We plan to
commence a series of articles, complied from the published histories of various
Central and Western Massachusetts Towns, that contain references to Jabez and
his family. We will start with "History of Ware, Massachusetts, 1911, by
Arthur Chase. There are too many pages in Chase about Jabez to print them all
in the first issue of the newsletter.
Sometimes the Olmsted name has
an 'a' in it, and sometimes it does
not, and sometimes there is no 'l'. It is copied exactly as was in Chase. I
have interjected some notes of my own in the text, in brackets, signed COH.
Page 7 of
Chase
Saw and grist mills were established at the falls on
Ware River soon after 1729 by Jabez Olmsted. These are believed to be the
earliest mills within the territory.
Page 39 of
Chase
Jeremiah Olmsted, who had received a Hundred acre
lot adjoining the farm of his father, Jabez Olmsted, which later comprised the
Hollingsworth Grant. Jabez in 1739 sells the farm, (described in the deed as
the 100 acre lot granted him by the General Court in 1733)
Pages
47-following of Chase
In the following year[NOTE-1729. COH] the tract [NOTE-
Above was a detailed description of the property, which was not copied. COH]
was conveyed to Jabez Omstead of Brookfield for £400, at a handsome profit to
Jonas Clarke. [NOTE - Although this price seems strange, remembering that at the time
of Jabez’s death in 1752, his estate
was worth £269, it must be noted that he had given most of it to his children
before his death. COH] A careful study of the Hollingsworth Tract has
brought the writer [Chase] to an unexpected conclusion in regard to its
original location. The plan of Mr. Samuel Prince's farm, surveyed in 1714,
gives but two important landmarks by which to determine its location, Muddy
Brook and the Hadley Road. One naturally asks why the Ware River was not
indicated on the plan, for that is a landmark about which there never could be
any question. If the surveyors crossed the river in measuring off the tract
they could hardly have failed to indicate it. So the question arises, did they
cross the river? Following the specifications given on the plot, and drawing
the Prince Farm to the scale of a map of the whole town, it immediately becomes
apparent that if Muddy Brook entered the farm at the point indicated by the
survey, the farm would not include the falls of the river. Furthermore, when
the Hadley Road was projected in its most ancient position, running straight
across the town, or as nearly so as possible, from the narrows ofhe Ware River
to Swift River Bridge, it was found that the two landmarks corresponded, the
Hadley Road leaving the Prince Farm just where the latter touched the edge of
the Manour (though the Manour was not plotted until nearly two years later).
Thus locating the farm by the brook and the road, we find that it does not
reach to the Ware River at all.
Samuel Prince, for whom the plat was made, sold the
farm to Thomas Clarke, and he in turn sold it to Jonas Clarke. Thus it had
changed hands twice before it was bought by Jabez Omstead; and Omstead was the
first to locate on the tract, doing so just fifteen years after the plot was
drawn. It is not likely that a single one of the corner bounds was recognizable
after so many years, and the farm had to be practically relocated. What more
natural than that Omstead should have run his lines so as to include the most
desirable territory that was available? As a matter of fact, he did run them so
as to include the falls of the river.
The later survey of 1742 of the Marsh Tract and part
of Kingston locates the Omstead farm, not where theoretically it should be, but
where it actually was, for Omstead had then been in possession twelve years.
Instead of the Hadley Road running through the middle of the farm, as indicated
in the plat of 1714, it actually ran along its northern boundary.
Tradition has it that Jabez Omstead built a house
just on the west side of Ware River at the end of the ancient bridge above the
village. The cellar-hole, long an object of interest and curiosity, has
recently been filled up in grading for the road through Grenville Park. Great
quantities of ashes mixed with the earth about the spot lead to the speculation that Jabez set up a leach
near his house for the manufacture of potash - an industry pursued by the early
settlers in their spare time to a considerable extent.1
1
Jabez sold his farm in Brookfield July 9, 1729, which helps us fix the date of
his removal to Ware. Apparently a later house was erected east of the Bank -
"It was a large two story house, called 'the Great House' and was standing
when the first movements were made to erect factories here in 1813. Mr. Demond
occupied it for a year or more, and it stood till 1821." [Hyde, Hist.
Add.]
To Jabez
Omstead is due the credit for establishing the first mills, locating them at
the point in the river now occupied by Stevens's dam. There are no means at
hand for determining the date of the establishment of Omstead's Mills.
Hayward's Mill in Brookfield was set up before 1708; a grist-mill was put in at
the falls in Western (now Warren) about 1720. In 1731 a saw-mill was in
operation at the outlet of Potaquatuck Pond (Forest Lake) and a grist-mill in
1737. In 1736 a grist-mill was erected on Steward Southgate's mill-lot on the Ware
River, south-west of Potaquatuck Pond. It is supposed that Omstead's Mills
antedated these last-named, and were the first mills erected on the Elbow
Tract.
The earliest reference to
them that I [Chase] have found occurs in a deed dated 1743, when Jabez,
"in consideration of the tender respect I bear unto my loving son Israel
Omstead," gives him 942 acres of land "on the East side of Ware
River, beginning at the end of the bridge below the mill." Nine years
later, in 1752, Jabez Omstead for £50 sells to Job Lane of Brookfield,
"the one half of my Grist-mill and Stream on Ware River at the falls where
the Mill now stands with all privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging or
in any wise appertaining.
Jabez Omstead died in 1753.
In 1759 certain of his heirs, Noah Gilbert and Sarah Gilbert, husbandman and
spinster, both of Ware, for £233,,6,,8, sell to Isaac Magoon the tract known as
the Omstead farm, " with appurtenances and privileges to the same
belonging, viz. House and Barn, Saw mill and Grist mill with all the
appurtenances to them belonging." Exception is made of the rights and
titles of the heirs of Martha Omstead,
wife of Thomas Hommond, and of Thankful Omstead, wife of Timothy Brown. Ruth
Brown of Palmer in the same year sells to Magoon her share in "the estate
of my honored Grandfather, Jabez Omstead late of Ware River," for £2,,8.
Quitclaims of the other heirs I [Chase] have not found.2
2 Large portions of the original tract were sold at
various times by Jabez Olmstead, and much of his estate given to his children
before his death. Previous to this
sale, in 1758, Jeremiah Omstead for £15 quitclaimed his share in the estate
of Jabez Omstead, his father, to Noah Gilbert of Ware River Parish.