Blandford's History
Delivered to the Gibbs Reunion, August 1967, by E. B. Brown
At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century the whole of Western Massachusetts, with the exception of sparse settlements along the Housatonic River, was an uncharted wilderness. In this territory the state of Massachusetts surveyed seven townships, similar in their topographical layout, and encouraged settlements therein. The town of Blandford was among the first to be taken up. It was unique among them all in that it secured, taken possession of, and settled en masse by a group of the Scotch-Irish, who at the time were arriving in this country by the thousand along the Atlantic seaboard. In Blandford the whole allotment of “home lots” was secured by a group of these people from the town of Hopkinton near Boston in the year 1735.
This group maintained its dominance in the town for a hundred years. The original name of the town, “Glasgow,” – often written by them as “Glascow, “ – is sufficient indication of its racial origin. The town furnishes a rich field for those who are interested in the study of American life from the viewpoint of the racial characteristics which make up its component parts.
Their religion was simple and direct, springing as it did from their daily communion with things infinite and eternal amid the hills and lowlands of their native Scotland. In it the pomp and pageantry of the Latin races had little place. It was of the strongly individualistic type, Calvinistic to be exact, which entailed strict obedience to their moral code.
Their religion, like that of the Puritans, was not altogether devoid of sternness, pugnaciousness, and bigotry, which, if not defensible, was at least understandable in the light of contemporaneous events. The age in which they lived was not one of sweet reasonableness or charity. But throughout this time their simple virtues and sterling worth won their way to an honorable place in our national life. In actual numbers this race of pioneers furnished about forty per cent. of the Revolutionary Army, and an even larger per cent. of its fighting spirit. They wrote the first declaration of independence proclaimed on American soil more than a year before our Fourth of July declaration saw the light of day. They were in the thick of the fight from start to finish. They shed their blood at Bunker Hill; they shivered over the camp fires of Valley Forge; their indomitable spirit drove Cornwallis out of the Carolinas.
This Scottish-Irish race has given to America some of its best-known names: General Stark, General Knox, General McClellan, Matthew Thronton, Horace Greeley, Asa Gray, John Lothrop Motley, President Jackson, President McKinley, Governor Rutledge, and many others. It may be said in general terms that in the esthetics of life, in art, music, and literature, they were excelled by the German and French races; but in those more sturdy qualities essential to the pioneer life of a new country, in government, in law, in invention and exploration, they were pre-eminent. Dr. MacIntosh thus sums up their mission and their work in America: “The plantation of the Scot in Ulster kept for the world the essential and best features of the low-landers. But the vast change gave birth to and trained a somewhat new and distinct man soon to be needed in a great task which only the Ulsterman could accomplish, and that task was, with the Puritans, to work out the Revolution which gave humanity this great republic.” Such is the race from which the Blandford pioneers sprung. It dominated the life of Blandford for a hundred years and though softened and mellowed by the intermingling of other blood, it has left its indelible impress even to the present day.
This group maintained its dominance in the town for a hundred years. The original name of the town, “Glasgow,” – often written by them as “Glascow, “ – is sufficient indication of its racial origin. The town furnishes a rich field for those who are interested in the study of American life from the viewpoint of the racial characteristics which make up its component parts.
Their religion was simple and direct, springing as it did from their daily communion with things infinite and eternal amid the hills and lowlands of their native Scotland. In it the pomp and pageantry of the Latin races had little place. It was of the strongly individualistic type, Calvinistic to be exact, which entailed strict obedience to their moral code.
Their religion, like that of the Puritans, was not altogether devoid of sternness, pugnaciousness, and bigotry, which, if not defensible, was at least understandable in the light of contemporaneous events. The age in which they lived was not one of sweet reasonableness or charity. But throughout this time their simple virtues and sterling worth won their way to an honorable place in our national life. In actual numbers this race of pioneers furnished about forty per cent. of the Revolutionary Army, and an even larger per cent. of its fighting spirit. They wrote the first declaration of independence proclaimed on American soil more than a year before our Fourth of July declaration saw the light of day. They were in the thick of the fight from start to finish. They shed their blood at Bunker Hill; they shivered over the camp fires of Valley Forge; their indomitable spirit drove Cornwallis out of the Carolinas.
This Scottish-Irish race has given to America some of its best-known names: General Stark, General Knox, General McClellan, Matthew Thronton, Horace Greeley, Asa Gray, John Lothrop Motley, President Jackson, President McKinley, Governor Rutledge, and many others. It may be said in general terms that in the esthetics of life, in art, music, and literature, they were excelled by the German and French races; but in those more sturdy qualities essential to the pioneer life of a new country, in government, in law, in invention and exploration, they were pre-eminent. Dr. MacIntosh thus sums up their mission and their work in America: “The plantation of the Scot in Ulster kept for the world the essential and best features of the low-landers. But the vast change gave birth to and trained a somewhat new and distinct man soon to be needed in a great task which only the Ulsterman could accomplish, and that task was, with the Puritans, to work out the Revolution which gave humanity this great republic.” Such is the race from which the Blandford pioneers sprung. It dominated the life of Blandford for a hundred years and though softened and mellowed by the intermingling of other blood, it has left its indelible impress even to the present day.
Methodist Church and store
Contact Us
Contact us:
Phone: 413-848-0108
Email: [email protected]
Mail: P.O. Box 35, Blandford, MA, 01008
Street: 1 North Street, Blandford, MA 01008
Phone: 413-848-0108
Email: [email protected]
Mail: P.O. Box 35, Blandford, MA, 01008
Street: 1 North Street, Blandford, MA 01008
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