which they went over to West Springfield to build their first house; and the traffic among the river settlements as far north as Hadley Falls was carried on chiefly in these flat boats. There seems, however, little evidence that other actual settlers soon sought this territory, although the Riley family, of unknown numbers, lived in it long enough to give it the name "Ireland," now only a memory. It was yet some years before "one of the earliest settlers," Benjamin Bali, great grandfather of the late Col. E. H. Ball, settled, in 1745, upon the place now occupied by Mr. James Ball, on Northampton and Cherry streets. Upon this place still stands the famous "Ball elm," the largest tree within the town limits, planted by Benjamin Ball in 1751. Francis Ball, the father of Benjamin, settled in Springfield center in 1740. Many of the names appearing in the early Springfield records indicate
Looking North From the City Hall.
clearly the origin of the large families of Days, Chapins, Elys, Balls, Parsons, Baggs, Chapmans, Russells, Frinks, Ashleys and Hitchcocks, which pioneered and peopled the third parish of West Springfield and still bear their proportional part in the young and lusty city grown upon its extreme northern border. In 1749 Capt. John Miller settled upon Northampton street and owned a large portion of the territory now covered by the city of Holyoke. Captain Miller took part in the capture of Louisburg just before. This house remained in the Miller family until 1857, its last owner, Abner Miller, selling it to remove to Westfield. The place was kept as an inn during the Revolutionary war, and was the half-way house on the old stage line between Springfield and Northampton. It was the oldest house in town when torn down in 1884. Another inn was
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