Historical Collections, by John Warner Barber

344

WILLIAMSBURG.

61,623 pairs of shoes, valued at $53,164. Straw bonnets manufactured, 85,000, valued at $114,832; palm-leaf hats manufactured, 79,200, valued at $10,870; value of augers manufactured, $4,500. Population, 2,403. Distance, 25 miles from Northampton, 23 from Springfield, 27 to Worcester, 44 to Hartford, Con., and 67 to Boston.

WESTHAMPTON.

THIS town was incorporated in 1778. The first settlement of this town began about the year 1767. Lemuel Strong, the oldest son of Noah Strong (in 1817 the oldest man in the town,) is supposed to have been the first child born in this town. In 1779 there were about sixty families and three hundred souls in the town. The first minister, Rev. Enoch Hale, was settled here in 1779,; he died 1837, aged 83. Mr. Hale was the brother of Capt. Nathan Hale of Connecticut, the martyr to American liberty, who was executed as a spy in 1775, aged 22. The successor of Mr. Hale in the ministry was Rev. Horace B. Chapin, who settled here in 1829, and resigned in 1837; his successor was Rev. Amos Drury, who was installed pastor the same year.

This is principally an agricultural town. In 1837, there were 170 Saxony, 944 merino, and 1,404 other kinds of sheep; average weight of fleece, 2 1/2 lbs.; value of wool, $3,205; capital invested, $7,204. Population, 818. Distance, 8 miles from Northampton, 8 from Williamsburg, and 100 from Boston.

WILLIAMSBURG.

THIS town was incorporated in 1771. The first Congregational minister settled in this place was Rev. Amos Butler, a native of Hartford, Con.; this was in 1773; he died in 1777, at the age of twenty-nine years. Mr. Butler was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Strong, in 1781. Mr. Strong died Jan. 1st, 1803, and was succeeded by Rev. Henry Lord in 1804. His successor was Rev. William Lusk, who was installed here in 1836.

A considerable stream passes through this town, and unites with the Connecticut at Northampton, affording a good water-power for manufacturing purposes. The following is a southern view of the central part of Williamsburg. The Methodist church recently erected is seen on the left; the Congregational church is seen on the right, southerly of which is the bridge over the mill stream passing through the village. In the central part of the engraving is seen in the extreme distance the spire of the old Congregational church, situated about half a mile northward from the central part of the village. This was built more than fifty years ago.