by Marilyn Fish (view Part 1 here)
The Beckett [sic] Land Company purchased 14,845 acres in Ohio, specifically Town 4, Range 6 (later known as Windham) in November 1810, with the intention of starting new lives on the frontier. The acreage was divided into 100 lots and distributed according to each family’s investment. Dillingham Clark, a land surveyor by trade, invested $6,000, becoming the owner of nearly 25% of the township. Thatcher and Elizabeth Conant, Dillingham and Abigail Clark, and Alpheus and Anna Streator donated portions of their allotments near the center of the township for a village green. By the winter, Land Company families began preparations for their long journey into the wilderness.
Before packing their wagons, they selected four young men to go in advance and prepare the way: Elijah Alford, Jr., age 31, Oliver Alford, age 22, Ebenezer 0range Messenger, age 21, and Nathan Harvey Messenger, age 19. The four traveled 600 miles on foot with a sled and horse carrying their baggage. Arriving on March 16, 1811, they found untouched forests along with the remnants of Native American villages in the form of a few small clearings with decaying wigwams. The Alford brothers erected the first settlers’ dwelling in the township, a cabin 20’ feet by 15’, created a clearing, and planted wheat for those who would follow. The Messengers also made a clearing and erected a cabin.
In June, Bille Messenger arrived with his son Hiram, Hiram’s wife, Anna Snow Messenger, and Joseph Southworth, a single man who had traveled with them. Between July 5 and July 20 other Becket families appeared, many with children not named in the records: Alpheus Streator and Anna M. Lyman Streator; Jeremiah Lyman (brother-in-law of Alpheus Streator), whose wife died on the journey; Thatcher Conant and Elizabeth Manley Conant; Colonel Benjamin Higley (stepson of Elijah Alford) and Sarah McKowan Higley; Ebenezer N. Messenger and Sally Campbell Messenger; and Gideon Bush. Nathan Birchard also came in 1811 to prepare land and build a cabin. He moved in with his wife Marcy Ashley Birchard and children a year later. It is not clear when Dillingham Clark (nephew of Thatcher Conant) and Abigail Walden Clark arrived. Additional Becket families joined the community in the ensuing years.
Deacon Elijah Alford and his wife Olive Adams appeared on October 12, 1811. Although they were the last of the original group to reach Windham, Alford seemed destined to become a community leader. In Becket he had served as surveyor, juror, inspector of schools and church deacon. In Windham he continued as deacon and was also elected Justice of the Peace. The first school in the township was taught in the winter of 1811-1812 in the house of Alpheus Streator by his daughter Eliza and Rebecca Conant, daughter of Thatcher Conant. The young ladies gave their services for about a year, relieving each other every two weeks. Men and older boys set about clearing the forests, building cabins and rudimentary furniture, hunting for food, cutting roads, and planting fields, while women and girls cooked the food, endured pregnancies, delivered babies, raised children, tended the sick, spun wool, wove cloth, and made clothes, candles, soap and most items used in the home.
In April 1813 various town officers were elected: Trustees – Thatcher Conant, Benjamin Higley, Jeremiah Lyman; Overseers of the Poor – Hiram Messenger, Thatcher Conant; Fence Viewers – Levi Alford, Ephraim H. Seeley; Lister and Appraiser – Ebenezer N. Messenger; Constable – Hiram Messenger; Treasurer – Oliver Alford. The first postmaster was Dillingham Clark, appointed in 1818.
As exciting and empowering as this venture was, it was not an unqualified success. According to the History of Portage County, Ohio, 1885, “In the midst of all the loveliness of the surroundings, there was a sense of loneliness that could not be dispelled.” Indeed, some of the Becket pioneers turned back to the comforts of the East and others continued to more densely populated western locations. But those who remained helped leave the indelible mark of Becket, Massachusetts on Windham, Ohio.
Sources: Cathaline Alford Archer, “Eighteenth Century Becket,” A Bicentennial History of Becket, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 1765-1965, Becket Historical Society, 1964; E. G. Holland, Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger, C.S. Francis and Co., New York, 1854; History of Portage County, Ohio, Chicago, Warner, Beers & Company, 1885; various online genealogy sites and entries on Ohio history.
