Shutesbury, Massachusetts
This town is on high land, 10 miles E. from Connecticut river, 9 N. by E. from Amherst, 16 S.S.E. from Greenfield, and 78 W. by N. from Boston. Incorporated, 1761. Population, 1837, 816. Copper ore, and soapstone, are found here. On Swift river are three shingle mills and a wheel factory. There is a mineral spring of some note in this town, containing, in solution, iron, sulphur, &c. There is also a pond, covering about 700 acres, with an abundance of fine fish.
Ephraim Pratt lived in this town many years, and died here in 1804, aged 116 years. He married at the age of 21, and could count 1,500 descendants. He was a very temperate man, so much so that for 40 years he took almost no animal food. He was a farmer, and his health was so uniformly good that he was able to mow a good swath 101 years in succession. He was born at Sudbury, 1687.
