Colonial and Town Lines "Documentary History of Suffield, by Sheldon, 1879"

OUTLINE SKETCHES OF THE

COLONIAL AND TOWN LINES.

Springfield (called Agawam until 1640) was settled in 1636, by William Pynchon and others, who at that time, it seems, supposed themselves within the Connecticut Patent, and sent deputies to that General Court. In 1638, they became satisfied they were in Massachusetts, and appointed Mr. Pynchon magistrate; and applied to the General Court for protection, and rejected Connecticut jurisdiction thereafter.
The boundary line between the colonies was unknown, and it was a fruitful source of discord between them for many years, involving the border towns in the same quarrel.
The south line of Massachusetts* "runs west from a point three miles south of the most southerly branch of Charles River, and every part of it." This point was fixed by Nathaniel Woodward, by order of court in 1638--and in 1642, two surveyors, Woodward and Saffery, were ordered to run the line between the colonies. They fixed the line upon the east shore of the Connecticut River at Windsor, near Warehouse Point, about twenty rods below where the Warehouse was afterward built.
This line was accepted by Massachusetts and assented to by Connecticut. Windsor, east of the river, was bounded north upon it, and west of the Great River, it bounded north on "Kettle Brook."¥
After the settlement at Suffield was begun, dissensions arose between its inhabitants and those of Windsor. Windsor claimed Stony River for its north line. Suffield claimed to the old line of Woodward and Saffery, which is about a half a mile below the foot of the Falls. In 1671, Massachusetts caused this line of 1642 to be continued west of the Connecticut River seven and a half miles.
Connecticut remonstrated, and in 1672 Massachusetts proposed as a compromise to state and settle the bounds, " forty rods below the foot of the Great Island against the Falls." The concession was not accepted; and in 1674 the act establishing the town of Suffield stated the south boundary," about a half a mile below the Island, near the foot of the Falls."
Connecticut was dissatisfied, and in 1680 proposed to Massachusetts, that commissioners be appointed to run the line "with due care and good instruments, so that a final issue of the controversy may be had." Massachusetts not accepting the proposal, Connecticut, in 1694, appointed a committee to run the line, and became satisfied that the
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* Webster's History of U. S.
¥ Conn. Gen. Court, 1636.

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