Holyoke High School - Annual Yearbook (Holyoke, MA)

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Settlement of Area In the England of the early 1600's religious toleration was scarce. Many peoples had to emigrate from England to America to establish communities free of religious struggle. In 1620 such people formed a company for the uplant- ing, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in America. They chose John Win- throp as governor. Soon, William Pynchon, prompted by the desire for wealth and religious freedom, joined the group. It was not until 1629, however, that the company received a charter by royal patent. The company, by this time called the Massa- chusetts Bay Company, was to found a civil colony for the development of land. It was a Puritan group. Yet it was not until the Cam- bridge Agreement was signed on August 26, 1629, that the group could actually emigrate to New England. This agreement provided for certain English gentlemen and their families to emigrate to New England, and carried with it full powers of government which could le- gally be transferred across the sea. The group was ready to set sail. William Pynchon was appointed a magistrate and assistant of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and accompanied Governor Winthrop in his passage to America. Governor Winthrop's ship arrived in June. 1630, at Salem. William Pynchon settled in Roxbury. The settlers remained peacefully in the Eastern part of the state, chiefly concerned with the support of family and church and with the building of towns and cities. They were not very interested in developing the western area for two reasons: it was their policy not to open land to promiscuous settlement, and although the local Indians had not bothered them, they were still not certain they could trust all the surrounding tribes. The visit of an Indian sachem fchiefb to Governor Winthrop in 1633 encouraged the settlement of the district which is presently Springfield. The desire for wealth through fur trading tempted Pynchon to move westward. In 1635 he received the consent of the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to re- move to the area of the Connecticut River, a river which had only been known to the English since 1631. He dispatched John Cable and John Woodstock to the Connecticut Valley to build a house and to prepare for settlers who

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were to follow. These men erected a crude structure on the west side of the Connecticut River in a meadow which, because of their action there, was subsequently called Nhouse meadow. However, when Pynchon came with his family to settle, the site was aban- doned for another on the opposite side of the river. One reason for the change was that the west bank of the river, and particularly the meadow, was subject to overflow of the river. The reason given by Pynchon to Governor Winthrop for the abandonment of the site was the following: I am now preparing to goe to the bay and have settled upon a planta- tion at Agawamg and cannot fhere the letter is tornb . . . for the best ground at Agawam is so incombred with Indians what I shall loose half the benefit yearly, and am compel- led to plant on the opposite side to avoid trespassing thereon. Agawam .was the name given the west bank of the river. Pynchon and his family, and other settlers from Roxbury and their families, located themselves on the east bank of the river at the site of present-day Springfield. On July, 1636, two of the ancient Indians of Agaam, or Agawam, for themselves and other Indians who claimed ownership of the lands, deeded a large tract of land on both sides of the river to William Pynchon, Henry Smith, and .Iehu Burr, and their associates. The land included most of the city of Spring- field. The deed stated: It is agreed between the Com- mucke and the Matauchan Ancient Indians of Agaam for and in the name of all other Indians . . . to and with William Pynchon, Henry Smith, and .Iehu Burr, their heirs and associates, to trucke and sell that ground and meadows or lands on the East side of the Quinnecticut River called Usquaiok fthe end of the landD and Nayasset Cwhere there is a corner reaching about four or five miles in length from the north end of Massakauke, the great meadow, up to the Chickuppe Riverb. For this deed Pynchon and his associates paid a consideration which was satisfactory to the Indians.