History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

84 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1736.
inches liigh running at large, was revived. Nothing appears
to show whether the terms of the above vote were
complied with, but the action of the town indicated that it
was confidently expected that the requisite number of sub-
scribers would be obtained. ^
Mt. Tom The origin of the name of this mountain is
somewhat in doubt. Nothing x^ositive has
come to light relative to its christening. Dr. Holland's
fanciful and poetical legend respecting the naming of Holyoke
and Tom has been questioned, though there can he
no doubt that Holyoke perpetuates the memory of the
famous captain, who figured so prominently in the early
history of the valley. No allusion to the name has been
found upon the records of the town till the above order was
adopted, though the a]3pellation was bestowed ujjon the
eminence many years before. In fact there is evidence that
the name had been applied to the mountain within less than
a dozen years after the settlement of the town. The
earliest record of it is found upon a deed of land from
Oapt. Aaron Cook to Joseph Parsons in 1GG2, in which
thirty acres of land "under Mt. Tom," bounded partly by
the highway "under Mt. Tom," was transferred. The
name may be of Indian origin. In fact the use of it two
years before " Mt. Holyoke" was recognized (Holyoke was
first named on the Northampton records in 1664) is an
indication that the name may have been aj)plied by the
Indians, but was not in general use till many years after
its neighbor had become a household word. Still there remains
the fact that when Holyoke was first mentioned, Tom
was designated in the same document as the " great
mountain."
Efforts to Equalize The issuc of paper money in Massachusetts,
the Curieucy. tlic causes Avliich led to it, and the various
methods adopted to bring it into circula-
tion and sustain its value, have heretofore been sufficiently
dwelt upon in this work. Another attempt to stay the
downward tendency of bills of credit was made in 1736,
but fourteen years elapsed before a specie basis took the
1 In 1763, there were 657 sheep over one year old, in town : about one half of them
were owned by persons living at South Farms,
e