By Kate Corbett Pollack
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| Spaulding House |
On a beautiful summer
day, Pat and I headed out to Buckland, Mass., starting our trip on Saturday,
the morning of June 23rd. The total travel time from Syracuse is
about four hours, and it is a very nice drive. The weather remained pleasant
for most of the weekend. Upon our arrival in the picturesque Connecticut River
Valley where Buckland is located, we were met by our gracious host, Ed
Purinton, and his wife Valerie, owners and caretakers of the house where
Reverend Spaulding and his family lived.
The house originally belonged to Ed’s parents, and he grew up in it-in Josiah
Spaulding Jr.’s bedroom![i]
The Spaulding house was
built in 1794, about the year that Reverend Spaulding arrived with his family
in Buckland to be the town’s first permanent minister. He was provided with the
house to live in for the duration of his time with the First Congregational
Church of Buckland (now Mary Lyon Church), a position he held until his death
in 1823. The house was as I had imagined it; a white Federal style with black
shutters, the type common in New England at this time. Ed and his family showed
us inside and we were pleased to find that not much has changed since the house
was first built, other than an updated kitchen and bathrooms! The large kitchen
hearth is still there, complete with a Dutch oven and old tools. Of course I pictured
the Spaulding sisters and their mother working at the hearth, toiling away over
the fire as women did in the days before modern appliances or even iron stoves.
The walls and floors still had their original wooden planks-the widest I have
ever seen. Some looked to be close to two feet.
The staircase to the
second floor was very narrow and small. By this time, our group had been joined
by former Boston Globe/ New York times writer Eric Goldscheider and his mother.
Eric wrote an article for the Boston Globe about Josiah Spaulding in 1999,
called A Long Ago Tragedy Gets A Second
Look.[ii]
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| Young Josiah's Room |
Pat and I brought in our suitcases, as Ed and
his adorable granddaughter accompanied us. Before I knew it, there I was in
Josiah’s room! It was small, with the same wide plank walls that we saw in the
hallway, and an ancient brick fireplace that was original to the room. (Ed and
his family did restoration work to uncover some of the fireplaces in the
house). Ed showed us the grooves on the floor where Josiah had been chained up
prior to being put in a cage. The grooves in the floor really made the story
hit home for me. They were wide and deep, and looked very much like they had
been worn away over time by a person, and not caused by dragging furniture or
other damage. They were close enough (but not too close) to the fireplace to
picture Josiah sitting there, trying to stay warm. Ed told us that the room
gets very cold in the winter. In letters, the sisters mention the importance of
keeping their caged brother in a “warm room”. Before I saw these grooves, I was
not sure if Josiah had actually been chained to the floor, but it sure does
look like he was. There were also unexplained deep nail marks and other surface
grooves in the corner of the room, and dents in the floor around the fireplace.
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| Chain Grooves in Floor |
I had read accounts that
Josiah was chained to the floor by his father, and remained that way for a year
until he broke free and tried to escape down the back staircase, which Ed
showed us. The door to the back staircase was very close to Josiah’s room, and
one could see how he could make a break for it and dash to the stairwell, which
led to the kitchen and out the back door. I pictured Josiah bolting from his
bedroom after breaking free of the chains (his door did not have a lock on it,
but a latch, and all the hardware is original to the house), and running down
those steps to the kitchen, where he would have been able to immediately dash
out the back door to the outside and make a run towards the barn to grab a
horse, as local legend says he did. The barn was very near the kitchen side of
the house. Ed Purinton knows the story of Josiah’s escape attempt, and showed
us the stairwell, which is enclosed and very much hidden. You would not know it
was there otherwise. Neil Perry’s 1966 article ‘Raving Maniac’ of Buckland Spent 57 Years in a Cage for the
Springfield Union describes how a strong neighbor heard the commotion and ran
over to assist Reverend Spaulding in subduing Josiah during his escape attempt.
Indeed, there was a house of the same era next to the Spaulding house, situated
very near where the barn would have been, and it was easy to imagine a neighbor
running up to grab Josiah.
The Spaulding house was
laid out in a way that the stories about Josiah I initially wasn't too sure
about began to make a lot of sense. Many aspects of the story are impossible to
prove, but there is truth to oral histories, and listening to the elderly
townspeople over the years is how these histories were preserved and passed
down. Buckland is a small town where many families go back generations to the
time of the Spauldings, including Ed Purinton’s family, who have lived in the
area for 200 years. Oral histories are considered viable sources of information
for historians. One thing that we do know is that Josiah was put in a cage,
indicating he was ultimately unable to escape from the house and his chains,
and needed something stronger to hold him, as he had proven he could break
free.
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| View from Josiah's Bedroom |
I
made sure to look out the window of the bedroom, as lonely Josiah must have
done many times. The view looked out over a large field and extended to one of
the many rounded hills of the Berkshire Mountains. No houses were visible. It
is a peaceful view, but for someone who was trapped, it must have been even
more isolating. There was no one around to see or hear him. The Spauldings did
have neighbors on either side of the house, but they were supportive of the
Reverend, as we have seen, and so was almost everyone in the town. In those
days, a father’s authority was unquestioned, and Reverend Spaulding was a
highly respected community member. Also, mental illness was just not
understood, if indeed Josiah was mentally ill. People in this era (circa 1812)
and region believed that God caused illness to happen, and that it was a test
for the Reverend which was between him and God. It was not something for them
to interfere with.
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| Mary Lyon Church |
After touring the
Spaulding house, we all journeyed up the hill to Mary Lyon Church, where Rev.
Spaulding preached. It is so named because in 1822, Mary Lyon, founder of Mt.
Holyoke College, was baptized there, presumably by Rev. Spaulding himself.
There are still services at the church. The Spaulding family and many Pomeroys
are buried in the churchyard cemetery. Buckland Historical Society director Tina
Peters gave us a wonderful tour of the building, which is quite beautiful and
has stained glass windows honoring past preachers, as well as one for Mary
Lyon. Tina is a member of the congregation, and was able to give us a
comprehensive tour. Of course I imagined Reverend Spaulding in the pulpit, and
stood where he would have, facing the pews, and tried to experience his view of
the congregation. I also sat in the pews myself, and they are kind of small! I
thought of Mary, Nancy, Lydia and Deborah sitting in them, listening to their
father preach. I wondered where they might have sat, and imagined Deborah
Pomeroy Trowbridge stopping by the pew after services to say hello and deliver
all the latest gossip. When Mary Spaulding married Isaac Pomeroy and moved to
Southampton, Deborah, Isaac’s sister, would get the latest from Mary’s sisters
in that very church and then write a long letter telling Mary all the Buckland
news.
After the lovely church
tour, Tina Peters showed everyone across the street to the Buckland Historical
Society Museum, which she opened up just for us. It used to be a schoolhouse,
and is full of many important artifacts local to the area, and has two floors
full of very interesting and unique items! I saw a photograph of Reverend Spaulding
in an old book, which I had seen before on his Find A Grave page[iii],
but did not know if it was correct. I was happy to see that it was really
Reverend Spaulding, and had his signature under the photo.
After our Buckland tour
that day, Pat and I set out to find a place to eat dinner. We drove around the
Buckland area a little, and went to Charlemont, a pretty little village where
the Spaulding family had friends and relatives, including John Coleman, who
died there after many years of alcoholism. We saw the sign in the direction of
Heath, where Thankful Coleman, his daughter, worked to support herself and
wrote lonely letters back home to her mother, Nancy Spaulding. We saw Ashfield,
where Reverend Spaulding was president of Sanderson Academy, and Plainfield,
where Josiah Spaulding taught for a brief period.
Pat and I decided on
dinner in nearby Shelburne Falls, where Nancy Spaulding lived for a while. It
was just beautiful, and I would recommend it as a great place to tour and
visit. There are glacial potholes right downtown, a waterfall, the beautiful
bridge of flowers and many interesting art shops, antique stores and bookstores
(which I made sure not to stop in, lest I spend the remainder of the trip
perusing books). It is a lovely area and everything is old, beautiful and
historic, and surrounded by the Berkshire Mountains. In fact, Ed told us that
Bill Cosby has a house there. Everyone was very friendly and hospitable.
After dinner, I was
exhausted. We returned to the Spaulding house, where some of Ed’s relatives
were also staying in the downstairs bedroom, and there was a group relaxing in
the living room. I was secretly relieved that there were more people there, as
I planned on sleeping in Josiah’s bedroom, which made me a little nervous! Pat
joined the group and brought the Netbook with our database on it, so she could
get a few genealogy facts from Ed and his family, as we have been working on
the Buckland genealogy for a while and seeing how the Pomeroys fit in. There
were many Pomeroys in Buckland, and they were among the first settlers of the
area. Ed told us that his cousin Arnold lives in Enos Pomeroy’s 18th
century farmhouse, and we planned to visit it the next day. Pat and I are very
familiar with Enos and his family from our research, and he is mentioned in the
Spaulding letters.
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| Fireplace in Josiah's Room |
Sleeping in Josiah’s room
was interesting. The Connecticut River Valley is just so peaceful and beautiful
that it is hard to feel afraid or nervous for long about anything. It seemed a
very different environment that I expected, due to the grim nature of the
Spaulding family letters. It is somewhat ironic that the devastation they
experienced (much of it due to epidemic disease) took place amidst such a
serene backdrop. I did not feel very much in Josiah’s room other than a sort of
heavy, lived-in feeling. I do not think his ghost haunts that room (as many
want to know!), but there was a definite feeling that struck me as sort of
oppressive. Like the ceiling was slightly pushing down on me. I slept with the
lamp on! I must admit that I woke up at about 2 or 3 am and felt very nervous,
but I am sure it was my imagination.
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| Enos Pomeroy House |
The next day Ed Purinton
joined Pat and I for breakfast in Shelburne, and we walked around a little bit
once more. Ed was such a gracious host and an excellent tour guide, and he
certainly knows the history of the area, an appreciation for which was
instilled in him by his mother, who researched the Spaulding family when Ed was
growing up.
After breakfast, Ed took
us to his cousin Arnold’s house, which was the former residence of Enos Pomeroy
(b. 1761), a Buckland clothier who ran a successful business and was well-known
and liked. He married Lucy Smith circa 1786, and the couple had eleven
children. Enos and Lucy are also remembered for being able to successfully see
that all eleven children were educated and did well.
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| Enos Pomeroy Barn |
Enos is mentioned in the
Spaulding letters collection, and there is a very detailed one from Deborah
Pomeroy Trowbridge describing Enos’ tragic fall in the barn, which ended his life.
The barn is still on the property, and Arnold has kept it up. The letter
describing Enos’ death was one of the harder letters I had to transcribe. He
fell from the beams in his barn and fractured his skull, living 26 hours until
his death (as it even says on his tombstone). His wife stayed by his side,
calmly caring for him the entire time, and, as Deborah wrote, said she was
thankful that they had so many good years together and was remarkably composed.
All Lucy had to soothe Enos was some Camphor on a rag. Deborah wrote, “his
every breath was a groan”.
Enos Pomeroy’s house was
just beautiful, and almost completely unchanged and original. It was kind of
small, however, and I could not imagine eleven children there! The hearths and
wooden floors were similar to the ones in the Spaulding home, although I have
to say I think that the beams in the floor at the Enos Pomeroy house were even
wider! I was shocked to see them. Arnold
was a very kind host and allowed us to photograph the house. He was accompanied
by his adorable dogs, including a large but very friendly German Shepherd, who
seems to have some kind of rivalry going on with two local birds, who kept
trying to dive bomb the poor thing. The grounds were also stunning, and I am
sure not much different at all from when Enos and Lucy settled the area and
built the house. It is surrounded by woods and hills.
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| Kate in Front of the Pomeroy Milk Shed |
To view the photo essays
of our trip, follow the link to the APHGA Facebook page!
Here are links to my
articles about the Spaulding family on the APHGA blog:
The story of the
Spaulding sisters: Nancy, Deborah, Lydia and Mary:
Reverend Spaulding, Josiah,
and the Cage:
The Spaulding family’s
religious beliefs and experience with epidemic disease:
Parts One and Two of ‘The
Descendents of Lydia Spaulding: A Legacy of Mental Health Activism’. There is
much more on this story that Pat and I have uncovered and I am expanding it
now, but this is an introduction:
[i]
For those followers of the
Spaulding/Pomeroy families of Buckland on the APHGA blog, the story of Reverend
Spaulding and his family is already familiar. If anyone would like to get
acquainted with this amazing story, links to previous blog posts will be
provided at the end of the article. To quickly recap, the APHGA was lent and
allowed to scan a collection of 144 letters sent to us by one of our members.
The letters were written by Pomeroys and Spauldings over 200 years ago. The
families intermarried and lived in Western Massachusetts in the early 1800s.
Pat Whipple and I, along with our other APHGA researchers, have been
researching these families for almost a year now, and I have transcribed the
letters and written about them. The letters reveal an incredible story of the
Spaulding family of Buckland, headed by patriarch Reverend Josiah Spaulding and
his wife, Mary Williams. They had four daughters and one son- Josiah Jr., who
was thought to be insane and kept in a cage in the family home. The letters
were mostly written by the four Spaulding sisters; Mary (who married Isaac
Pomeroy of Southampton), Lydia, Nancy and Deborah. Mary’s sister-in-law,
Deborah Pomeroy Trowbridge, was also a very prolific letter-writer and involved member of the family. She lived in Buckland.
[ii]
http://www.eric-goldscheider.com/id74.html
[iii]
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59554737
