Editing Hadley, Massachusetts (section)

===Early===
Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661. The former Norwottuck was renamed for [[Hadleigh, Suffolk]].<ref>Sylvester Judd, ''History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts'' (Northampton: Metcalf, 1863), p. 25. "It may be conjectured that some of the first planters of Hadley came from the town of the same name in England. No record remains to show who they were. The name in the town and county records is sometimes written Hadleigh." -p. 26.</ref> Its settlers were primarily a discontented group of families from the [[Puritan]] colonies of [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]] and [[Wethersfield, Connecticut|Wethersfield]], [[Connecticut]], who petitioned to start a new colony up north after some controversy over doctrine in the local church. The settlement was led by [[John Russell (clergyman)|John Russell]]. The first settler inside of Hadley was [[Nathaniel Dickinson (pioneer)|Nathaniel Dickinson]], who surveyed the streets of what is now Hadley, [[Hatfield, Massachusetts|Hatfield]], and [[Amherst, Massachusetts|Amherst]]. At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of land on both sides of the [[Connecticut River]] (but mostly on the eastern shore) including much of what would become known as the [[Equivalent Lands]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nw4wi4igtLAC|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Nw4wi4igtLAC/page/n151 137]|quote=equivalent lands.|title=Vermont: The Green Mountain State|first=Walter Hill|last=Crockett|date=January 1, 1921|publisher=Century history Company, Incorporated|access-date=October 30, 2016|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In the following century, these were broken off into precincts and eventually the separate towns of Hatfield, Amherst, [[South Hadley, Massachusetts|South Hadley]], [[Granby, Massachusetts|Granby]] and [[Belchertown, Massachusetts|Belchertown]]. The early histories of these towns are, as a result, filed under the history of Hadley.

Lt. Gen. [[Edward Whalley]] and Maj. Gen. [[William Goffe]], two Puritan generals hunted for their role in the execution (or "[[Regicide#Execution of Charles I of England|regicide]]") of [[Charles I of England]], were hidden<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikegoad/html/hadley__mass.htm|title=Hadley, Mass|first=Mike|last=Goad|access-date=October 30, 2016}}</ref> in the home of the town's minister, John Russell. During [[King Philip's War]], an attack by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] was, by some accounts, thwarted with the aid of General Goffe. This event, compounded by the reluctance of the townsfolk to betray Goffe's location, developed into the legend of the [[Angel of Hadley]], which came to be included in the historical manuscript ''History of Hadley'' by [[Sylvester Judd]].<ref name="judd">Judd, Sylvester. ''History of Hadley Including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.'' H.R. Huntting (1905), pp. 137–39.</ref>

In 1683, eleven years before the [[Salem witch trials]], [[Mary Webster (alleged witch)|Mary Webster]], wife to William Webster son of the former governor of Connecticut and a founder of the very town of Hadley ([[John Webster (governor)|John Webster]]), was accused and acquitted of witchcraft. She was unsuccessfully hanged by rowdy town folk.<ref>Taft Bayne, Julia. "[http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/hadley/mollywebster.html Molly Webster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111092926/http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/hadley/mollywebster.html |date=2007-01-11 }}". ''New England Magazine'', 1893.</ref> A description is given in Cotton Mather's ''[[Magnalia Christi Americana]]''.

The [[American Civil War|Civil War]] general [[Joseph Hooker]] was a longtime resident of Hadley. [[Levi Stockbridge]], one of the founders of the [[Massachusetts Agricultural College]] (now the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]), was also from Hadley where he was a farmer.