Pynchons in Holyoke

[Henry Musikar]

Holyoke's history rich in so many ways
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
JACQUELINE SEARS

Holyoke was built at the lower portion of a former 157-mile-long body of
water known as Lake Hitchcock. As the water receded, it left a prosperous
legacy, including a rich alluvial soil allowing both agricultural and lumber
trade, a river supplying ample fish and a fluid transportation system and a
powerful water flow for grist mills. 


In 1658, early settler John Pynchon took full advantage of his surroundings.
According to John J. Zwisler's book "Ireland Parish," Pynchon became "judge,
recorder, honest dealer, able manager with the Indians and the Godly teacher
in a pulpit that sometimes had no minister." A respected member of early
pioneer society - particularly after remaining behind when his father,
William Pynchon, returned to England - he became known to the settlers as a
"protector and a leader." 

Referred to in later records as "Major" Pynchon and "the worshipful
Colonel," John Pynchon understood the American Indians because he had grown
up alongside tribal boys on Long Hill and on the Agawam Meadows. An avid
trader, he utilized the Connecticut River to peddle furs and merchandise,
bringing back such things as "bushels of white or blue shells that the
Indians had gathered along the seashore and shaped." 

<SNIP

"In the place of big mountains," 22-year-old Elizur Holyoke, son of Edward
Holyoke of Rumney March or Chelsea, arrived in the settlement. Holyoke's
original home was in Tamworth, Warwickshire, England. Edward Holyoke was an
old friend of none other than William Pynchon. 

On Nov. 20, 1640, his son Elizur married Mary Pynchon, William Pynchon's
daughter. Holyoke received the John Burr lot, when Burr and his kinsman John
Cable became discouraged over the very rough conditions and moved out of the
area. Holyoke's father-in-law gave him other desirable lots as well.

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