Buckland Public Library

Buckland Massachusetts – The Early Years

Filed under: Patron Posts, History & Geneology — Library Liz @ 12:29 pm

In 1630, John Winthrop led over one thousand Puritans from England to Boston to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the New World. This voyage, and the careful pre-planning that went into it, resulted in nearly twenty thousand Puritan colonists coming to Massachusetts over the next ten years. With such an influx of people in such a short time, and with the earlier Plymouth Plantations having been in existence for a decade already, it’s not surprising that the settlers began moving inland to the west. Settlements were established along the Connecticut River in today’s western Massachusetts towns of Springfield and West Springfield as early as 1635. Over the next century, travel up the Connecticut river to the Deerfield River and her tributaries led the colonists to settle in the area known today as West County – the western Franklin County towns of Conway, Ashfield, Shelburne, Charlemont, Colrain, Heath, Rowe and Buckland.

Incorporated in 1779 as Buckland, for many years the town was known as “No Town.” Much of the town land was deeded in 1735 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony by members of the Pocumtuck Tribe of Native Americans. The Colony named the area Boston Township No. 1. It was territory that included “No Town” which was at that time part of the towns of Charlemont and Ashfield as well as land held by several individual grants. Rather than being named for a town or person from the Old World, the name Buckland comes from the New World land itself. One of the early settlers of the town, Samuel Taylor, is said to have built what was called a “Deer-Park”. He erected a fence on land near the river that the plentiful deer could enter but not exit. This provided him captive venison – he would shoot the bucks and release the does (who would bring back more bucks on another day). Legend has it that one morning Mr. Taylor entered his park and shot five bucks, his feet not moving an inch. This resulted in the town name: Buck-Land.

Buckland was far removed from the “city life” of the merchant towns and trading villages of the Atlantic coast, it being over one hundred twenty miles inland from Boston. New Amsterdam, now New York City, was more than six days journey – a distance we travel today in about three hours. Publications indicate that the colonists came to the area after hearing from the Native Americans of the “rich fertile soil” in the west. Unlike the flat valley land found in Springfield and Deerfield, Buckland and the surrounding area has steep terrain and the soil, while it may be rich, has abundant rocks in every shovel full. Still, the early settlers were determined to make a life in this wilderness. They made their way west from the towns of Massachusetts towns of Marlborough, Uxbridge, Upton, Lancaster, Leominster, Ipswich, New Braintree and Woburn to name just a few. And they came north from Litchfield, New Fairfield, Milford and other places in Connecticut.

Land was “granted”, or handed out, by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There were stipulations that required that specific “improvements” were to be made to the land. Requirements included the number of settlers per area; the amount of land for household lots, public common space, church and school; the size of the houses and the amount of land that must be cleared. Land would be given to individuals or groups in reward or recognition of their (or a family member’s) service in the military as well as to reimburse folks for what might have been destroyed or lost as a result of conflict with the Native Americans. Individuals were also appropriated acreage for losses as a result of the constant shifting of boundary lines of towns and individual grant holdings.

A saw mill, one of the first businesses in Buckland, was operational as early as 1769. A grist mill followed so that the colonists could grind their corn. The Deerfield River and Clessons River provided water for drinking and power for the mills but these waterways also created hazardous travel conditions. The swollen river banks and the steep grade in many areas made it extremely difficult for the Buckland settlers to attend school, church, and town meetings located across the Deerfield River in what is today Charlemont. This physical separation is one of the conditions that eventually led to the incorporation of Buckland as its own entity.

The early settlers built their homes of logs which they cut from the land. Historical records state that framed houses were rare prior to 1800. Timber was abundant and was used for shelter and heat. It would seem that in the early years of Buckland barns were more of a necessity than houses. The 1785 town “valuation” shows a considerable amount of live stock - five hundred ten animals - barns out numbered dwellings seventeen to thirteen. The 1790 United States Census reports an increase of 951% (nine hundred and fifty one percent) in the number of dwellings. In just five short years, one hundred and twenty four families had decided that Buckland was a fine place to make a home in the New World; the population was reported as one hundred twenty four families totaling seven hundred and eighteen people.

With the new residents came the need for businesses and services. In addition to the saw and grist mills, other industries began. There were blacksmiths; carpenters; broom stick and broom head makers; sash, door and blind shops; whip makers; braided palm leaf makers; granite quarries; peg shops; casket makers; cabinet makers; various agricultural endeavors like flax and apples; barrel and tool shops. It is said that the “Upper City”, known today as Buckland Center or Upper Buckland, had over thirty businesses in existence at the same time in the early years. Today, a drive through Buckland Center takes less than one minute and the only “businesses” you will find are the Library, Post Office, Congregational Church, the Historical Museum (once a school) and two cemeteries. There are old colonial homes on both sides of the quiet street but there is little evidence of the bustling center of the early years.

One Buckland business that is still around is Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Company. This cutlery factory, located in the Shelburne Falls section of town near the Deerfield River, has been in Buckland since 1850. In 1869 a set of cutlery made here was presented to then President Ulysses S. Grant. The set was on display in a Broadway window in New York City where the Times wrote a descriptive article regarding “its fine workmanship and elegance.” The handles were made of pearl and ivory carved like maple leaves and on each blade there was an engraved spread eagle. The blades were joined to the handles in bands of heavy gold. The wooden case that held the knives was made of butternut and bird’s eye maple, woods native to America. More than one hundred and fifty years has passed since Ebenezer and Nathaniel Lamson started this business. Today the factory continues to produce excellent quality cutlery and does an international business in a variety of cook and gift ware.

Perhaps one of the best known people to have come from the early years of Buckland is Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley Massachusetts. Born on a farm in 1797, Mary grew up in Buckland and the neighboring town of Ashfield. She became a teacher and opened a school in the “Upper City” section of Buckland. She was a member of the First Congregational Church being baptized there in 1822. The church is commonly known today as the Mary Lyon Church. Her birthplace in East Buckland is preserved and maintained by Mount Holyoke College as a park like setting at the end of a dirt road with the original cellar hole and a bronze tablet showing the layout of the original house. The U. S. Postal Service honored Mary with a stamp of her picture and multiple books and articles have been written about her life, faith, and pioneer spirit to educate women in a time when education was not what society expected women to pursue.

Learn more about the early years of Buckland and the surrounding area from history and genealogy books available at the Buckland Library. You’ll find Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, as well as Deerfield, Hadley, and Springfield. There are also regional works covering several New England locations, Western Massachusetts and Franklin County.

Compiled by Tina Peters in 2009

Genealogy Resources at the Buckland Public Library

Filed under: Patron Posts, History & Geneology — Library Liz @ 11:21 am

The Buckland Public Library has several family genealogies in its holdings, including books documenting the surnames Ellis, Fellows, Fiske-Fisk, Hallock, Hosmer, Johnson, Jones, Pratt, Purrington, Rugg-Holt, Scott, Shedd, and Spear, among others.

Our collection includes several town, state and regional historical volumes, many of which include genealogies. We have several copies of The History of Buckland 1779-1935 by Fannie Shaw Kendrick with Genealogies by Lucy Cutler Kellogg. Published in 1937, the Buckland history includes over 400 pages of family genealogies with a decent surname index of the entire work.

We are fortunate to have in our holdings a record complied by William Othniel Taylor (1855-1923). In Kendrick’s Buckland History she writes, “Mr. W. O. Taylor most painstakingly gathered and recorded a vast amount of material on local history which has been of inestimable value in the preparation of this work in both the historical and genealogical sections.” Gifted to the Library by H. E. Ward, this work is hand written with very legible penmanship and includes an every name index. Here’s Mr. Taylor’s own description of this work, and his listing of the contents (with page numbers omitted):

Buckland Mass
Historical and Genealogical Data, Relating to the Town of Buckland, collected and arranged from Town and Church Records, Cemeteries, Town Histories, Genealogies, Account Books and other sources, by a great grandson of Capt Samuel Taylor, Esq. who was the first Town Clerk and served in that Office for over forty years and was succeeded by his son Samuel, who held the same Office for many years. This volume is a valuable one to all who may be interested in Buckland’s history, and should not be taken from the Town Clerk’s Office, as it can not be replaced.
A slight tribute to the home of my parents.
[signed] W O Taylor Dec 26 1896

Contents
Inscriptions from Tombstones
Deaths, copied from newspapers
Deaths of former Residents
Some Births in Buckland, mostly from Gazette a Courier
Cong Church Records copied from the original
Cong Church Records Deaths
Cong Church Records Marriages
Marriages from newspapers, and other sources
Publishments of Marriage intentions
A List of Voters in Buckland 1806 1822
Valuation 1785
Extracts from Major Griswold’s Account Book
Baptist Societies and members
Deed of Samuel and Lemuel Taylor 1780
Soldiers furnished by Buckland 1861-1865, from State records
Odd Notes of People, etc.
Fragments of genealogies
Index of Persons

For those who live a distance from Buckland, we have a volunteer who is willing to help you with your research. Send your email request to: heylady@mapinternet.com . Be sure to put “Buckland” in the subject line. You may also mail your request to the Library.

-Tina Peters, 2009

A Brief History of the Buckland Public Library

Filed under: Patron Posts, History & Geneology — Library Liz @ 10:54 am

In the year 1889 the late LeBaron D. Ruddock of Buckland died, leaving a legacy for the nucleus of a church library fund. Reverend Alpheus C. Hodges, a man of vision, saw here an opportunity to stress the need for a public library building. He therefore offered to give one thousand dollars if the people in town would raise a like amount. A committee consisting of Messrs. E. C. Maynard and A. C. Hawks soon secured the required sum and the lot whereon the Methodist church stood [this is the library’s current location on Upper Street, Buckland Center] was decided upon as the most central location for the building. As the Methodist society was greatly depleted in numbers, and the church no longer used for services, the Methodist conference sold the property to the citizens for use as a public hall, and it was moved to the rear of the Congregational church [where it stands today known at the Buckland Public Hall available to rent for private and public functions]. The ground thus cleared, was purchased of Josiah Griswold’s estate for the site of the new library. The building committee was Sumner J. Ward, James D. Avery and Charles E. Ward. The committee on plans and specifications, Reverend Alpheus C. Hodges, secured the services of Gardner, Payne and Gardner, who prepared and submitted the same for approval.

The interior of the library is a single room 25 x 36 feet, finished in natural wood. In one end is the large fireplace, embellished with a memorial tablet. Bookcases line the walls and the center of the room is given over to reading tables. The frame of the building is of slow burning mill construction type, walls of brick, roof of slate.
At the time of building, the library comprised two thousand volumes, many of which had been given by Mr. Hodges. E. C. Davis, civil engineer of Northampton, gave two hundred volumes as a memorial to his parents, whose lives were spent in Buckland. The books included forty volumes of Shakespeare, Emersons’ and Dickens’ works, and books of like character. Albert Ward of Taunton, but of Buckland origin, presented a picture, “The Angelus,” which found a place upon the walls. The church library was moved from the Congregational church into the new building.

The dedicatory exercises of the Free Public Church Library, as it was first known, took place July 4, 1891, at the Congregational church. An address was given by Hon. E. B. Hayes of Lynn. There were appropriate remarks by George D. Crittenden of Shelburne Falls, Edward P. Hitchcock of Greenfield, Frederick Howes of Ashfield, Miss Louise Hodges, Hon. W. A. Clark of Lynn, and S. E. Bridgeman of Northampton. After prayer by Rev. Ashley of Shelburne Falls the audience proceeded to the library building for further exercises. These consisted of a brief dedicatory address by Rev. A. C. Hodges, a prayer by Rev. C. B. F. Pease of Ashfield and singing of the Doxology. Letters of congratulation were received from Rev. Dr. Theron H. Hawkes of Springfield, Hon. C. B. Tillinghast, State Librarian, President Merrill E. Gates of Amherst, and many others.

The first librarian was Miss Clara Bement.

For twenty years the church bore the expenses of the Free Public Library.

[The summary above is excerpted from The History of Buckland 1779-1935 by Fannie Shaw Kendrick with Genealogies by Lucy Cutler Kellogg – Buckland Mass 1937 (pages 291 & 292.)]

The members of the Congregational church voted on December 26, 1911 to give the library committee the authority “to place the library in charge of the town of Buckland.” An agreement was finalized on August 31, 1912 between the town and the church with conditions that included that the books remained the property of the church but the town had free use of the books and the building, and that the town pay for ordinary repairs and all maintenance expenses. The Library remained under the ownership of the church, with trustees appointed by the church and the town, until September 2002 when the church membership voted to convey the library building, land and all its assets and funds to a new nonprofit secular organization, The Buckland Public Library, Inc.

-Tina Peters 2009

Library Now on Facebook!

Filed under: From the Director — Library Liz @ 10:59 am

Build A Scarecrow!

Filed under: From the Director, Mark Your Calendar! — Library Liz @ 9:29 pm

Buckland Poet (10/28)

Filed under: Mark Your Calendar! — Library Liz @ 7:29 pm

Comparative Literature: Little Red Riding Hood

Filed under: Mark Your Calendar! — Library Liz @ 9:41 pm

Join fellow BPL patrons whose interests include comparative literature, traditional stories, cross-cultural tales, picture books and fine illustration! We’ll meet on Tuesday, October 28, 7-8pm at the center table in the library. Patrons of all ages are welcome. (We’ll peruse a variety of LRR-themed picture books, read a few of them aloud, and share milk & cookies. No preparation is required; there will be no homework!)

Three Months in Tuscany, Courtesy of the Buckland Public Library

Filed under: Patron Posts — Library Liz @ 9:28 pm

When Liz, and then Diana, commented on how they enjoyed my use of the library ( their polite way of saying that I keep them extremely busy), I began to muse a bit. What is unusual about how I use the library and how did that all begin?

The habit started young. I grew up in New York City on the borderline between Queens and Brooklyn. Once a month trips would yield about 7 books in the bookbag. One of the highlights of my life was when I was old enough to walk on my very own to our library about a mile away. I could go after school, I could go on Saturday. Why, I could go just any old time. I could go and pick out a book and then another one and then another. And when I brought them home, I could have them in my room, all to myself.

When going on vacation, I would get special dispensation from the librarian to take out more than the allowed amount of books. I could take out 12! And then I’d spend three weeks on lovely Sebago Lake, reading in the shade, hiding from my mother who would spend a good part of her day trying to get me to go out and play or swim or boat or ski. I didn’t need to do those things. I had my library books. I could be stranded on that far off wooded mountain after a plane crash, with only my wits and a few supplies to keep me alive. I could find that magic coin that would fulfill a wish only half way and cause me all kinds of trouble. I could be that child who lived in a big family who laughed all the time and grew up on the plains of the Midwest in 1875. Or I could be the English governess taking care of little Adele and falling in with Mr. Rochester. The world I grew up in extended far beyond our little neighborhood in Brooklyn or our yearly vacation on the lake. My world was huge because I had my library.

But we grow up and the adult life we so avidly await ends up being at times more than just a little frustrating. There are so many times in our lives that we just can’t do what we want to do. We want to learn something, go somewhere, do something, be something, have something, and we can’t. There’s not enough money, not enough time, not enough resources. We don’t have a sitter, don’t have the gas money, don’t have a car. We don’t have the strength, don’t have the energy or the physical stamina, don’t have the courage. Or, maybe, we just don’t know how to begin. Thank all the stars in heaven that we have our library.

Before my hair turned grey and these wrinkles on my face started staring back at me in the bathroom mirror, I lived way out in the country and raised a very big family. We were isolated in geography but I was never at a loss for things to do that interested me or that detoured me in interesting ways from the daily routines. I had my library. On hiatus from work, I was able to continue studying in my profession because of the library. A handicapped child with so many problems? A call to my librarian (I know, I’m sooo old—pre computer days) and resources flooded in. I learned physical therapy and speech therapy and stimulation techniques. No money for that lovely sewing book or an interesting novel? It was usually only a call away.

Those days, those platinum days with 11 kids at home, did not reflect the poverty in which we lived. We had no TV (by choice because free ones were offered to us) but we were rich. We had books and we read together and learned together. We could even get games from the library.

Now, it’s 2008. The gas prices are phenomenal and my nest egg for that long coveted trip to Tuscany, Italy just went for oil. I’m at the library again and again and again because now, I’ve decided to spend three months in Italy, made possible by my library. Perhaps my most favorite movie of all time is “Out of Africa”. There’s a scene in which someone asks Meryl Streep if she has traveled, and she replies that she an “armchair traveler”. It’s a lovely line. That line opened up the world to me because I began to explore just how far I could get being an “armchair traveler”. I can get pretty far. Just look here.

I started like any traveler would, by learning some of the language. I went on-line at C/WMars and got out all the language books I needed. From them I was able to choose the course I liked best and which I later purchased. I study every day. I had some old travel books and those are always easy to supplement with library loan so I went further and started reading the books by people who had lived in Tuscany, their childhoods or their travels there, or their experience buying and renovating a house there. I needed something more. What do the houses look like, what do Tuscans eat, how do they cook, what do they wear? I ordered some books. I now know how to cook porcini mushrooms with pecorino cheese or how to make fried zucchini flowers stuffed with potato and basil. That information was all easily attainable from, yes, you guessed it, my Buckland library.

I’m glad I have a color copier at home, because I’ve copied some of those lovely Tuscan scenes and have them on my walls. I walk into my office and I am in Tuscany. A glance at the wall and I am picking olives and letting them fall into the nets below the trees. Another glance and I am walking up a stone path into a golden stuccoed house with a tiled roof bathed in the Mediterranean sun at the end of a tiring day in which I’ve picked in the vinyard that stretches out into the landscape for half a mile. In another spot on the wall, I join other women in the stone room at the back of the house where we make pecorino from the Pecora sheep’s milk. But a very favorite place is the piazza of a small town where shops line the edges and it takes you three hours to do your shopping for that night’s meal because you simply must stop and speak to each person you know who is doing likewise. I can feel that sense of community there in Tuscany because of my Buckland library.

And it’s not only books, because my library can get me all kinds of Italian films. I have been in Italy all week, listening to the language, looking at the amazing pink buildings, hearing the children squabbling in the streets. Films bring it all so near. And I’ve heard some different dialects because of the films.

This weekend I am touring Florence. I have my Rick Steeves’ guidebook and a good map of the city and I expect my big coffee table book on Florence to be in today. I’ll probably stay in Florence for a week and maybe go back there as more books arrive. Then there’s the bicycle trip and the hiking trips to the different regions and Tuscany has a coast, too. I’ll need to go there. Pisa is in Tuscany and I may want to read some about how they shored up the tower a few years ago to stabilize it as I travel in that city. I read and it just opens up new areas to explore. And I never run out of time like I do in real-time travel and I never get so exhaustedly tired.

I thought I would spend three months in Tuscany but it may take me a bit longer to perfect my gnocchi and my ravioli. And I’ve always wanted to see Rome. And because I love opera, I think I’ll study something of the lives of Puccini and Verdi. Then, too, I’ve discovered that so many of my favorite authors loved and wrote about Italy. I can’t wait to get books on their Italian stays by Henry James, Edith Wharton, D. H. Lawrence or Charles Dickens. What was it like in Italy 50 years ago, 100 years ago? They wrote about it and I can get their books from my library. I love dogs, so I’ve read about the sheep guard Maremma dogs. I spin and knit, so I know I’ll have to find out about the famous Italian knitting mills. (I didn’t know how to knit until I got out books through the library).

Oh, there’s another nice thing about armchair travel. I can be with my husband and my dogs and I don’t have to leave my violin behind. It’s with me all the time. I still have to get out a songbook and learn some Italian songs. Then, of course, my trip won’t be complete without some books about the famous violin makers. How I would love to play a Stradivarius! And then, I might just want to learn about the restoring of the old violins and what goes into the perfect varnish. Oh, did I tell you that I learned how to play the violin through the library? Yes, this trip might take longer than three months.

So there you have it, Liz and Diana. Thank you for helping me with the books.

There’s something so special to me about a book. It makes me feel rich when I hold one. I love my library.

Ann Bodkhe
Buckland MA
9/5/2008

Check-Out New Items at BPL

Filed under: CheckOut:New books/movies — Library Liz @ 9:15 pm

For Kids:
Ahlberg, Allan The Pencil
Boos, Ben Swords: an Artist’s Devotion
DiCamillo, Kate Louise: the Adventures of a Chicken
Dickinson, Emily My Letter to the World and Other Poems
McDonald, Megan Judy Moody Goes to College
O’Connell, R. Penina Levine Is A Hard Boiled Egg
Osborne, M.P. Eve of the Emperor Penguin
Pedersen, Janet Houdini the Amazing Caterpillar
Peterson, Cris Clarabelle: Making Milk
Ries, Lori Mrs. Fickle’s pickles Scieszka, Jon Knucklehead
Yolen, Jane Sea Queens

For Adults & Young Adults:
Barnes, Kim A Country Called Home
Bryant, Howard Shut Out
Coben, Harlan Hold Tight
Corin, Joshua Nuclear Winter Wonderland
DuPrau, Jeanne The City of Ember
DuPrau, Jeanne The Diamond of Darkhold
DuPrau, Jeanne The People of Sparks
DuPrau, Jeanne The Prophet of Yonwood
Fairchild, Barbara Bon Appetit: fast easy fresh
Farrell-Kingsley The Home Creamery
Grandin, Temple Humane Livestock Handling
Guinness World Records 2009
Harrison, Kathy Just in Case
Jones, Sadie The Outcast
Lam, Vincent Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures [audio]
Landy, Derek Skulduggery Pleasant [audio]
Noonan, Peggy Patriotic Grace
Obama, Barack Dreams from my Father
Pamuk, Orhan My name is Red [audio]
Rice, Anne Called Out of Darkness
Rimington, Stella Illegal Action
Robinson, M. Home
Scottoline, Lisa Lady killer
Shopsin, Kenny Eat me
Todd, Richard The Thing Itself
DVD A. Christie’s Poirot. Collector’s Set 7
DVD Come Away Home
DVD Enjoy the Ride: Share the Road in CT River Valley
DVD Eve of Understanding
DVD Fog City Mavericks
DVD Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
DVD The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
DVD Ten Canoes
DVD Yoga for the Rest of Us

10/4 Story Hour: Alphabets for All Ages

Filed under: From the Director, Mark Your Calendar! — Library Liz @ 7:58 pm

Alphabets for All Ages will be explored at The Buckland Public Library Story Hour on Saturday at 10am. Participants will look at scads of A - Z books, then help Library Liz write the newest book in the genre. (Want to share your family favorite? Bring it along!) BPL is located at 30 Upper Street — just off 112 — in Buckland.

Buckland Public Library

February 9, 2010

Buckland Massachusetts – The Early Years

Genealogy Resources at the Buckland Public Library

A Brief History of the Buckland Public Library

January 27, 2010

Library Now on Facebook!

October 28, 2008

Build A Scarecrow!

October 17, 2008

Buckland Poet (10/28)

October 14, 2008

Comparative Literature: Little Red Riding Hood

Three Months in Tuscany, Courtesy of the Buckland Public Library

Check-Out New Items at BPL

September 30, 2008

10/4 Story Hour: Alphabets for All Ages

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