Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by

APPHIA JUDD,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

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PREFACE

THE town of Hadley is one of the oldest in the Connecticut valley. Differences of opinion in relation to discipline, baptism, and the qualifications for church membership, had so rent the churches of Hartford and Wethersfield, that Gov. John Webster, Elder William Goodwin, and Rev. John Russell, with their friends, at length decided to seek a new home at a higher point on the river.

To brave the journey of fifty miles through the wilderness and to lay again the foundations of a new town, was of course no small undertaking, yet the peace of the Colony requiring it, such was their resolve. Accordingly, on the 18th of April, 1659, the company to the number of sixty, met at the house of Nathaniel Ward in Hartford, and signed an agreement for their regulation and government, pledging themselves to remove to the "plantation purchased on the east side of the river of Conecticut, beside Northampton," as early as the 29th of September of the following year. For various reasons, twenty of the original signers failed to fulfil their engagements, yet their places were supplied by others, the town was settled, and has ever since continued to prosper.

To trace the history of this enterprise, from its inception to the present time-to relate the toils, privations and dangers which beset the path of our ancestors to describe their mode of life-to tell what they did for the cause of learning and religion—and to give some account of their families, is the object of the present work. In carrying out this purpose, no available source of information has been overlooked.

Induced by no expectation of pecuniary reward, but stimulated by an ardent love for historical research and a desire to preserve from destruction the crumbling materials of a long and interesting history, at the pressing solicitation of Major Sylvester Smith, SYLVESTER JUDD, Esq. commenced the publication of this work. To it he devoted every moment which health would allow, and continued his labors until removed by death.

With not a little reluctance, at the earnest desire of his family, shortly after Mr. Judd's decease, did I consent to complete the work commenced by oue, who has well been styled, "the distinguished antiquary of Northampton." To this task, amid a pressure of other duties, have I devoted my leisure moments; and having brought together the scattered fragments of family history left by Mr. Judd, and added to the same from my own collections, I am able at length to lay before the public, the result of my labors, having pursued the work with interest heightened by being able to trace my own descent from no less than five of those noble men, who more than two hundred years ago, in prayer and faith, laid such goodly foundations in this garden of New England.

AMHERST, March, 1863.

L.M. BOLTWOOD.

NOTE Persons discovering errors in this volume, or able to give additional information, on any point, are respectfully requested to communicate the same to L M BOLTWOOD.