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

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-18S6.
this house points just to the other conclusion, — that it was not only
not pulled down, but actually sheltered some of the first arrivals
in 1636. The truth is, that when the PLuglish put in an appear-
ance in 1636 with their families, the Indians raised on the price
of their lands along the Agawam, and it was not the danger from
floods alone that induced the settlers to change the site of the pro-
posed town.
In a memorandum made by John Holyoke, over forty years later,
is to be found a sentence that tends to clear this question up, and to
show that the old house in the Agawam meadow was standing in
1636. Here it is: —
Memorandu'" : Agaam
or Agawam. It is tliat medow on the south of Agawa"^
River where y® English did first build a house, w'' now Me comonly cal house
medow, that peice of ground it is w'' y'" Indians do call Agawam, & y' y'= English
kept y*^ residence, who first came to settle and plant at Springfeild now so
called : &
Indians.
at y"^ place it was (as is supposed) that this i>urchase was made of the
It is argued, however, that the word "purchase" in the above
document means the original ver])al bargain struck by Pynchon and
the Indians in 1635, and not the actual passing of the deeds in -July,
1636. This inference would compel us to make a forced construc-
tion to the following passage in the compact that was drawn up a
few days after the arrival of the Koxbury pioneers, iu May of that
year :
—
lO'y. That wheras a howse was Iniilt at a conion charge which cost G£ and
alsoe the Indians demannd a greate some to buye theyr right in the s'' lands, and
alsoe a greate shallope, which was requisite for tlie first i)lantinge. the valew
of wliicli engagements is to be borne by eacli inhal)itant at theyr first entrance,
as they shall be rated by us till the s'^ disbursements shall be satisfyed, or else
in case the s'' howse and boat be not soe satisfyed for, then soe much meddowe
be sett out about the s'' howse as may countervayle the sayd extraordinary
charge.