Early Music in Longmeadow's First Church

Recently on Facebook, the First Church of Longmeadow began sharing a few videos of their virtual choir. In this global pandemic age when choirs cannot meet in person, their approach of editing individual performances into one cohesive video presentation is the perfect meeting of art and technology.

It also inspires us to wonder how Longmeadow’s earliest residents and First Church members would feel about such an assembly of voices. Surely the technology in and of itself would be a marvel.

Early documents and writings show us that in the earliest years of the church singing was controversial. Longmeadow’s First Church building was built in 1716 and its first minister, 22-year-old Stephen Williams, began his 67-year tenure at the pulpit. The church was the center of all social, political, and spiritual life for the young community.

Williams kept a diary of his life in Longmeadow. In a nine-month period between 1717-1718, he mentions his worries over community strife caused by the issue of singing at services at least 28 times. Early New England settlers were steeped in Puritan tradition. It seems Rev. Williams wished to bring singing into the congregation and it was met with resistance by his flock. On July 25, 1717, he writes in his diary, “this day I have observed some uneasiness among neighbors about singing & I am at loss to do in ye case – oh Lord God be pleased to direct thine unworthy servant in the case.” A month later on August 21, he writes, “Some of my neighbours seem to be exceedingly out of humour because of what has been said & done about singing.” And on October 11, “this day I heard of some of my neighbours had lost their affection for me because of what I did about singing, but my conscience don’t accuse me of any irregularity in the matter – but I pray ye to forgive me & show me his will.” Clearly, this weighed heavily on his soul.

It is difficult to know exactly what caused some of his congregants to so strongly oppose the idea of singing during services, but in Longmeadow’s 1884 Centennial Book, Rev. John W. Harding writes about the early years of the church: “Alas! the strife that raged awhile between the Psalter and Watts's Hymns; between the free singing and that by rote- the unheavenly dissonance - as Thomas Walter (1696-1725), the Roxbury pastor says, ‘left to the mercy of every unskilful throat to chop and alter, twist and change, according to their diverse fancies; and, 'so little attention paid to time, that they were often one or two words apart, producing noises so hideous and disorderly as is bad beyond expression." One can only imagine the sounds pouring out of the new church on the green!

The “Psalters” likely would have supported the use of The Bay Psalm Book (1640), the first book ever printed in New England and a staple of early New England Christian worship services. Watt’s Hymns refers to a 1707 addition to spiritual music called Hymns and Spiritual Songs by Isaac Watts. While psalms were believed to be directly inspired by the word of God, Watts’ hymns were not as direct a connection to the actual word of God as Watts had written and composed them himself.

In 1765, the church voted “that there Some Suitable Person Provided Upon the Precinct Cost to Instruct us in the Art of Singing – And that Deacons Nathaniel Ely, Erza Stebbins, and Eleazer Smith be a Committee to Hire Some Person."

Fast forward to 2020, and the art of singing is indeed strong with The First Church of Christ Virtual Choir under the direction of music director, Dan Inglis.

Contributed by Melissa M. Cybulski, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published December 17, 2020

Holdup at Sharkey's

Long before MGM built its casino in Springfield, persons interested in gambling had to seek out illegal sites to place their bets. One of these was Sharkey’s, which was located on Longmeadow Street at the state line. A century ago, in December 1920, Sharkey’s made the news. At 3:15 in the morning on December 20, seven masked bandits held up a gambling party which was being held at Sharkey’s café and they got away with about $15,000 in cash and $5,000 in jewelry. Twenty-six gamblers, many of them high rollers from Springfield and NYC, were robbed. Here is the story from one who claimed to be “on the inside” as reported in the Springfield Republican of December 20, 1920.

“The gunmen were led to the second floor and three of them stood outside, the other four entering the room. Much gun play followed and the gamblers were told to ‘shell out and damn quick about it.’ There was some hesitating by the gamblers. One of them approached ‘Blue Patton’ and relieved him of $300. Joe Marshall, another player, handed over a diamond ring worth $1200. John Madden gave up a valuable watch and chain and $1000 in cash. About $400 was Herman Manner’s contribution and Jack Roache lost $1200 in bills. The bandits met some opposition from Terry Goldberg. He gave them $300 and one of them asked for a ring that Goldberg was wearing. Not wishing to lose the ring Goldberg pretended he couldn’t get it from his finger. “Give me the hammer,” shouted one gunman and a wicked looking wrench was produced. Goldberg received a blow on the hand and immediately gave up his ring. “Sam the Baker”, an Italian, put a valuable ring in his mouth and managed to hang on to it. When the robbers found nothing on the Italian, they struck him on the head with a revolver. The man who ran the game and the roll hid behind a curtain but was detected in the act by one of the robbers, and badly beaten for his attempted detection.”

The robbers then quickly left the building, took the spark plugs from the car in which they had come, cut several telephone wires, then left in a car with New York plates. The gamblers returned to Springfield. The article asserted that these gambling sessions have been regular features of the nightlife of Sharkey’s. Most of the gamblers had made their fortunes through the sale of liquor, an illegal activity during Prohibition. John Sharkey charged $10 for the rental of his back room. Not surprisingly, the state police visited Sharkey’s after this incident and arrested John when they found that he had a gambling device. This device was a slot machine, but it was not a slot machine like you would find at MGM today. This was a small, portable machine that accepted pennies. And, if you won, you won a cigar. Sharkey pled guilty to this crime and paid a $50 fine.

Vintage cigar slot machine

Aside from hosting these nefarious activities, Sharkey's had a dance pavilion and sold gasoline and fuel.

Sources: Springfield Republican, December 20, 1920; January 5, 1921

Contributed by Elizabeth Hoff, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published December 10. 2020

"Instantly Killed by a Bull" The Death of Young Gaius Bliss

Have you ever noticed this gravestone in the Longmeadow Cemetery? While not common, causes of death were sometimes included on gravestones in the 18th and 19th centuries. The largest number of these seem to be for accidental deaths--perhaps meant as a cautionary tale.

"In memory of Gaius son of Mr Gaius and Mrs Eunice Bliss who was instantly killed by a Bull Nov 16, 1814 aged 15"

In 1814, 15 year old Gaius Bliss was "instantly killed by a bull." While horses were used for farm work as well as transportation, oxen were critical for much farm work. They were less selective about what they ate, they needed less gear for control and they were very smart. Typical training could take up to four years, and the animals could learn dozens of commands. According to an issue of Old Sturbridge Visitor, (Summer 2011), oxen start out as a male bull calf, and once neutered they are called steers. They earn the title of oxen when they have been trained to obey commands such as: haw (turn left), gee (turn right), or whoa--we all know what that one means!

In spite of their intelligence, they are large animals, weighing in at nearly a ton when fully grown. We don't know exactly what happened to young Gaius, and the fact that his stone says "bull" and not oxen might suggest a different beast, but the process of yoking or unyoking oxen was inherently dangerous, as these animals have large horns. Another gravestone with a similar story in Warren, MA states that 14 year old Joseph Kar "who was killed June 30th 1770 by onyoking a pair of Oxen." Young boys were often given the responsibility of training a team of oxen.

Young Gaius' unexpected and tragic death was a reminder to all of his family and neighbors of the fragility of life and that tomorrow was promised to no one. A journal belonging to his cousin Hannah Bliss, also of Longmeadow, is now in the collections of the MA Historical Society archives. She mentions the incident in her journal:

"Novem 17 Thurs

Have this morning heard of the death of Cousin Gaius Bliss he was killed by a bull surprising was his death to me O may this solemn dispensation of thy holy providence be the means of preparing of us all for our own great and last change."

A similar fate in Warren, MA 1770

1390 Longmeadow Street, Home of Gaius Bliss

Betsy and Al McKee have made a study of gravestones, with a special interest in causes of death found on gravestones. Their photo collection of gravestones numbers more than 30,000.

Contributed by Betsy McKee, Board Member, Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published December 3, 2020