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

1734.] LEOISLATIVE CONTEST—SOUTHAMPTON SETTLED. 39
Minister, and he was paid £4-8, For a number of years £63
was paid to tlie Second Precinct for ministerial purposes.
Trespassers upou the No soouor liad the uew Settlement begun
New Town Fined. before trespassiug upon the territory commenced,
or rather was first discovered.
It may have been and probably was practiced with impu-
nity for many years. People residing to the southward, at
Westfield and elsewhere, had been appropriating timber
and using land to which they had no claim. Consequently
in 173|, the town voted to prosecute
" all Such Persons as Have already or Shall Hereafter Committ any
Trespass on the Lands belonging to ihe Town in the additionall Grant
on the Southwardly Part of the Township, and Lying between the old
Orant and Westfield bounds."
This action, however, did not prevent the continuation
of the unlawful practice. Fourteen years later Joseph
Hawley was chosen agent to proceed against all such trespassers,
and nine persons, residents of Westfield, were
brought before the court, and fines to the amount of £73.16
were paid into the town treasury.
Destruction of Dea. Dca. Ebeuezcr Huut, a descendant in the
Ebeuezer Hunt's third generation from Jonathan Hunt, one
of the first settlers, came to Northampton
from Lebanon, Ct., about the year 1729. He was by trade
a " Felt Maker," and in 1730 purchased the homestead, shop
and business of Benjamin Stebbius, at the corner of Main
-and South Streets, now occupied by the Hampshire County
Bank building, and adjoining stores to the west as far as the
head of South Street. On the night of January 1Q^^\ 173|,
his shop and contents were destroyed by fire. The loss was
estimated at a trifle less than £200 ; the shop being valued
-at £50, and its contents at £147. Insurance was then an
unknown quantity, and the friends and neighbors of Dea.
Hunt subscribed the sum of £50 towards reimbursing his
losses. Nearly every person in town gave something ; a
few individuals gave 30s. each, a number 20s., and the rest
smaller amounts. The gifts were not all from Northamp-
ton, a number of persons residing in other towns partici-
pating. At that time silver was valued at 25s. per ounce.