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

386 SPRINGFIELD, 16S6-I8S6.
Mr. Bliss aided in the support of the Unitarian church ; he gave
the site of the city library, besides $10,000 in cash ;
and the Home for
the Friendless and other local charities knew the extent of his sub-
stantial interest. He was president of the Springfield cemetery,
member of Governor Briggs's council, and active in organizations like
the Hampden Park Association ; and his death at the advanced age
of eighty, full of honors and surrounded by the material monuments
of his public spirit and sacrifice, was an event of no passing moment
to this community.
This was a period rich in philanthropic and public spirit. The
Hampden Count}^ Colonization Society issued a circular in Novem-
ber, 1826, closing with these words : " Our country has been verily
guilty of despoiling Africa of her children. Who can say that this
will not be overruled by a righteous Providence as the principal
means of diffusing the knowledge of salvation by a crucified Saviour
to millions of our fellow-beings, who are now buried in the thick
darkness of the grossest superstition and idolatry?" This was
signed by Samuel Lathrop, Israel E. Trask, Samuel Osgood, William
B. O. Peabody, Isaac Knapp, John Mills, Justice Willard, Frederick
A. Packard, George C'olton, and Ethan Ely. In February, 1827, at
a public meeting presided over by O. B. Morris, measures were taken
to send provisions to the starving Greeks. For this cause Dr.
Osgood's church raised $150 ; Mr. Peabody's, $90 ; Mr. Webb's (Meth-
odist), $12.76; Mr. Branch's (Baptist), $12.02; and Mr. Phenix's
(Chicopee), $11.50. The county raised in all $672.20, and sent one
box of clothing, which postmaster Daniel Lombard forwarded to the
Boston custodians of the Greek fund, which tunes the local bard to
pipe his lay : —
" Alas for poor Greece ! must she drain her best veins,
And find but a sound the reward of her pains ? "
A little earlier (1825), at a meeting in the court-house, this com-
mittee was appointed to consider the advisability of forming a negro