For several decades, West Side residents requested accommodation from the town in the form of a free ferry service, but were refused by town meeting and even by arbitrators from Northampton and Hadley. In March 1683, Reice Bedortha, his son John, John's wife Lydia, and their newborn Mercy, were drowned on the Connecticut on their way to church when their boat capsized. The west side residents renewed their complaints and began to demand their own church meeting house. On 29 May 1697, the Massachusetts General Court finally approved a separate parish and meeting house for the approximately 200 residents.