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

46 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1726.
cliarming eminence, including its summit and rear. Tliis
is the first reference to this locality by name upon the rec-
ords. At this time it was covered with forest trees, and its
future possibilities as the ' Paradise of America " had. not
then entered the imagination of any person. Another lot
near " Baker's Meadow," containing six acres was also sold
to Mr. Stoddard for £10. Dea. John Clark bought " fourty
acres," * * "Lying In a Place Called Pancake Hill^
Plain," for "Seventy-Eight pounds, fiveteen Shilling.'^
Here again comes in a nomenclature not heretofore in use,
but which has been retained to the present day. Josiah
Parsons bought '
' fourty acres " * * " at a place Called
Slow Hill," for which he paid "one Hundred and twenty
pounds." Though the orthography has been slightly
changed, "Slough Hill" is by no means forgotten. On a
plan of the "Inner Commons," prepared in 175-4, by Na-
thaniel D wight, these two lots, lying just above " Elwell's
Island," between Pine and Slough Brooks, are designated
as " land sold by the town to settle a former minister." To
Nathaniel Curtice was sold about an acre of land adjoining
his homestead, near Baker's Marsh, for which he paid £3.
The entire amount received from these sales was £251.15.
Ordination and In- Ou the records of the First Church, written
staiiation of Jon- ^y Rev. Mr. Stoddard, whose hand was then
tremulous with age, is the following entry,
and that is the only contemporaneous allusion thereon to
the settlement of Mr. Edwards over the church —
:
"22feb"- 173 f.
" Mr. Jonathan Edwaixls was ordained A pastour of the Church of
Northampton." -
It was however on the 15"' of February, and not on the
22'* as noted by Mr. Stoddard, that Rev. Jonathan Edwards
1 Pancake Hill or plain is a slight rise of ground in the vicinity of the State Luna-
tic Hospital. It undoubtedly derived its euphonious title as did Round Hill, from its
shape, which is broad and somewhat flat, about two hundred feet above the mean sea
level, sixty feet less than its more ambitious rival. For many years criminal executions
took place in this vicinity, and it was at one time called " Gallows Hill or Gallows
Plain."
2 In Dwight's Life of Edwards, page 107, the oi-dination is said to have occurred
on the IS"" of February, and in accordance with the date of the letter missive to Rev.
Mr. Williams, given above, Mr. Stoddard must have been in error. The entry may
have been made some time after the event, and his mind, uncertain like his hand,
failed in point of memory.