Page 85a
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.

label levels:

Like many people in New England, Joseph Barnard (1641-1695) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, kept an account book. In its pages Barnard recorded the goods, labor, and services he exchanged with his trading partners. Joseph served as Deerfield's first town clerk and was considered a "prudent man." Barnard's account entries ended abruptly in 1695. He died after being wounded in an Indian ambush. Barnard and four other armed men were attacked on August 21 as they rode with sacks of grain to grind at a mill about three miles away. In his written report of the incident to the Governor, John Pynchon of Massachusetts called Barnard's death "a Humbling providence, he being a very useful & helpful man in ye place so much under discouragement, & will ye more find & feel ye want of him."

top of page