CHAPTEE II 

 THE OXFOED SETTLEMENT 



Bernon the 

 Founder 



Nipmuck 

 Region near 

 Worcester 



A: 



WEALTHY refugee from La Eochelle, Gabriel 

 Bernon, who reached London in 1697, was the 

 . prime mover in the French settlement of Oxford, 

 Massachusetts. He had for some time contemplated go- 

 ing to America, and his design was stimulated by the 

 offer of a grant of land on condition that he should form 

 a settlement thereon. Bernon chose for his agent a refugee 

 from Poitiers, one Isaac Bertrand du Tuffeau, and fur- 

 nished him with the necessary funds for effecting an im- 

 mediate settlement. Du Tuffeau reached Boston in the 

 latter part of the summer of 1687, and upon presenting 

 his credentials was given a grant of seven hundred and 

 fifty acres of land in the Nipmuck region, on the site of 

 the present town of Oxford. 



The place selected for the little colony was far from 

 civilization, in the heart of the forests that stretched in 

 every direction undisturbed by the settler's axe. It could 

 be reached only by the faint trail known as the Bay Path, 

 which connected Boston with the valley of the Connecti- 

 cut Eiver and the settlement of Springfield ; but remote 

 and difficult of access as it was, the Oxford region had 

 many features to recommend it. A small river flowed 

 through the centre of a delightful valley which was walled 

 in by a circle of rolling hills. Abundant water-power 

 was at hand, the level plain which stretched out on either 

 side of the river gave evidence of great fertility, while 

 the near-by hillsides offered admirable opportunities for 

 orchards and meadows. 

 To this promising locality, then, the first group of set- 



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