User:Rovenrat/AfC/The River Gods

The River Gods were a widely recognized group of aristocratic families who held great power and influence in the Connecticut River Valley for roughly 150 years prior to the American Revolutionary War. They are particularly well-known for their extravagant mansions, which were some of the first of their kind in pre-revolution America.

Members

Various sources identify different families as being members of the River Gods, as there was no explicit system for determining "membership" in the group. The family names of the most well-recognized families of this group are listed below, with notable individual members highlighted as well.

• Allyn
• Ashley
• Chester
• Dwight
• Hamlin
• Partridge
• Pitkin
• Porter
• Pynchon
  • William Pynchon
• Stoddard
• Talcott
• Welles
• Williams
• Wolcott

Background

Notes

• The founding of the group can likely be traced back to William Pynchon who founded the town of Springfield in 1636, after leaving Roxbury Massachusetts in search of more fertile land. Springfield was originally a Connecticut town, which Pynchon managed to relocate to Massachusetts. He likely became interested in the fertile lands of the more inland Connecticut River Valley from the early surveys of the area done by Edward Winslow.
• The French and Indian Wars, along with periodic conflict with Native Americans, originally made life difficult for settlers in the Connecticut River Valley.
• The original settlers of the area the River Gods cam to control specialized in numerous productions. Shipbuilding was one area they were particularly proficient in, constructing over 4000 vessels throughout the 19th century. Farmers in the area also specialized in a variety of goods, such as onions, livestock, tobacco, and wheat. The amount of wheat produced in the region even earned the area the designation of New England's first "wheat belt".

Early Prosperity

Notes

• Though not always prosperous across the board, individual members of this group frequently became the wealthiest people in the region, with four individuals holding claim to the title of being the wealthiest person in western Massachusetts for a time.
• Compared to their coastal counterparts, the River Gods struggled with a lack of access to shipping ports due to their location further inland down the Connecticut River.

Political Influence

Notes

• Members of this influential group received nearly half of all appointments to justice of the peace positions available between 1692 and 1774.
• Members of this group received appointments to all field-grade militia commissions available during the French and Indian Wars.

Mansions

Notes

• The River Gods were notorious among contemporaries, as well as historians studying architecture, for their unique mansions. Different from their European counterparts, these mansions were often wooden in construction.
• The desire to assert their wealth through display of extravagant mansions was due to a lack of other methods available to their coastal counterparts. Wealthy families on the east coast would invest in expensive ocean-bound ships and fanciful storefronts, whereas further inland in Massachusetts the River Gods had no easy access to shipping vessel ownership and limited funds to open expensive storefronts.
• A traveler named Samuel Davis noted that the larger houses of the region had been painted, which was unusual for the area.

Examples

• Buttolph–Williams House

Legacy

Notes - After the Revolution

• Yale president Timothy Dwight noted in 1806 that the inhabitants of the Connecticut River Valley were more alike in culture among themselves than they were with the coastal members of their respective states.
• William Hosley Jr. wrote in 1985 that the local cultural distinctions in the area were starting to wane by the early 1800s.