Our County and Its People; A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...of the West parish. No reliable record is found to inform us who was the pioneer of the town, and the present generation of inhabitants have no traditions on this subject. Still, it is known that some time about the year 1750 a number of families came to the locality, purchased lands and made settlements. Of this number there is handed down to us the name of Jabez Rogers, a worthy man and the progenitor of a large family of ten sons and two daughters. These children were Leonard, Jabez, Samuel, Nathaniel, Asa, Percy, Russell. Martin, Dwyer, John, Lucy and Sarah, from whom, by their marriages in subsequent years, has sprung a considerable proportion of the town's population. Thomas Twining was another of the first settlers, and was the pioneer of that well known family of the town in all later years, who have been such prominent factors in local history. The sons of Thomas were William and Stephen, and he also had three daughters. One of the latter married Joseph Wolcott, of Sandisfield; another married Chauncey Fowler and lived and died in Tolland; and the third married a Mr. Gorham and settled in the west. Elijah Twining, brother of Thomas, also was an early settler, if not one of the first colony. His eight children were William, Eleazer, Ruth, Lewis, Judah, Timothy, Susan and Lois, from whom have descended some of the best families of Tolland, although not all of them spent their lives here. Titus Fowler was one of the first settlers and also was one of the foremost men in the original colony. In his family were six children, John, Chauncey, Titus, Eliza, Catharine and Hannah, a portion of whom always lived in the town, but others, and some of the descendants of nearly all of them, settled in other parts of the country. Ebenezer Harding, also...