This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Erving, Goddard, Gould, Hale, Hayward, Stone, Trask, Tucker, Washburn, White Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4EB.2ACE/892 Message Board Post: Holland, Josiah Gilbert History of Western Massachusetts. The Counties of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin & Berkshire Springfield, MA: Samuel Bowles & Company, 1855. Vol. I, 520 pp; Vol. II 619 pp, three parts. Call number 974.4, H71 Vol. II, Part III. pages 362 - 363 Erving Names found in this transcription: Erving, Goddard, Gould, Hale, Hayward, Stone, Trask, Tucker, Washburn, White ...."Erving's Grant," as the tract was originally and for many years called, which constitutes the town of Erving, and forms a portion of other towns in the vicinity, was purchased of the province in 1751, by individviduals who sold it to John ERVING of Boston, to whom the grant was confirmed by the General Court, Jan. 22, 1752. It was originally about 12 miles long and two miles wide. The territory now covered by Erving was settled about 1801, by Col. Asaph WHITE, of Heath, who built a log house in the wilderness. Mr. WHITE was the constructor of the 5th Massachusetts Turnpike, kept a public house and erected a dam across Miller's River, and built a saw mill in 1803. Erving has very little history tat is interesting or im- portant. The population has always been small, though it is now increasing. The town was not incorporated until April 17, 1838. ....In 1820, the first school house was erected, and in this building, all the religious meetings were held, when such meetings were held at all, until 1842. Previous to 1832, no religious organization existed in the place. Rev. Daniel GODDARD, a Baptist preacher belonging in Wendell, oc- casionally supplied preaching from 1818 to 1830. A Con- gregational Church was formed Sept. 19, 1832, with 15 members, and their meeting house was built in 1842. Rev. Josiah TUCKER was the first and only pastor, and he was pastor, not only of this church, but of that at Irvingsville, in the town of Orange. He was dismissed from both places, Aug. 7, 1844. After that, the church depended upon supplies. Rev. Mr. HAYWARD, a Methodist minister, preached in the house during 1853. In 1854, the house was sold at auction for $500, on account of the embarrass- ment of the proprietors. ....In 1835, a branch of the South Orange Baptist Church was formed in Erving, which became extinct in 1839. They never had a settled minister. A Universalist Society was formed in 1836, which also became extinct in 1848. ....Erving is becoming an important lumber region. There page 363 are now five saw mills in the town, which turn out 1,200,000 feet of lumer annually; one chair factory, carried on by HALE & GOULD, that produces 160,000 wood-seat chairs per annum, and a pail factory, operated by W. B. WASHBURN & Co. that produces 100,000 pails a year. J. T. TRASK manufactures 47,000 gross of matches annually, and WASHBURN, STONE & Co. make $30,000 worth of pianos annually. The town is divided into four school districts, and there was raised for schools in 1854, $350; for high- ways, $400; and for general town charges, $650. The population in 1840 was 294; in 1850, 465; increase in ten years, 171. The present populaton is about 500.