Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

CHAPTEK \'III.
1653-167.').
Springfield in the Haiuls of Youag' Men. —The Discipline more rigid. — Apportionments
of Land.— Power of the Selectmen. — Quabaug. — The Vacant Pulpit. — Various
Candidates. —Kev. Mr. Glover settled. — IIow the Meeting-House was " dignified." —
Hampshire County. — Business of the County Courts. — Numerous Offences against
Private Morals. — The Cause.— Tytliing-Men. — Death of Mary Ilolyoke. — Death of
William Pynchon in England. — The Pyuchon Fort on JNIiiin Street.
TiiK town of Springfield liad touched its low-water mark witli the
departure of its founder, its minister, and its scribe. One needs no
evidence of tradition to be convinced that the young men left to take
up the burdens and responsibilities of the plantation thought seri-
ously of abandoning the work and going down the river. Nothing
but the most heroic coiu'age and faith coidd have induced the depleted
community to hold fast to the lands already cleared. They were
poor, unprotected from the dangers of the gri-at wilderness west and
north, and separated from the jurisdiction of the liay l>y a 100-mile
forest, and were unal)le for a long time to secure a minister.
The man of the hour was John Pynchon. He was methodical,
naturally given to the details of business and government, and was a
wiser man than his father in avoiding annoying complications. He had
a technical mind, and was more of an executive officer, but less of a
thinker. He wrote a better hand, and was a natural student ; but he
could not take in with his eye, as could William Pynchon, the sweep
of a new government, and determine the principles that make for
permanence in the State. John Pynchon was not the man to found
a town, and William Pynchon was not the man to build one up.
John Pynchon and his young associates. Elizur Holyoke and Saui-