Pelham History
The town of Pelham is a beautiful hill town, that sits in the Pioneer Valley . It has an exciting and important history. It is the home of the Shays Rebellion, was a sanctuary to the Scotts-Irish, and is the place of the oldest town hall in the country. But for all this history to occur many things had to happen.
A few years into the 1700’s, a group of people in Scotland decided to move to Ireland to practice their religion. However they soon discovered they weren’t much better off. Since they moved from Scotland, they soon were being called Scotts-Irish. Eventually, the soon to be Pelhamites asked the governor of Massachusetts if they could come to Massachusetts Bay Colony. They got permission and soon sailed to Boston Harbor. In Boston many of them decided to go south to Connecticut. The remaining settlers moved west to Worchester. There the worn out Scotts-Irish thought at last that they could call somewhere home. Unfortunately, when they attended the local church they were displeased with the minister. So they began to build their own church. But halfway through the project the church was burned down in the night. The Scotts-Irish had to move again. But this would be their last move.
For a while they were stuck. Where to move? But then James Thorten and Robert Peebles bought some land from Colonel Standered of Northampton.. Finally the Scotts-Irish’s search for a land they could call their own was over. The town was to be Lisburn or New Lisburn after a town back in Ireland.
Later the towns name would be changed from Lisburn to Pelham after Lord Pelham. This beautiful town took a while to come into creation. But with all the history that took place here it was worth the wait.