by Laurel | March 19th, 2012
19 March 1922
Fairfield Homestead, Northampton Street, Holyoke
Number Which Date Back to Indian Days is Diminishing
The number of old houses still standing in Holyoke with authentic Indian stories connected with them is much less than it was a quarter of a century ago. One of the oldest of the houses of Holyoke, and the one probably in best repair, is the Fairfield homestead, now owned by Samuel R. Whiting, just south of his estate on Northampton Street. Here stood from earliest times the famed Fairfield elm, a bone of contention for some years, as to its removal. One of the side doors of this house, that for years bore the marks of an Indian’s tomahawk, disappeared mysteriously several years ago.
In a paper written by A. J. Rand, he thus speaks of the Indian tale connected with the Fairfield home. The original name of the place was the Lucas Morgan place, the ancestors of the Whitings first moving into the house in 1767; and it is understood that it had been built some years before. But to Mr. Rand’s story. The Morgan home now owned by S. R. Whiting was once attacked by an Indian in the night. The farm dog gave the alarm, and his barking suddenly stopped with a yelp. Mr. Morgan, guessing the cause of the sudden quietness, took his musket and after listening for a time, decided that the Indian was trying to force the back door. Calculating as to the probably position of the Indian’s body, he fired through the door, and thereafter all was quiet. In the morning he found the dead body of the Indian on the doorstep and the faithful dog bear by with a tomahawk in his skull.
Adapted from The Springfield Republican.
