Misc. Notes
®1673He resided in that part of Hadley which became the District of Amherst in 1759, and was incorporated as the town of Amherst in 1775.
®656 In 1731, when Jonathan Moody was 25 years of age, he was not allotted a portion of the Hadley inner commons. His father and 3 elder brothers all received land in Hadley at that time.
®1631 “Jonathan came to the new settlement (Amherst) between I 739 and 1745. He married in 1730 Bridget Smith : their children were Huldah, Jonathan, Asahel, Lemuel, Eldad. Medad and Perez.”
®778Between 1739 and 1745 he became a settler at what later became the District of Amherst
®1658, his house a little north of the Bay road but off the highway.
®778 Jonathan Moody resided in the precinct in 1743, served in the French and Indian wars and held many town offices. In Col. Williams' regiment at Charlemont from 24 January to 30 November, 1757, were Jonathan Moody and Asahel Moody.
®778In 1757 he served a year as one of seven selectmen.
®1633 Jonathan Moody held many important town offices, including that of selectman in 1760. In the Amherst Valuation List of 1760 he had 3 Polls, 1 Horse, 2 Oxen, 4 Cows, 2 Hogs, 0 Sheep, 37:16 Personal Estate, 16 Houses and Lands, 32:6 Real Estate, 60:2 Total.
®778 In the Amherst Valuation List of 1776 he had 1 Poll, 1 Horse, 2 Oxen, 2 Cows, 1 Hog, 0 Sheep, 24:8 Personal Estate, 9 Houses and Lands, 19:15 Real Estate, 44:3 Total.
®778 “He was not the first, but among the early settlers of the Third Precinct of Hadley now called Amherst. Carried on the trade of a leather dresser. There was at this time, no church gathered in what has since become the beautiful town of Amherst famed alike for its churches and its halls of science. Hence, with others who had ventured thus far from the parent settlement, he retained connection with the society in Hadley. It is presumed that he was a member of the church there, but as the church records of that place as far back as this period, have by accident of fire been destroyed, we cannot affirm. He witnessed, however, in 1739, the gathering of the First Church in Amherst and the settlement of the First Minister. He lived also several years after his successor was there settled which event happened in 1781; and it is recorded among papers now with his descendants that he died of old age. The house he built and occupied is still standing. It was formally [sic] two stories high with an ell part; the main structure facing the east, but it has been so remodeled as to have lost entirely it’s ancient form. It is yet occupied as a dwelling. At the time of its erection, the locality of the roads in that vicinity had not been determined, but it was presumed that the highway which passes over Mt. Holyoke to South Hadley would go through the East Valley, while the Bay Road so called would be located somewhat north of where it now is, then not happening as expected the house now stands somewhat retired from public travel being a distant, perhaps sixty rods or more in a direction nearly north-east from where the above mentioned roads cross each other in the south part of Amherst. The settlement of his estate was without doubt effected by mutual agreement among the children while he was yet living. He is said to have built a house for each of his five sons who settled in Amherst, leaving for the sixth and youngest one the old homestead. He left no Will recorded on Probate.”
®408The only deed recorded in the present Hampshire County records was for Jonathan’s disposal of land as a gift to his son Eldad on 8 April 1785;
®1674 earlier deeds, now on record in Hampden County, were to sons Medad, Asahel, Eldad, and Jonathan, Jr.
®1675 After his wife died in 1786, widower Jonathan stayed in Amherst, probably with one of his sons, for another twelve years until he died. In 1790 he was evidently living with one of his children’s families, perhaps his youngest son Perez,
®1676 but was considered the head of household. That would explain why Perez does not appear on that census. A Jonathan Moody is listed in the 1798 Direct Tax for Amherst with a house on one acre of land and another forty-nine acres,
®1677 but this is probably the son, as the father died in March of that year.