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

478 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1786.
Jonathan Ashley, Samuel Field and Jonas Baker." These
petitioners were all residents of towns in the northern part
of the county. Several of them belonged in Deerfield,
and the rest in contiguous towns. The Legislature referred
the matter to the several towns in the county, requesting
them " to give their reasons why the county should not be
divided agreeably to said petition." The question came
before the town of Northampton, at a meeting held in
May, when the town not only voted against it, but in-
structed its representatives " to use their Influence in the
Gen'l Court to prevent any such Division of the County."
The proposition was to form a new county from the
northeastern portion of Hampshire and the northwestern
part of Worcester County. The response from the towns
was decidedly against any such division, and nothing
further was done at that time. But the design was not
abandoned. It was pressed again the next year, but without
success.
A Convention Consid- In May, 1786, a convention met at Haters
the subject. Q.e\d for the purpose of discussing this
question, in which forty-one towns were
represented. Among the reasons advanced in favor of the
proposition was the inconvenience of reaching the towns of
Northampton and Springfield, where all the courts were
held. The county then extended from the Vermont line
on the north to that of Connecticut on the south, and the
courts were held and all business transacted below the center
of the county. The convention voted twenty-two
against and nineteen in favor of a division. A vote to cen-
ter the courts showed twenty-three against and eighteen in
favor of such a proposition. The suggestion that two
courts should be held at Deerfield, received twenty-four
votes in its favor and seventeen against. Nothing, however,
was accomplished, and many years elapsed before the
county was divided.
Pews in the Meeting- This year saw the last of the benches in
^o^^^- the meeting-house. All the long seats
places.
were taken out, and pews erected in their