Chesterfield's First Settlers

The CHS archives contain a wide variety of narratives, chronicles, anecdotes and an amazing number of poems. We recently discovered one poem that describes the arrival of the first permanent settlers in Chesterfield.

It is by an unknown author.

Moses Smith

T’was a day in grey November

               In Seventeen Sixty-one,

That Moses Smith with loved ones

               Made camp when day was done. 

They had come from down the river

               And scanning either side,

Were seeking for a homestead here

               A somewhere to abide.

They chose the spot we mark today

               Which marks in wood and stone.

Which founding first of home and farm,

               And Town of Chesterfield.

The Indian wars were over now,

               And man could dance and shout.

And soon with rifle, axe, and plough,

               These men were moving out.

Governor Wentworth by the King

               Some twenty years before;

Had granted out in equal shares

               The Chesterfield in store.

The town was named as we may guess

               Although the point we yield;

For one who was quite famous then

               The Great Lord Chesterfield.

A Moses in a promised land

               A land they scarcely knew

When Chesterfield was virgin soil,

               And all the world seemed new.

They wintered in this lonely spot

               Where wolves and panthers roamed

And felling trees to shelter close

               When the winter stormed and moaned.

Here Mary Thomas was first hear

               To cry, a baby sound;

For here a mother gave her birth,

               The wilderness around.

In spring they worked a larger space

               Built a farm and clearing;

And felt with spring a newborn hope

               Earth and sky were more shining.

Then others came and now to spread

               Our roads through all the hills;

That the town grew great in numbers

               With Meeting House and mills.

Chesterfield's First Settlers

On Feb. 20, 1761, Grantee* Oliver Willard sold to Moses Smith one share (three lots) in the township of Chesterfield. Smith, originally from Leicester, MA, had been residing in Hinsdale. It is believed Moses' one share were lots 14 & 15 in Range 16, the third lot is thought to have been 11, in Range 2**. With this purchase, Smith secured the best possible farmland for himself and his family. The Smith homestead’s location is today marked by the stone monument on River Road near the CT River boat ramp. (See photographs above.)

Moses Smith and his son-in-law, William Thomas, arrived sometime between the 15th – 25th of November 1761. Both men brought their families with them. The Smith family was comprised of his wife, Elizabeth, and their sons Aaron (21 years), Moses, Amos, Joseph, Benjamin, and Reuben (3 years). William Thomas brought his pregnant wife Mary, (Moses’ daughter).  On April 25, 1762, Mary gave birth to a baby girl named Mary, the town’s first locally born resident. Thus began the settlement of Chesterfield.

*Grantee – a person who was granted land in a newly chartered (created) town by the Governor, either as a gift or purchase. Chesterfield’s was chartered on Feb. 11, 1752. The land was divided among approximately 70 men. However, the town could not be settled till 1761. See: Six Reasons Why Chesterfield Settlement was Delayed. 

** The town layout can be found on our website under Maps, Charter 1752.  CHS owns one of the original town charts drawn on animal skin parchment. A duplicate is on display in our building. Due to the fragile nature of the restored original, it is only displayed on special occasions.