Prudence Hastings was 22, and 6 months pregnant when she and Ebenezer Graves were married on January 1st 1753. Eben wrote on the back of the title page of his Bible “bought in the 28th year of his age, which is the year 1753. Price 6 pound ten shillings." As their oldest son, also Ebenezer, was born in March 1753, it is highly likely that the Bible was bought in preparation for raising the family they anticipated. Their second son, Daniel Graves, was born in 1754. 10 more children followed, all recorded on the blank page between the Old and New Testaments.
The Bible's expense was a major investment in the family's future, equaling $1,930 in 2020 dollars. Having a Bible in the home would help the children learn to read, teach them the ethical and religious position of their parents, and bind the family together through daily prayers and reading aloud. The Holy Bible was the most commonly owned book in colonial America, with annual agricultural almanacs a close second. The Protestant emphasis on the Bible in liturgy, instruction and meditation played a major role in the high literacy levels that characterized early New England.
1753 was also the year Greenfield became a separate town from Deerfield. Eben and Prudence Graves were part of the excitement of forming a new township while they were raising a young family, and were part of America becoming a new country as well. The three oldest Graves brothers were eager to do their part to help bring about the birth of the new nation:
Daniel joined the fight first, and died in January 1776, in the very beginning of the war, but his service record is missing.
Job enlisted next. He started as a Private in Captain John Williams’ company in Colonel Timothy Robinson’s detachment of the Hampshire militia in December of 1776, fought with his unit at Ticonderoga, and served in several different units throughout 1777 and 1779, for a total of 209 days.
Eben Jr, the oldest child of Eben and Prudence, enlisted in February, 1777. He was a Private in Captain Timothy Child’s company in Colonel David Leonard’s regiment at Ticonderoga and in Colonel David Field’s regiment at Bennington, for a total of 1 month and 21 days in 1777.
The process of independence was not without great hardship and many losses, and the Bible would have been a comfort to the Graves family, even through the deaths of their children: Eben and Prudence lost two-year-old Moses in 1760, and Daniel, their second son, died in 1776 as a revolutionary in the very beginning of Revolutionary War, at age 22. Soldiers traveling through town were often sick, with smallpox and dysentery and other illness, and in 1777, 50 people out of 900 inhabitants of Greenfield died in an outbreak credited to sick soldiers, including Electa (age 2) on the 1st of August and Solomon (age 8) on the 23rd of September.
Imagine Eben and Prudence Graves in the summer of 1777, having lost one son to the war and worrying about two others currently away fighting, seeing young soldiers like their own sons come through town ill, and their baby daughter sickens and dies. This was part of the terrible price of what was, in many ways, a civil war playing out on the home front. Perhaps this Bible gave them some comfort.
Being the child of a prominent loyalist during the American Revolution was a challenge. Growing up in Northampton, Anna Stoddard experienced childhood during a time when crown-appointed officials such as her father were “not only deposed, but denounced” by the general populace.
Anna was 12 or 13 years old when she made this sampler dated 1782. Born on March 24, 1769 to Solomon Stoddard (1736-1827) and his first wife Martha Partridge (1739-1772), Anna was born into a family that for just over a century held various religious, political or military appointments governing Hampshire County. In 1774, her father was appointed High Sheriff of Hampshire County, the very year when this authority could no longer match the collective will of the governed.
Solomon Stoddard’s appointment came at a time when the governor and the crown attempted to implement the Massachusetts Governance Act. This act made changes to town and county government that curtailed the rights of citizens. Among its provisions, it allowed the governor to appoint county sheriffs, without the consent of the council, to serve at his will. The citizens of Hampshire County directly challenged this act. In August 1774, grassroots activists gathered to close the court in Springfield and asked Stoddard to sign a document promising to never hold office under this act. In February 1775, citizens surrounded his house on Prospect Street and brought him to trial in Hadley. In 1776, he was jailed overnight in Northampton and later asked to sign an affidavit of “pledging to report all conspiracies or other movements inimical to the cause of liberty.”
Solomon Stoddard apparently maintained his loyalty to the crown. And in 1782 - the same year the sampler was made - a large gambrel-roof house for the Stoddard family was built, fronting the smaller circa 1730 house that had been surrounded by citizen activists.
Anna’s brother, Solomon Stoddard, born in 1771, would describe his childhood during the war in an 1837 recollections as follows:
I was born, as you all know, in 1771, and of course was a boy in troubled times. My mother died when I was twenty months old; so that figuratively speaking, I had no Mother. Here was a deprivation which you never experienced. A mother, if intelligent, judicious & affectionate, is every thing among children. Without some details, you would have a very imperfect idea of the difficulties which the youth of that day, & especially the sons of the Tories, had to encounter. The war of the revolution, altho’ of a national character, was, nevertheless, as respected many of its immediate evils, more like a civil war. After the Declaration of Independence, those holding offices under the old Dynasty, were not only deposed, but denounced. A new race came forward, under the name of whigs, led on generally by violent, and frequently unprincipled men. Contributions for the public service were levied by Town Committees; and if the Tories questioned at all the amount, or called for the law under which they acted, a mob was at hand to silence complaint by violent measures, as the exigency, in their opinion, might require. These outrages were experienced by my Father at different times (in common with others who had been deposed) from these mobs; sometimes to gratify party feelings, and at others to show their zeal in the cause of Liberty. These things were going forward occasionally from 1776 to 1783. For most of the time between these dates, we were without law and without Courts, and every effort was making to prejudice the community against those men who were previously in Office, and who had too much conscience to violate the Oath of Allegiance, by which they were bound. Of these, my Father was one, being High Sheriff under the King. At such a time, and under such circumstance, little attention was paid to education. Even Yale College was broken up for a considerable period-our Town Schools were nothing, and the sons of Tories, owing to the prejudices alluded to, were practically excluded from their benefit, if any benefit was derivable. Of course I had no schooling in early life, except that one summer, when eight or nine years old, I attended a girl’s school kept by Mrs. Henshaw, at the house where she now lives. This school I could hardly attend without being insulted in the street as the son of a Tory. You might suppose that I enjoyed good advantages at home, but it was not so. Without a mother, as I before observed, and my Father, otherwise occupied & frequently in a state of agitation, was not favorably situated to instruct his children…. The first ten or eleven years of my life I spent at home, almost wholly excluded from the company of boys of my age, and groping my way under the circumstances I have stated.
In early 1776, Belchertown, like most of Massachusetts was caught up in the spirit of independence. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had been published in January, the Massachusetts Provincial Government had drafted a new constitution, and towns and cities were preparing to declare their position on the issue of independence from Great Britain.
On June 25, 1776 a town meeting was held to consider this last question and by “a univercel vote” the residents voted to support independence and pledged to “firmly Ingage with their Lives and Fortunes” to assist the cause. This document memorializes that event.
Prominent among the names recorded on this document is Nathaniel Dwight, who was a scion of the town’s influential Dwight family. An innkeeper, he was a member of the Board of Selectmen and also Town Clerk, at the time. A month earlier, he had been chosen by a town meeting as a delegate to the Watertown Congress. At that time, it was also “voted that said Nathaniel Dwight shall go armed as there is every danger of invasion by the King’s troops that are now stationed at Boston, there being about 4000 men and the Governments of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire have 30,000 men that are stationed round about Boston.”
Daniel Severance was about 25 years old, dark-complected, light-eyed, and working as a blacksmith in what is now Washington, New Hampshire when the talk of revolution began. He enlisted as a private in Captain Ezra Towne's Company, Colonel James Read's Regiment on April 23, 1775. Less than 2 months later, he fought with his regiment at the pivotal Battle of Bunker Hill. In September of 1776, Daniel reenlisted as a private in Captain Abijah Smith's Company, part of Colonel Loammi Baldwin's 26th Massachusetts Continental regiment.
We know this was Daniel’s fife, but as there is no concrete record of him serving as a fifer, many questions remain. The military companies that made up the larger militia and continental army regiments during the Revolution included at least one fifer and one drummer. The owner of this fife had to master all the musical calls that told the members of his company when to get up, where to muster and when to go to bed, as well as providing the music on the march that helped the company keep the cadence and hopefully lift the army’s spirits. In battle, fifers and drummers used special tunes and drum beats to cut through the din of battle and communicate officers’ orders, including when to advance or retreat. Did Daniel ever learn or play these special tunes? How did this fife come into his care? What else might he have played?
Before the Revolution, music was already an important part of the colonial social experience. Although the early Puritans of the 1620s were less inclined to song, by 1776 there were not only the everyday lullabies and work songs and tavern anthems, but sacred hymns and public concerts as well. In 1770, William Billings, of Boston, printed The New-England Psalm-Singer, the first book of music written in colonial America, with a frontispiece engraving by Paul Revere. A few pieces were new words written to familiar tunes, but most were entirely new, like Chester, which was extremely popular in the 1770s, and started off boldly, thus:
Let tyrants Shake their Iron rod
And slav'ry Clank her galling Chains
we fear them not we trust in god
New englands god for ever reigns.
(Billings, New-England Psalm-Signer)
This was everyday music, the type anyone could play or sing, in a type of book anyone could buy. The type Daniel could have picked up during his time in Boston.
After the war, Daniel bought land in New Hampshire, married Betsy Safford, and raised two sons, Benjamin and Jeremiah. The fife went to his oldest son, who passed it to his son Ben Jr, who passed it to his son, B. F. Severance, who donated it to the Historical Society of Greenfield in 1910. What tunes might this little wooden fife played all those long years!
As the British Empire spread around the world, so too did the “Brown Bess” flintlock musket. From the early 18th century to the mid 19th century, it was the ubiquitous weapon of the British infantry. Known officially as the Land Pattern Musket, it marked the start of the era of standardization of arms across the British infantry.
To operate it, all a soldier had to do was:
1. Bite open the cartridge.
2. Open the musket pan.
3. Pour in a small amount of powder.
4. Close the pan.
5. Hold the musket vertically.
6. Pour remaining powder down the barrel.
7. Push the cartridge paper into the barrel.
8. Remove the ramrod.
9. Ram the paper and bullet down the barrel.
10. Put the ramrod back.
11. Aim.
12. Fire.
British soldiers were trained to reload and shoot every 20 seconds, even while under enemy fire. Under 50 yards, the Brown Bess was devastatingly effective. However, at distances of 100 yards or more, it was wildly inaccurate. It was said, derisively, that it took a man’s weight in bullets to kill him. Although it could never be as accurate as a gun with a rifled barrel, its accuracy improved in the hands of more highly trained, experienced soldiers.
The fate of this musket’s original owner is unknown. After General John Burgoyne’s surrender at the Battle of Saratoga, militia Captain John Fellows of Shelburne picked it up off the battlefield. Fellows carved his initials into the brass plate alongside those of the original owner “RD 1777.”
Story Addendum
The musket's story, however, did not end when Captain Fellows brought it home from Saratoga. Nor did it end when it was donated to Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association in 1882 by John Fellows, grandson of Captain Fellows. The decision to donate the musket would be a point of contention in the Fellows family for decades to come.
By the early 1900s, John Fellows' great-grandson, Allen, was particularly incensed by his father's decision to donate the musket, which he considered a family heirloom. When confronted, John conceded that he believed he had only loaned the musket to PVMA for safe keeping. Thus Allen went to the museum to retrieve the musket. But when he attempted to do so, he was turned away by PVMA's founder, George Sheldon, who provided the legal documentation proving the transfer of ownership.
Just one generation later, Robert Fellows Wood lamented John's "impulsive" decision to donate the musket to "keen, old" George Sheldon. Robert had the opportunity to see it on exhibit in 1930 at PVMA's Memorial Hall Museum. However, on a return visit to the museum in 1954, Robert and his wife, Elizabeth, were unable to locate the musket in the case where it had been exhibited 24 years earlier. The museum's curator then missidentified the musket they were looking for, leading to confusion and fear that the musket had been mislabled, altered, or worse.
Today the musket is exhibited in Memorial Hall Museum's Military Gallery, correctly labeled and unaltered, thanks to the foresight of John Fellows.
A Pay Roll of Capt. Daniel Pomeroy Company Being A Detachment from Genll Danielson Brigade in The Continental Service for the Month of July 1778 | A Mileage Account For Each man in this Pay Roll Sett opposite Their names from Their Respective homes To Albany |
Mens Names | Rank | Time Entered | Time Service to | Amount For Month | Remarks | Whole Amount Lawfull Money | Number of Miles Marched | The Whole Amount At one Penny Per Mile | |
Daniel Pomeroy | Capt | July 1st | August 1st | 12-0-0 | £12-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Ezekiel Foster | Leut | Do | Do | 8-0-0 | 8-0-0 | 115 | 0-9-7 | ||
Eliphaz Wright | Sergt | Do | Do | 3-0-0 | 3-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Martin Severance | Sergt | Do | Do | 3-0-0 | 3-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
Jonathan Pomeroy | Corpl | Do | Do | 2-4-0 | 2-4-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
William Turner | Corpl | Do | Do | 2-4-0 | 2-4-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
Samuel Turner | Corpl | Do | Do | 2-4-0 | 2-4-0 | 115 | 0-9-7 | ||
Nathan Strong | Private | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Eleazer Root | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Moses Hendrick | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Moses Danks | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
David Wood | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
David Frisby | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
Enoch Beats | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
Jesse Woolcot | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
John Fobes | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
Simeon Higgins | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
Samuel Hamilton | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
Ezekiel Thomas | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 66 | 0-5-6 | ||
David Ingram | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Benjn Parker | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 80 | 0-6-8 | ||
Jonas Leonard | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 60 | 0-5-0 | ||
John Howard | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 60 | 0-5-0 | ||
Daniel Morse 3rd | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 60 | 0-5-0 | ||
Joseph Allen | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 63 | 0-5-3 | ||
Gideon Howard | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 63 | 0-5-3 | ||
Jonathan Taylor | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 63 | 0-5-3 | ||
Thomas Ford | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8-4 | ||
Moses Smith | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8- 4 | ||
Jonathan Lions | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8-4 | ||
Francis Gooding | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8-4 | ||
John Oldin | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8-4 | ||
John Gant | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 115 | 0-9-7 | ||
Thomas Wallis | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 100 | 0-8-4 | ||
Rubin Casmorhugh?? | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
Eli Gold | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
Eldad Corbit | Do | Do | Do | 2-0-0 | 2-0-0 | 90 | 0-7-6 | ||
92-12-0 | 12-13-10 |
Sometime around 1799, a family register was made to record the births, marriages, and deaths in Samuel Colton's family. This printed and hand-colored register was almost certainly created by Richard Brunton (1750-1832), a notorious engraver, counterfeiter and British deserter. Born in 1750 in Birmingham, England, he apprenticed with an engraver before enlisting in the British Army Grenadiers. He served from 1774-1779 in America during the Revolution, and saw heavy action, including the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Battle of Brandywine, and the British retreat from Philadelphia before deserting in New York in 1779. His career in engraving included counterfeiting currency, which landed him in prison on more than one occasion, including a two-year sentence at hard labor served at Connecticut's New-Gate prison, where he earned money to repay the costs of his prosecution as well as better living conditions by painting portraits of the warden and his family and by creating engravings. In 1807, Brunton was arrested again, this time in Massachusetts, and was given a life sentence. Four years later, the state granted his petition for release due to ill health. In exchange for the early release, he promised to return to his native England, but instead went to live in Groton, Massachusetts, where he died in the poorhouse in 1832.
One of Brunton's legitimate, and perhaps more lucrative creations, were family registers--documents with decorative borders that often included depictions of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Peace, and left room for the recording of the family births, deaths and marriages. These pre-printed family registers are considered some of the earliest American examples. The Colton register includes Samuel and Flavia Colton's marriage, the births (and deaths) of their children, his second marriage to Lucy Colton and their family. These types of family registers were considered proof for official documentation.
Samuel Colton (1727-1784) was a well-known wealthy Longmeadow merchant, earning him the nickname, "Marchant" Colton. His impressive large home, built circa 1754, stood on a rise just south of the Longmeadow town green. When the house was demolished in the early 20th century, parts of the house were salvaged as souvenirs, including the very imposing "Connecticut River God" front doorway, which now resides in a place of honor in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1776, a kind of local "tea party" took place at Samuel Colton's shop. Unhappy with Colton's prices for the West India goods he imported (essentials such as rum), townspeople, including his brother-in-law, dressed up as Native Americans and raided his shop. They removed the disputed goods, calculated what they felt to be fair prices and left that sum in exchange. Colton's suit for legal redress failed, and he is said to have remained bitter for the rest of this life about the "theft."
To learn more about Richard Brunton's fascinating life, see Deborah Child's book, Soldier, Engraver, Forger: Richard Brunton's Life on the Fringe in America's New Republic. For more information about Samuel Colton, see Barbara Smith's book, After the Revolution.
These two notebooks contain the Revolutionary War Record and Accounts of Dr. Estes Howe, 1775-1785. Book I is entitled, “Estes Howe, his book, Peeks Kill, June 7, 1777, Belcherton [sic], May 14” and is 56 pages, 6x7½ in., paper cover, stitched. Book II has no cover, but contains his Revolutionary War Records, 1775-1776, and his notes as Belchertown Town Clerk, 1782 – 1783. It is 68 pages, 6x7¼ in., stitched paper. Also available: a partial list of other content found in the journals.
Please note, this transcription is still under construction. The "Remedies" notes are still being researched. If you have any expertise in 18th century medicine, please contact us!
Capt. Name | Persons Sick | Rank | Disorders | Remedys Applyd. |
Angle | Isaac Whord | Privet | Dysentary | Rhii Ipecac d. albis |
Roundsevel | Lemuel Tabor | Lieut. | “—“ | Rhii. Ial. Niter d. albis |
Jepther Ashley | Privet | Slow Fever | Sal. Niter Dilut Tea | |
August 4 | Timathy Ingrums | —“— | Dysentary | Rhii Cort?? |
Jacob Laisdell | —“— | “—“ | Eonatick?? | |
Abner Cody | Sergt | Dys on decl | Bitters with ?? | |
Wm. Allen | Privet | Dysentary | Rhii?? | |
Bardwell | James McClantick | —“— | “—“ | Rh?? |
Jona. Olds | —“— | “—“ | “ as above— | |
Stuard Key | —“— | Rumitism | Bill Cache of ?? | |
Elijah Knights | —“— | Wounded | Dressing Peculars | |
August 5 | Lemuel Tabor | Lieut. | gone home | ——— |
Roundsevel | Timathy Ingrums | Privet | Dysentary | Rhis Cat do Albis?? |
Daniel Ward | “—“ | Slow Fever | ??Bitters | |
Daniel Giles | “—“ | Dysentary | Ematick?? | |
Walbridge | Asher Nickels | —“— | Slow Fever | Rhii?? |
Robert Parkes | —“— | “—“ | Oint Cont.?? | |
——Parker | —“— | “—“ | “—Rhiis Sal Nitre? | |
Esm. Mungar | —“— | Epelepsey | Pell??? | |
Danforth | Elijah Mason | —“— | Dys on decl | Rhii Car?? |
Daniel Bullock | —“— | Billius Collick | Pell Cache ?? | |
Isaac Goff | —“— | Dys on decl | Rhii?? | |
Aaron Millar | —“— | Dysentary | Ematick d’albis?? | |
Simeon Whelan | —“— | “—“ | “—“ “—“ | |
[?]allen | —— Ingalsen | Capt. | Hypondrical | “—“ “—“ |
——Gutterage | Lieut. | Dysentary | Rhii?? | |
Capt. Name | Persons Sick | Rank | Disorders | Remedys Applyd. |
August 5 | Jacob Lasdell | Privet | Dysentary | Rhii?? |
Bardwell | James McClentick | —“— | “—“ | Rhii Sal Niter?? |
Jona. Olds | —“— | “—“ | “——“ ”——“ | |
Wm. Allen | —“— | “—“ | “——“ ”——“ | |
Elijah Knights | —“— | Wounded | Dress and Dressings | |
King | Job Dean | —“— | Dysentary | Rhii d’albas at Nite?? |
Colton | Benj. Colton | Drummer | Dyerhea | Ematick ——“— |
Richard Fairman | Privet | Cold | Betrl Bolis d’albis | |
Henry | David Picher | —“— | Dysentary | Rhii ?? |
Azariah Holloway | —“— | Pain in abdomen | Pill Cache | |
Angel | Isaac Hoard | —“— | Dysentary | Rhii Sal Morab del albis?? |
Jedediah Jewett | Corp. | “——“ | Ematick?? | |
Peckard | John Potama | Negro | “——“ | Rhii d’albas?? |
Jedediah Gilbart | —“— | Slow Fever | ?? | |
6th | Israel Gaff | Privet | Dyst. on decline | Rhii?? |
Danforth | Aaron Millar | —“— | Inflam. Fever | Rhii Sal Niter d Albis |
Elisha Mason | —“— | Dysentary | Rhii Sal Niter | |
Stephen Ingals | —“— | Dyst. on decline | Tint Cort?? | |
Roundsevel | Timathy Ingram | —“— | Dysentary | Gone to the Horspittal |
Wm. Parker | —“— | “—“ | Ematick?? | |
Peckard | Joseph Wood | Corp. | Dysentary | Gone to the Horspittal |
Josiah Wood | Privet | Foul Stomach | Ematick—— | |
Lemuel [?] | —“— | “—“ | “—“—“— | |
Henry | Elisha Hocam | —“— | Dysentary | Ematick?? at Night |
David Picher | —“— | “——“ | Dectan Cortet Elix??? |