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Chicopee Street Burying Grounds
Notes: 228 Chicopee Street
contact info:
Cemetery Department
687 Front Street
Chicopee MA 01013
(413)594-3481
Chicopee Street:
For more than sixty years, the people of Chicopee continued their connection with the old First Church in Springfield, finding their way on foot, or on horseback, fording the Chicopee River, at the Indian Wading Place, or smetimes going by canoe down the Connecticut. The sabbath services and the weekly lectures were their edification and delight. Their lives were regulated by its ordinances and discipline; and when death came, they were laid to rest in the Old Burying Ground at the foot of Elm Street on the banks of the Connecticut. The names Japhet and Abilene, his wife, may still be seen on the old headstones in Peabody Demetery. They were removed when the building of the railroad made it necessary to discontinue the old burying place. "
Annals of Chicopee Street
Clara Skeele Palmer
Harvard College Library
page 20
Rootsweb message board:
"Chicopee Cemeteries Notes: The earliest cemetery was established at the foot of Elm Street in Springfield. The "Old Burying Ground" was Chicopee's colonial cemetery on Chicopee Street (where all the Chapins are buried) -- first buried there was Miss Sarah Hitchcock in 1741. Thanks to Gail Ferris for contributing this information.
The "Old Burying Ground" was Chicopee's colonial cemetery. The first burial dates back to 1741." |
| Notes |
- Page 525. It was for him that St. Gaudens made the famous statue of "The Puritain" as a memo rial to Samuel Chapin, donated to the city of Springfield. Lived in Springfield but president of Boston and Albany Railroad, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853 and was Mass. Representative in 44 th Congress, 1874. He laid the early foundation of his great fortun e as stage proprietor and mail carrier.
Page 525. It was for him that St. Gaudens made the famous statue of "The Puritain" as a memo rial to Samuel Chapin, donated to the city of Springfield. Lived in Springfield but president of Boston and Albany Railroad, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853 and was Mass. Representative in 44 th Congress, 1874. He laid the early foundation of his great fortun e as stage proprietor and mail carrier.
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Chester W. Chapin, six generations removed from the family's pilgrim immigrant forebear, Deacon Samuel Chapin, was born in Ludlow, Massachusetts to Ephraim and Mary [Smith] Chapin, the youngest of seven children. He married Dorcas [Chapin] Chapin on June 1, 1825, and had four children, Abel Dexter, Margaret, Anna, and Chester W.
The family moved to Chicopee and in 1806 his father died, leaving Chester and his brothers to maintain the family and work their farm. He attended common schools and Westfield Academy, Westfield, Massachusetts. One of his first paying jobs was when local cotton mills were being built, when he earned $1.50 a day. He quickly went into business for himself, opening a store, and in 1822 was appointed town tax collector, for which he received $80.
Around 1826 he bought an interest in the stage line from Hartford, Connecticut to Brattleboro, Vermont, soon holding extensive mail and stage contracts. In 1831, when steamboats first began to run on the river between Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts he bought an interest, soon became sole proprietor, and for about 15 years controlled all the passenger traffic on that route. He also became a large or principal owner of the steamship lines between New York City, Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut. He later extended his interests into railroads and banking, becoming founder, principal or president of many companies, including the Western Railroad, the Agawam (National) Bank, and the Connecticut River Railroad. He was one of the earliest advocates of a bridge over the Hudson River at Albany, New York. He served as member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853, president and director of the Western Railroad Corporation during 1854 to 1867, president of the Boston and Albany Railroad during 1868 to 1878, and a director until 1880.
Chapin was elected as a Democrat to the [[44th United States Congress|Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877), and served on the Committee of Ways And Means. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress. He died in Springfield on June 10, 1883 and was interred in Springfield Cemetery.
Don Kelloway
http://www.flickr.com/photos/commodon/8265125010/in/set-72157632225489330
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1798 - 1883 (84 years)
