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

1739.] JOSEPH HAWLEY—PHYSICIANS—TOWN HALL. 89
tiou is anywhere offered for this vote, and nothing is
known concerning the occasion for its adoption. It is quite
possible that in the multiplicity of candidates, no one received
a majority of all the votes cast, and this was the
only way out of the difficulty. Whatever the trouble was,
it seems to have been settled in a short time, for there was
but one trial of the new plan. The next year the plurality
vote was rescinded, the town voting "that no person
Should be Selectman but those that had a major part of the
votes. "-
Pascommuck Re- Pascommuck, after its destruction by the
settled. Indians, in 1704, remained for thirteen
years without an inhabitant. Only a few
of the heirs of former owners came back to the place.
Most of them sold out and removed to other towns. The
first person to return within its desolate borders was Sam-
uel Janes, whose father, mother, sister, and two brothers,
were victims of the massacre. He was married and settled
upon the old homestead in 1717. For about three years he
lived there without neighbors, but in 1720, John Langton
purchased and occupied the homestead of Benoni Jones.
Eight years afterwards, Lieut. Elisha Searl, whose adventures
while a captive with the Indians in Canada, have
already been chronicled in these pages, took possession of
the Searl homestead. Benjamin Janes sold his homestead
to Jonathan Hunt, and removed to Coventry. No one
lived on the place till it was purchased by Philip Clark.
Moses Hutchinson left no heirs, and his home lot came into
the possession of Ebenezer Ferry. ^
An Appropriation for Tliirty-fivc ycars after its destruction, six
Schooling there. families were living on the site of the
former settlement, and about as many
more resided in the entire Mountain District. It is probable
no one lived at that time on the west side of Mt. Tom.
This little hamlet was so distant from the center of the town
that the children experienced great difficulty in attending
school during the winter months. Their case was pi'esented
to the town in 1730, and an allowance of "12'' per diem'*
1 For the names of the settlers at Pascommuck at the time of the Indian raid'
see vol. 1, p. 49.5.