipedia: Gill-Montague Bridge)

The evolution of the Turners Falls Dam from 1794 to the present will be an illustrated presentation by local historian/photographer Ed Gregory at the next meeting of the Colrain Historical Society.

The event will be held Thursday, August 13, in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road, Colrain. A business meeting at 7:00 p.m. will precede the program at 7:30 p.m.

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

For information, call Joan McQuade at 624-8818.

Museum Open Sunday July 19

The Colrain Historical Society Museum will be open Sunday, July 19, from 1 - 4 pm. Please stop by to see a slice of old Colrain life.

Who Was Bill Pitt Anyway?

G. William Pitt and his parents, John W. Pitt and Mabel J. Dayton Pitt.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Potluck Picnic Supper at 6:00 p.m.

followed by business meeting and program

In the Stacy Barn behind the G. William Pitt House 

at 8 Main Road, Colrain

“Who Was Bill Pitt Anyway?” Answers to that question will come from people who knew him in the 1950s, following a potluck strawberry supper and meeting of the Colrain Historical Society on Thursday, July 9. The event will be held behind the G. William Pitt House at 8 Main Road.

Founder of the Historical Society and its first president, Pitt was an author, musician and theatrical personality, who grew up in Colrain and summered there as an adult. He left his family home to the town and the Historical Society.

The potluck picnic supper, with strawberry shortcake and iced tea provided, will be at 6:00 p.m., followed at 7:00 by a business meeting. The program in the Stacy Barn will be at 7:30. Picnickers are asked to bring a main dish or salad to share, along with their place settings.

The program, and potluck, are free and open to the public. For more information call Belden at 624-3453.

Headstone of G. William Pitt in the North River Cemetery in Colrain. Born March 24, 1905 in Colrain, MA, died March 9, 1976 in Boston, MA. Son of John W. Pitt and Mabel J. Dayton Pitt. Source:  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94256757

William Apess, Native American Activist Born in Colrain

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Business meeting at 7:00 p.m., Program at 7:30 p.m

In the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House 

at 8 Main Road, Colrain

William Apess (1798–1839), also known as William Apes before 1836-1837.

William Apess was Colrain’s little-known but remarkable Native Son. Born in 1798 of mixed racial lineage and living here for only a few years, Apess survived a childhood marked by severe deprivation. He fought in the War of 1812 and went on to become an itinerant preacher, author of the first book-length autobiography by a Native American, and a lecturer in support of Native American rights in New England. He delivered his first sermon as an “Indian preacher” in the Catamount Hill schoolhouse in the 1820s.

Apess will be the subject of a program at the meeting of the Colrain Historical Society Thursday, June 11, in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road. The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow a business meeting at 7:00.

Speaker Drew Lopenzina is researching a book about Apess. A native of western Massachusetts, he teaches Early American Literature at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Drew Lopenzina

The meeting is open to the public, and refreshments will be served. For more information call Belden at 624-3453.

Colrain Potash

“What was Potash?”
Colrain Historical Society

Thursday, May 14, 2015,  7:30 p.m.

at the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House on 8 Main Road, Colrain

As Colrain was being settled, potash was an important farm and home industry.  It was a dangerous, dirty and an entirely unpleasant business, which ended when all the land had been cleared.

Ralmon Black examining a colonial potash kettle. Photo credit: Cummington Historical Commission.

What was potash?  It will be the topic of a program of the Colrain Historical Society, Thursday, May 14, in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House on Main Road.   Ralmon Black will discuss colonial asheries, the first industry of the hilltowns, and how they affected the economy of those times and the land forever.  There was a Potash Hill in Colrain.

Black was raised on the one-horse ancestral farm in Williamsburg.  He retired in 2000 as a dairy specialist with  the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture and serves the town of Williamsburg as a Historical Commissioner, Secretary of the Historical Society and town historian engaged in genealogical research on the first settlers of his town.

The program will begin at 7:30 p.m., following a business meeting at 7:00 p.m.  Refreshments will be served, and the public is welcome to attend. Free admission.  For information call Belden at 624-3453.

Rachel McGee, her busk, & "the shot heard 'round the world"

From Colrain to Concord

By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Recorder Staff

Monday, April 6, 2015
(Published in print: Tuesday, April 7, 2015) 

 

COLRAIN — The distance from Colrain to Lexington and Concord is about 90 miles, but in April 1775, at least 44 Colrain men headed east, to join Massachusetts militia during the first battles of the Revolutionary War.

While Boston still celebrates these battles with re-enactments on Patriots’ Day Weekend, the Colrain Historical Society will observe them “with a look back at April, 1775,” and the role that townsmen played.

The Historical Society’s first meeting of the season takes place on Thursday at the home of Joan McQuade, 9 Main Road, across from the G. William Pitt house. 

Joseph Caldwell of Colrain was known to be among the company of men who rode from Colrain to Lexington to fight the British.  “We know he was among the men who heeded the call, but we know they didn’t get there in time for the battle,” says Belden Merim. She said some may have ridden horses, exchanging horses along the way, while others may have walked. “All we know is, they left to answer the call,” she said.

The would-be militia met one last time before heading out at the home of Rachel McGee, who would become Joseph Caldwell’s wife a year later. “All the women there made doughnuts like crazy — and that’s what they (the men) took with them, for food,” said Merim. She said they arrived after the first battles were over, but remained in the east for about two weeks before coming home.

The Historical Society recently acquired a carved busk that once belonged to Rachel McGee, which came from one of her descendants. Busks were rigid, decorative disks used in women’s corsets, to keep the stays erect. Merim said sailors used to carve busks out of whalebone for their sweethearts. The framed busk will be available for viewing at the meeting. 

The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow a potluck supper at 6, and a business meeting at 7. The meeting is open to the public. Those coming to the potluck supper should bring a main dish or dessert to share and a place setting. Cider and coffee will be provided. For information, call Merim at 625-2003.

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Source URL:http://www.recorder.com/news/townbytown/colrain/16374550-95/from-colrain-to-concord

Old News!

The Spring 2015 edition of Old News!, the periodic newsletter of the Colrain Historical Society, was mailed on May 11. Click here for a PDF version (1.79MB.)