Gordon Bliss, son of Levi, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1797. He spent two years completing his legal studies and had just been admitted to the Massachusetts Bar early in 1799 when he came back home to Wilbraham for a short rest. Gordon’s Mother, Martha, spared no effort to make Gordon’s brief stay as happy as his success had made her.
When he arrived home the young people gathered around the hearth in the Bliss’s house to listen to Gordon’s stories of Hanover and Boston. They were thrilled over the escapades of college life and wondered at the tales of the life of the great world beyond the Wilbraham hills. The older people asked many questions about the scenes of the cities, especially Boston.
Monday, April 29, 1799, was a fair spring day. The young men and women being tempted by April’s sunshine gathered at the Bliss home for a final “merry-making” before Gordon returned to the city and his practice of law.
As the men gathered and talked, the young ladies assembled in the front room for a formal tea. When they finished, Abigail “Nabby” Merrick decided to read her fortune from her tea leaves, as was customary in those days. She then turned her cup over to find her fortune. “Oh!” Says she, “I’m going to be drowned.” The others made light of it.
So now one would wonder if the late-day pleasure boat ride was part of the festivities planned before Abigail read her misfortune from the tea leaves, then Abigail said those things in the hope of attracting attention from one of the young men at the party. Or the pleasure boat ride came to be after Abigail read her misfortune and all went to the pond to prove the tea leaves wrong. One thing that was known was that Abigail could not swim.
Soon after the proposition was made and agreed to by some of the company to form a sailing party on the pond located nearby. At approximately 5:30 PM they ventured out. No one knows for sure, but the playful banter led to a challenge, a race to the home of Captain Shepherd, who owned a sailboat and lived on the Bay Path (2666 Boston Road), on the north side of the pond.
Gordon Bliss (28) and his sister Asenath (16), Abigail “Nabby” Merrick (16), Mary "Polly" Warriner (16), and Leonard Bliss (22) all hastened out the back kitchen door by foot except Leonard, who road by horseback ahead of the four. They cross the sun-drench court, through the fields by a long-since discontinued road to Captain Shepherds. The rest of the party mounted the awaiting horses and took the West Road (Main Street) and to the Bay Path (Boston Road) in which Captain Shepherd lived. Across the road, Shepherd kept his sailboat on the pond, the boat which he built, had two masts with sails.
Leonard Bliss reached the pond first, then the other four by foot. When the young ladies on horseback, who kept to the road and who were accidentally delayed a little on the way, arrived at the pond they discovered their companions above mentioned, and Guy Johnson (24) of Tolland CT., already in the boat, under full sail. They retired to Captain Shepherd’s house a few rods distant, where they witnessed the distressing scene that followed.
The wind was high and unpredictable. The boat had not proceeded far before it was careened down by a strong gust so as probably to dip water. The three young ladies immediately sprang to the upper side of the boat. As the wind slackened, the boat righted, and stood with rapidity, across the pond. When within a little distance of a point of land projecting from the opposite shore (Bungalow Point), it came within the influence of a strong current of wind which, when blowing in the direction it did, necessarily passed from the adjacent lands with considerable violence over that region of the pond. Whether attempting to heave about, to tack to avoid the point, or in a direct course is uncertain; but the boat immediately caught the gale, leisurely overset, filled, and sank.
The distance, the foaming of the water, and more particularly the terror and consternation of the young ladies in the house, prevented their observing with accuracy the remaining part of the distressing scene. They will remember, however, to have seen a part, at least, of their companions floating for some time on the water. They noticed particularly the red skirts and white bonnets of one or two of the young ladies. But whether they sank and rose again, and how often, they cannot with certainty determine.
The woman of the house, less frightened than her agitated guests, encouraged them for some time, with the undoubted prospect, as the gentlemen were swimmers and they appeared to be near the shore, of their getting safe to land. They soon, however, lost all hope of their escape. One after another, they all disappeared into the darkness of the water. Nothing was to be seen but a solitary hat or two floating upon the surface.
They were over set about 6:00 PM. There was no help at hand, the place where they were was difficult to access, on account of swamps and brush, and there was no boat short of an adjacent pond. In consequence of these and other impediments, the bodies all lay in the water till nearly 8:00 PM, when Leonard Bliss and Guy Johnson were taken out, and a short time after, Mary Warriner. But with all the remedies resorted to under existing disadvantageous circumstances, no signs of returning life appeared.
On the morning of the next day, Gordon Bliss and his sister Asenath were found. An interesting fact is that Gordon Bliss had a pocket watch on him the previous day. When his body was discovered, the watch was still keeping perfect time. This watch was presented to the Connecticut River Valley Historical Society back in the 1920s by Mrs. Green here in town.
The bodies of these first five who were recovered from the waters were brought to the Levi Bliss house from where the gathering was recently held in honor of Gordan Bliss.
A constant search was made for Abigail Merrick. On May 2nd the five above-mentioned were interred. The most unwearied exertions continued to be made for several days by a large body of men, with a variety of instruments. At one point a trench was hand dug on the west side of the pond in hopes that they could drain it. That effort only brought down the water level a foot. This did not help with the recovery but did change the way that Nine Mile Pond drains today, to the Chicopee River instead of draining south to the Mill River.
The shadows of mid-afternoon were lengthening across the fields, when the lolling dust-covered oxen dragged the heavy cannon from the Federal Armory in Springfield, onto an elevation west of the pond, and its mighty voice called again and again across the dark waters for the dead to arise. The long reverberations, rolling far away to the southward, sounded to the listening dwellers along the mountainside, like the tolling of some monster funeral bell, for the buried of the Lord. But the sleeper heeded not, nor heard the call, and undisturbed slept on. The waters were not yet willing to give up their secret. The excitement wore itself away in the general conviction that Abigail Merrick had found her final sepulcher.
On the morning of May 15th, when all attempts to recover her became fruitless, the body was discovered by travelers along the Bay Path, drifting before a gentle breeze toward the shore where it had a short time before taking its fatal departure. The body was “entire”, but had become very tender, none of the features of the face were retained, and soon after exposure to the air, it became bloated and discolored. Abigail was interred the morning after.
The depth of water where the boat went down was more than 20 feet, and the distance from shore was about 100 feet. Why three swimmers, and two of them good ones, should not only suffer the three young ladies to drown but likewise to drown themselves so near land, has been a subject of various conjecture. It has been thought probable by some that one or two, at least, of the gentlemen were impeded in their exertions, by attempts to save the ladies, and some circumstances seem to favor the belief, but no decided evidence of it was discovered.
Guy Johnson was from Tolland, Conn., the others were all of the North society in Wilbraham. Three of them were children of Levi Bliss, and were buried in one grave; one of them was a daughter of Dr. Samuel F. Merrick, and the other a daughter of the Widow Mary Warriner. The young men were between 20 and 30 and the young ladies were 16 years of age. All the gravestones can be seen in Adams Cemetery today, located on Tinkham Road.
This event made such a profound impression throughout this region, that the boat was placed on a wagon, draped in black, and taken through many of the towns of the Connecticut valley.
The funeral services for the five were conducted by Rev. Charles Backus of Somers, Connecticut. Their pastor, Rev. Mr. Witter was absent for the funerals but preached two memorial sermons the following Sunday, May 12th.
Sickness prevented Rev. Mr. Witter from being with Dr. Merrick's family when Abigail Merrick was recovered from the water, and her funeral was conducted by Rev. Mr. Vennilyes on the morning of May 16th.
