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Contributed for use by Patricia J. Mount
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Historic Homes of Amherst: Hampshire County, MA
Copyright © 2001 by Patricia J. Mount.
pmount@fnr.umass.edu
Historic Homes of Amherst
Alice M. Walker
Published under the auspices of the AMHERST HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Amherst, Massachusetts 1905

(Click on image for full-size photo)

THE OLD STRONG HOUSE

The old Strong house, beneath its towering buttonwood trees, attracts the admiration and excites the interest of all visitors to Amherst. It is not only the most picturesque dwelling, but the oldest house in town, and is the home of the Amherst Historical Society and the Mary Mattoon Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. It dates back to the time of the French and Indian wars, and stand to-day a perfect model of the architecture of that period and a monument to its builder, Nehemiah Strong.

The early settlers of old Hadley were energetic and progressive. Not satisfied with cultivating the meadows along the river, they gazed with eager eyes toward the wooded hills and fertile lands which bounded their eastern horizon. As early as 1728, finding the broad and shaded street of the mother town was becoming too populous to accommodate their increasing families and numerous flocks and herds, a few old Hadley farmers, more venturesome than the rest, penetrated into the eastern wilderness and formed a settlement known as "Hadley Farms." Two years later these "East inhabitants" set apart a burying place for their dead, and in the old "West cemetery" Nehemiah Strong and his descendants sleep.

The little hamlet yearly received accessions from neighboring towns, and its inhabitants, increased and prospered. Its soil was fertile and its pastures rich and abundant. The game was plentiful on the mountains and the air was free from the fog and dampness which brought disease to many dwelling along the river. No floods nor freshets could reach those living on the highlands of Eastern Hadley, and to these advantages were added others not often found in outlying districts of that day. Blacksmith Aaron Warner followed his trade in the new settlement, and Dr. Nathaniel Smith was ready by means of pills and potions to kill or cure. His lancet, calomel, and jalap seldom failed to produce an effect, and should the result prove contrary to expectation, ample accommodations in the new cemetery awaited unfortunate patients. A doctor and a graveyard provided, there were needed but a meeting-house and parson to complete the inducements offered strangers to settle among the eastern hills.

What now is Amherst, in 1732 became Hadley third precinct. Three years later Rev. David Parsons was engaged to preach in the new district, and in 1739 he was ordained as pastor of the church. Where his first service was held we cannot determine, for though the parish voted in 1735 to build a "meating-house," the primitive structure covered with boards of spruce was not completed until1752, though services were held in it before 1742. The "meating house" stood near the present site of the old Amherst College observatory, which was then the center of the common. Here the "learned and orthodox divine," with fiery eloquence warmed the hearts of his shivering congregation through the winter Sunday services, and in turn his people made desperate efforts to keep the ministerial woodpile replenished with that which seemed most needful to the comfort of the parson and his family. The scattered residents in the new third precinct were now glad to welcome others able and willing to help them pay the taxes and draw the minister's wood.

The village of Northampton was at this time the home of a notable family of Strongs, descendants of "Elder John Strong,," who was born in Taunton, Eng., sailed from Plymouth in 1630, settled in Dorchester, and afterward made his home in Windsor, Connecticut. In 1659 he removed to Northampton, where he lived for forty years and became a leader in the town and in the church. He was a man of wealth, a tanner by trade, and carried on his business near the present site of the railroad station. In 1663, Rev. Eleazer Mather of Northampton and Parson Russell of Hadley ordained John Strong to be a ruling elder in the church, by the ceremony known as the "laying on of hands." A few years afterward Elder Strong assisted in the ordination of Rev. Solomon Stoddard as pastor in Northampton. His first wife died on the passage from England or immediately after, and her infant child did not long survive her. His second wife, Abigail Ford, whom he married at sixteen, died at eighty, the mother of sixteen children. The head of this remarkable family lived to be ninety-four, and at the time of his death had been the father of eighteen children, fifteen of who were living with families of their own. His grandchildren numbered one hundred and fourteen, and his great grandchildren, thirty-three. The eldest and youngest children of Elder Strong were thirty-nine years apart in age.

These children, strong in nature as in name, inherited from both parents sterling qualities of character which fitted them to become leaders among men. Abigail married Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey of Hatfield, and for her second husband Deacon Medad Pomeroy of Northampton. Elizabeth married Joseph Parsons, also of Northampton, and Experience became the wife of Zerubbabel Filer of Windsor, "who left a good estate." Mary Strong married Deacon John Clark of Northampton, and Sarah was the helpmeet of Joseph Barnard of Hadley, who followed his father's profession as a" viewer of chimneys and ladders." Hannah married Capt. William Clark and went to live in Lebanon, Connecticut. Hester married Thomas Bissell of Windsor, Connecticut, and Thankful Strong became the wife of "Mr. Baldwin," of Milford, Connecticut, whose family the historian was not able to trace. The numerous descendants of these daughters were men of wealth and learning, eminent in all professions, very religious and in many cases famous for their bravery in battle. Three sons, John Jr., Return and Ebenezer were tanners like their father. John and Return settled in Windsor, Connecticut, and Ebenezer carried on his trade in Northampton, and was a ruling elder in the church. Thomas, Jedediah, and Jerijah, the farmers of the family, lived in Northampton. The former married Rachel Holton for his second wife and died, the father of fourteen children, nine of whom were under fifteen years of age. Jedediah married three times and dying at the age of ninety-six left a large family of sons and daughters. Jerijah married Thankful Stebbins, and died on his farm when eighty-nine years old.

Samuel Strong, the ancestor of the Strongs in Amherst, and twin brother of Joseph, who died in infancy, married Esther Clapp, and soon after her death took for his second wife, Mrs. Ruth Sheldon Wright. He had twelve children, most of whom settled on farms in Hadley and South Hadley. His third son Nehemiah, married about 1728 Hannah Edwards, the daughter of Jonathan French of Northampton, and widow of Nathaniel Edwards, who was killed by Indians. Unwilling for some reason to settle permanently in Northampton, Nehemiah Strong took council with his brothers, living across the river, as to the most desirable location for a home, and settled upon Hadley third precinct, where land was cheap and plentiful. He purchased a tract at the junction of the west highway and the road leading to Hadley, with the intent of building a mansion of the latest style and most approved design.

Houses in those days were meant to last for generations. With this in mind, having observed the homes of certain of his friends in other towns, Nehemiah Strong made plans for his new dwelling. The house should have the fashionable gambrel roof and spacious, low-ceiled rooms, and great brick oven and fireplaces, in which the massive back log should smoulder through the night and furnish embers for the morning blaze. All these and other details were settled in his mind before the owner of the land shouldered his axe, and with his neighbors went into the woods nearby to cut great forest trees and draw them to the spot. Willing helpers aided in the task of hewing into shape the massive timbers and splitting the clapboards for the covering frame. The foundations were laid on the north side of the broad highway, and then the invitations to the raising were sent by word of mouth to neighbors far and near.

We may well imagine that many distinguished persons gathered on this occasion, which afforded opportunity for social festivity as well as strenuous toil. Each side of the building firmly fastened together, was lifted by united effort, and held in air until the wooden pegs were pounded home and the whole frame was in position. Then a nip of toddy, accompanied by home-made doughnuts, were enjoyed, and the wearied visitors rested and "passed the time of day." The doctor and the minister, no doubt, were there in readiness to officiate in case of accident. We find no record, however, of any mishap and in 1744 the building was completed, and worthy Nehemiah Strong with his wife and children, Nehemiah aged fourteen, Mary aged twelve, and Simeon aged eight, were fairly settled in their new home.

They found themselves in a community of farmers, who employed their leisure time in carpenter work, and fishing and hunting, and digging pits to catch the wolves which killed their sheep. The women spun flax and carded wool, and wove the cloth in which the family was clothed, and were equally dexterous in firing a gun, handling a broom and raking after the hay-cart in the field.

The year this house was completed ,soldiers were needed to garrison the forts built at Heath, Rowe, "East Hoosuck" and Charlestown for the defence against the French and Indians, who threatened the frontier. Many citizens of Hadley and East Hadley were recruited for this service, but Nehemiah Strong stayed at home and made himself of use in the community. In 1748, he was appointed a "committy" to "hire suitable persons to blow ye kunk," and sweep ye meeting hous for this yeare," and later he blew "ye kunk" himself. He even attempted to furnish firewood for the minister, and was not dismayed when the shivering parson demanded "eaighty loads". Another thankless task, "to seat ye meating house anue" was entrusted to Nehemiah Strong.

The family life of the children beneath that gambrel roof we can but imagine. The oldest son, Nehemiah, prepared for college, perhaps with their distant cousin, Rev. David Parsons. He graduated from Yale in 1755, was tutor in the college for three years, and settled as pastor in "Turkey Hills," Connecticut. For eleven years he held the position of professor of natural philosophy in Yale college, and was according to President Dwight, "a man of vigorous understanding." His family relations were somewhat peculiar, for, when the first husband of the supposed widow whom he married returned from sea, she left her professor for the sailor. The Rev. Nehemiah, however, was not heartbroken, but lived to the age of seventy-seven, and died in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Mary Strong, the daughter of the house, married Lieut. Solomon Boltwood, and became the ancestor of the famous Boltwood family, whose influence was felt in Amherst through many generations. The marriage was performed by Rev. David Parsons, probably in the family mansion though the couple may have gone to the meeting-house on the hill. They had eleven children. Their grandson, Elijah Boltwood, for many years was the genial landlord of the Boltwood tavern, near the site of the present Amherst House, and well known as one of the best inns in Western Massachusetts. In his day it was a two-story structure painted yellow, with a bar-room in front and a ball-room overhead. The old sign, which swung from a stout post in front of the tavern, is now the property of the Amherst Historical society, and is preserved in its rooms in the old Strong house.

Simeon Strong, the youngest child of Nehemiah, was a precocious boy, and graduated from Yale in 1756, among the first scholars in his class. A biographical sketch in the "Panoplist and Missionary Magazine United," says of Simeon Strong:

"At the expiration of his collegiate term, premium called the Dean's Bounty was adjudged to him, by which he was enabled to spend a fifth year at that seat of learning." When this fifth year was completed, he studied theology and preached for several years, but on account of a consumptive tendency did not accept any of the calls to settle which he received. He finally decided to become a lawyer, and entered the office of Colonel Worthington of Springfield, His studies were barely completed and the young law student ready to set up for himself, when in 1761, his mother, the wife of Nehemiah, died, leaving the old man alone. We can easily see the reason why, knowing that his son was about to marry, Nehemiah that same year deeded to Simeon "my dwelling house and barn in said Amherst, both standing on a piece of land now in my possession, which land is bounded on the east and south on the King's Highway." This gift provided a home for the young lawyer and his wife, Sarah Wright, and the children who came after, and the deed proves certainly who built the old Strong house. Young Simeon erected for himself an office on the west side of his dwelling, and it is possible made some changes in the back part of the mansion, as tradition hints that once the roof sloped to the ground. But the palatial residence of his father was good enough for him and his descendants, and there they lived during the eventful years which led up to the Revolution and decided forever the fate of the Nation. We can imagine the excited discussions as those assembled in town meeting agitated questions of vital purport to themselves and their posterity. With calmness and deliberation Simeon Strong listened to the arguments of his excited fellow townsmen, weighed them carefully in his judicial mind, and formed his own opinions. We find his name in the town records as church treasurer, and a member of many important committees. But when the district of Amherst was called up to contribute stores and money and me to defend the "Common Cause," some of her influential citizens were found to be loyal to King George. Most prominent among the loyalists was Simeon Strong, and the old Strong house became the headquarters of the Tory faction. The patriots who remained at home showed no mercy toward those who differed from them in opinion. When the selectmen found it difficult to furnish the eight blankets for the soldiers which was the town's proportion of those required of Hampshire county, they boldly "impressed" a blanket belonging to Simeon Strong, for which he brought suit against Constable David Blodgett and compelled payment. The learned advocate, honest in his convictions, in spite of his Tory principles, kept the respect of his fellow townsmen, maintained his standing at the bar and accumulated wealth. The small addition to the rear of the family mansion held his law library and pamphlets, and served him as an office. Here he interviewed his clients and pursued those studies in theology and metaphysics which were his delight to the close of his life. In 1787 Simeon Strong was appointed a member of a committee to build a new meeting house on the hill. Having served the town acceptably in the General Court, he was elected to the Senate, and in 1800 was appointed Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He was one of the "Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Conn. river," and took an active interest in all projects for improvements at home and abroad. In his last years he was owner of all the land near the northeast and northwest corners of Main and Pleasant streets, and was greeted with respect as he rode about in his stylish fall back chaise, the first carriage owned in town. He died in 1805, at the age of sixty-nine, the most distinguished lawyer who has ever made his home in Amherst. He was buried in West cemetery, and upon his stone appears this inscription:

Simeon Strong, Esq.
(Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
died Dec.14, 1805.
"Man dives in death; dives from the sun in
fairer day to rise: grave his subterranean
road to bliss."

Four of his seven children were living at the time of his death. Just before he died, the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale college, the intimate friend and admirer of Judge Strong, says:

"On his integrity all who knew him relied without a suspicion. In the various relations of private life he shone with a mild and delightful luster. His manners were an unusual mixture of gravity and cheerfulness of simplicity and propriety, of modesty and dignity. The religion which he professed and lived so long gilded his exit with the calm sunshine of a Summer evening."

A family of lawyers, inheriting the keen intellect, shrewd wit and sterling honesty of their ancestors, were born and trained beneath the gambrel roof of the old house, and came forth to settle the disputes of the community, and win renown in neighboring towns. Each of Judge Simeon's four sons received a college education. Simeon Jr. graduated from Yale in 1786, and practiced law in Conway and in Amherst. John went to Williams college, read law with his father, and was admitted to the bar, and though he did not become so famous as his younger brother, Solomon, yet, according to an old record," He was an upright Christian man." Solomon, also a graduate of Williams, became eminent in his profession, represented the town in the General court, was elected to Congress in1815, and for more than twenty years was Judge of the Massachusetts Court of common Pleas.

For many years the family in the old Strong house and their descendants were identified with the life of the town in all departments of activity. The second son, Hezekiah Wright Strong was greatly interested in procuring the advantages of higher education for the poorer boys and the girls of his native town. He graduated from Yale, practiced law at Deerfield, and finally settled down in Amherst, where he was postmaster and kept a country store on the present site of Adams' drug store. In company with Samuel Fowler Dickinson he started a subscription, by means of which, on land donated by Rev. David Parsons, son of the "learned and orthodox divine," Amherst academy was built. This school was prosperous from the very beginning, and boys and girls in equal numbers hastened to avail themselves of the advantages offered at a minimum charge. Among the pupils in1818 was the daughter of Hezekiah, Sarah Sophia Strong, who had evidently inherited a desire for knowledge from both her father and mother, Martha Dwight of Belchertown. Miss Sarah Strong, at the age of sixteen, became a teacher in the academy, and numbered among her pupils Mary Lyon, an awkward girl from Buckland, afterward to be regarded as one of the great educational leaders of the world. In Professor Tyler's history of Amherst college, Sarah Strong, great granddaughter of the builder of the old Strong house, describes the work of the academy, the visits made to it by Noah Webster, vice-president of the Board of Trustees ,and theatrical exhibitions given by the students in the old meeting house on College hill. Sarah Strong married in Amherst, April19, 1826, Hon. Isaac McConihe, LL.D., son of John McConihe, a Scotch Presbyterian, who fled from Scotland to Ireland in 1678 to escape the persecution, and finally came across the sea and settled in Merrimack, N.H. Mr. and Mrs. McConihe made their home in Troy, N.Y. where their descendants may now be living.

From Amherst academy in fullness of time came Amherst college. When the "Charity Fund," to train young men for the ministry, was provided, Hezekiah Wright Strong was among those who selected college hill as the proper site for the new institution. One moonlight night Mr. Strong and Col. Rufus Graves, to whose efforts, in a large measure, the raising of the charity fund was due, visited the ground, measured the land, and paced off the spot where the first building was to stand. He lived to see the college prosper, though his last days were spent in Troy, where he died in 1848.

Simeon second married Miss Louisa Emerson, daughter of Rev. John Emerson of Conway, and sister of Dr. Joseph Emerson, whose wife and children sometimes visited "Aunt Strong, and enjoyed exploring the quaint old house. The seven outside doors and many hiding places afforded ample opportunity for games, and the large family of sons and nieces and student boarders made things lively. The present parlor was then the living room and opening out of, where North Prospect street now passes, was the office. Beneath the shadows of the east porch the lads and lasses loved to linger, and several friendships here formed resulted in marriage. Simeon third, a member of this family, left a record in which he relates that his great grandfather Nehemiah removed from Northampton about 1744, and built the family mansion of which his descendants have been so proud. More than sixty years ago, Frederick W. Strong of Lancaster, Wisconsin, spent two years in the old house, and says his father used to tell him that the house was built by his great grandfather, and was then one hundred years old. The builder, Nehemiah, late in life, married Catherine Barrett, and with her he probably lived on his land just south of Joseph Dickinson's, owned by John Strong within the memory of the present generation. When Nehemiah died, in 1772, he left to his wife, Catherine, one-third of his real estate, to his daughter Mary (pounds) 53.6s, 8d, to his son Nehemiah, the rest of his real estate, and to Simeon 6s, "having already, as I judge, sufficiently advanced him." As Nehemiah second died without heirs, his real estate came into the possession of his nephew John and descended to his children, Milton and Mary.

After the death of Dr. Joseph Emerson, his widow, desiring to educate her children, came to Amherst and bought the old Strong house. In this way the venerable mansion passed into the possession of the family by whom it has been occupied for fifty years, and to whom its history and traditions are dear and sacred. The new owner finished off rooms in the spacious attic, and built the dormer windows which to-day, like eyes, peer out upon the passer-by. Mrs. Emerson's son, John, graduated from Amherst college in the class with Edward Hitchcock and Julius Seelye. The daughters all attended Amherst academy.
The old Strong house appears to-day substantially the same as when it was completed one hundred and sixty years ago. Its deep front yard illustrates the width of the broad highways of that time. The wrought iron nails, driven and clinched by workmen whose very names are now unknown, still hold the ancient clapboards firmly where they were placed when Amherst was in its infancy. Above the gambrel roof great buttonwood trees, a hundred feet in height, twist their gaunt limbs and sway and groan, and with hoarse voices croak ever of the past. Nearer the road, tall elms and maples murmur tales of famous guests who passed beneath their shade one hundred years ago, and whisper softly of the schoolboy, Eugene Field, who with his brother Roswell made this their playground when attending Miss Howland's private school nearby. Behind the house a gnarled and knotted pear tree, said to have been planted by the judge himself, still lives, and ever season puts forth a crown of pure white blossoms, perfuming all the air. The old well, twenty-seven feet deep, is supplied by an ever-living spring, and during all these years has been an unfailing fountain to its owners and the neighbors when other sources of pure water have been exhausted.

Inside, the house is in most respects unchanged. The "west door, front door, front back door, back door, and back back door" still allow the visitor to enter and leave the dwelling. The building shows antiquity in every detail. No parallel lines are to be found. The wooden cornices fail to meet in any corner. Broad widow sills are seen and wrought iron hinges on the doors, and little closets and hidden drawers set deep in unexpected places. In a high cupboard at the end of the parlor mantel tinder and flint and tobacco for pipes were kept. The old red paint put on when the house was built still clings to many of the closet shelves. Iron hooks from which some old-time Madam Strong hung the canopy for her best bed are firmly fastened into the ceiling of the right hand room, which was in former days the parlor of the colonial mansion. A handsome corner cupboard, oval at the top, with doors in which are set small panes of glass, attracts our attention as being an admirable specimen of its kind. Up two turns we follow the narrow stairs, and notice the elaborate panelling, and see in every room, above and below, the heavy oaken beams which divide the ceiling and strengthen the massive frame. In one bedroom closet, above the wooden pegs, beyond the reach of any but a giantess, are pieces of antique paper, probably as old as the house itself. Handsome mahogany furniture is all about. In the third story we see a "low-boy", left in the garret by the Strongs, and are shown a child's toy whistle, finely carved, which was found in the walls about thirty years ago when a room was being replastered. We can easily imagine this may have been dropped by little Simeon the first when his father Nehemiah was building the house.

In recent years the office of Judge Simeon Strong has been transformed. The spirit of the staunch old loyalist, returning to its ancient haunts, would find the rooms, once the headquarters of Amherst Tories, now filled with relics of the past and fitted up as the home of Mary Mattoon chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Amherst Historical society. A great brass knocker on the door gives warning of the guest. The small paned windows are shaded with white fringed curtains, and the uneven floor covered with rag carpeting. Upon the walls, displayed against the paper of antique design, are portraits and pictures of historic interest and value, so many that they crowd each other for space. Here we see General Ebenezer Mattoon, an Amherst hero of the Revolution, and Mary Mattoon, his wife, a typical housewife of the olden time. The first piano ever brought to town, with thin legs and jangling keys, is here, and in the corner cupboard is arranged a valuable collection of old china. An antique secretary contains old books and pamphlets and works presented by Amherst authors, which constitute the library of the Amherst Historical society. Small articles of value are arranged in cases, the latest addition to these being a collection of Indian relics found in Hadley and vicinity, and presented by President Harris and Dr. Edward Hitchcock.

The generosity of the late Professor, Herbert B. Adams, of Johns Hopkins University, a native of East Amherst, assisted in furnishing these rooms, and by donations of pictures and books encouraged the Mary Mattoon chapter to form the Historical society. This now, as an independent organization, led by its enthusiastic president, Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd, holds regular meetings in its rooms, listens to papers prepared by its members, and in many ways has created and fostered an interest in local history throughout the town.
Amherst, though young in years, is rich in historic incident and association. Its early settlers lived heroic lives and died to be unforgotten. A few old houses yet remain whose ancient walls, could they but speak, would answer many a query and fill many a vacant place in the town's history. A veteran among such, the old Strong mansion stands, an embodiment of stability and strength, a connecting link between the present and former generations.

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