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

336 SPRINGFIELD, 1636~1SS6.
without molestation when turned out to pasture. Above John
Pynchon's house on the east side there were standing probably the
old Lloyd house (opposite the Lombard place), then the Stebbins
house, and the chair- factory of Horace Lee, father of Postmaster
Henry Lee.
Major William died in 1808. As we have seen by the records, he
had been register of deeds, treasurer, town-clerk, magistrate, and
selectman. His residence was finally moved back on Pynchon street,
next to the old Methodist church. The old garrison-house of the
Pynchons, built by the "worshipful Major" in 1660, was occupied
by Edward Pynchon, magistrate, where he died in 1777. George
Pynchon lived next house to the north. Walter Pynchon had become
a merchant at Great Barrington.
Another important family, as we have learned, was the Bliss
family. Luke Bliss lived on the south corner of Main and State.
He was a son of Capt. Luke Bliss, and brother of the Jonathan
Bliss who became chief-justice of the province of New Brunswick.
Luke Bliss was a courtly gentleman, a solemn and impressive singer,
and thus an ideal choir-leader. His daughter became the wife of
Solomon Warriner, the famous choir-leader of the early part of this
century. His brother, Jonathan Bliss, who had studied law with
Colonel Worthington, was a " rescinder" in the Legislature of 1768.
This was the beginning of the serious break with the town which
ended in his retirement to England. Moses Bliss, the merchant,
lived in South Main street (Main and Bliss).
The business rivalry among the merchants at this time interests us,
as out of it came the establishment of a new family. The Dwights
were planted on Springfield soil long before the Revolution. Col.
Josiah Dwight, son of Capt. Henry Dwight, of Hatfield, and husband
of Sarah Pynchon (daughter of Col. William Pynchon and Catharine
Brewer), was a man of note, dying in Springfield in 1768. He was
a militia officer, a Common Pleas judge, and merchant. He was interested
in an ii'on foundry, and was a manufacturer of potash. He