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

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 601
daughter of one of your early ministers ; or else his brother, John Pynchon, who
married the daughter of the Rev. Edward Taylor, of Westfield.
My conception of him is, that he was a wise, sagacious, sympathizing, honor-
able, high-minded, religious, and friendly man, of immense capacity for business,
a brave and energetic commander, a prudent counsellor, and possessed of all the
qualities, the confidence, the affection, and love of men. He was, I think, a
very different man from his father. His father was a great scholar and author,
and a well-read lawyer, a man of a statesmanlike mind, a man who could conceive
and assist in executing the plan of bringing the cliarter to this country, and of
founding a new State. These great qualities are clearly shown in his letters to
Governor Winthrop, printed in the transactions of the Massachusetts Historical
Society. The son was possessed of the administrative qualities necessary to
carry on a government that had been already founded.
Thus, my fellow-townsmen, I have, I think, shown the reasons for the appli-
cation to my distinguished ancestor of the title of Worshipful ; it was because
he possessed in an eminent degree all the qualities necessary to win and secure
the confidence of the community. He was a man to whom men were attracted
by his gracious qualities, whom they were inclined to revere, to worship, as it
were. Hence he was styled the Worsliipful Major.
Mayor O'Connor, of Holyok^', responding for his city, said : —
The " infant city " of Holyoke, which I have the honor to represent to-night,
is proud to own its kinship and anxious, I am sure, to show proper filial respect
and affection for its honored and venerable parent, on this and all other occa-
sions. Compared with Springfield, with its two hundred and fifty years of hoary
tradition, Holyoke, even as a township, has barely reached the period of young
manhood. Reckoning age by date of city charters, Springfield may be said to
be in the pride of manhood, while Holyoke is but a stripling of twelve tender
years. Originally a part of West Springfield (a pasture or a patch on the out-
skirts, so to speak), Holyoke can properly claim to be a child of Springfield (its
first-born municipality) on the maternal side, perhaps, and with equal propriety
can trace its noble lineage on the paternal side to the broatl Connecticut river,
whose mighty forces have been transmitted and stand revealed to-day in no mean
proportion in their joint offspring. Pardon, then, the boastfulness of youth, if,
while we delight to honor our parents, and especially our beautiful and gifted
mother, Springfield, we use, or abuse, this occasion to remind you all that both
" mother and child are doing well," especially the child. Holyoke, I know,
wishes me to be modest, Imt also firm, on this point.