USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
John Dunton visited Medford in 1686, and writes a trifle about it.1 He says he " took Sanctuary in a Publick, where there was extra-ordinary good Cyder, and tho' I had n't such a Noble Treat as at Captain Jenner's; yet with the Cyder and such other Entertainment as the House afforded (to- gether with my Landlord and my Landlady's good Company), I made a very pretty thing on 't."
" By this time, the rain was over, tho' it still remain'd Cloudy ; and therefore I thought it was best taking Time by the Fore-lock, and go back to Boston while it held up, there being nothing remarkable to be seen at Medford, which is but a small Village, consisting of a few Houses."
Captain Francis Goelet was here in 1750. In his journal2 he writes : " Passed through Mis- tick, which is a small town of about a hundred houses, pleasantly situated ; near to which is a fine country seat belonging to Mr. Isaac Royall, being one of the grandest in North America."
The fact that the references are so few is a proof that Medford was an exceptionally quiet place, with few attractions to travellers. On this point a most competent critic 3 writes as follows : -
" Of so flourishing a town as Medford, the set- tlement of which had been made as early as that of any other, except Charlestown, in the bay, it is remarkable that the early history is very meagre. From several statements of its proportion of the
1 Letters from New England, pp. 154, 155.
2 Printed in New England Historical and Genealogical Regis- ter, Vol. XXIV. p. 58.
8 Savage, Winthrop's Journal, II. 195.
public charges in the colony rates, it must be con- cluded that it was, within the first eight years, superior in wealth at different times to Newbury, Ipswich, Hingham, Weymouth, all ancicut towns, furnished with regular ministers. Yet the number of people was certainly small ; and the weight of the tax was probably borne by the property of Governor Cradock, there invested for fishing and other purposes. When that establishment was with- drawn, I suppose the town languished many years. Simon Bradstreet and James Noyes preached. The consequences of their subsequent destitution of the best means of religion were very unhappy. The town was poorly inhabited, the people much divided, occasionally prosecuted for their deficiencies, and long in a miserable condition. A long period of happiness at last arrived in the times of Turell and Osgood ; and, for more than a century, Med- ford has appeared one of the most thriving villages in the vicinity of Boston."
The families connected with the town during the first century from its foundation were those of Wade, Hall, Willis, Brooks, Whitmore, Tufts, Francis, Bradshaw, Symines, Royall, Blanchard, and Seccomb. Descendants of most of these still re- main in the town or its vicinity. Boston having in this case, as in many others, drawn largely from its rural neighbors.
Indian History. - The renowned Sachem of the Pawtuckets was Nanepashemit, who removed from Lynn, in 1615, and took up his abode on Mystic River, where he was killed in 1619. During his short and eventful residence in Medford his house was placed on Rock Hill, where he could best watch canoes in the river.
The histories represent him as living in Medford, not far from the river or from the pond, and on the tops of hills.1 This eminent Grand Sachem was the father of Sagamore John of Mystic, Sagamore
1 In connection with recent discoveries of Indian remains in Medford, it is interesting to refer to what Mr. Brooks says in his history.
" Remnants of the Indian tribes were common till the begin- ning of the present century. In Medford they lived in Turkey Swamp. So late even as our day farmers in Medford have ploughed up stone arrow-heads, stone drills, and other Indian weapons and tools. No Indian necropolis has yet been discov- ered, though one probably exists on the borders of our pond."
The following, communicated by Professor Marshall of Tufts College, curionsly corroborates Brooks' conjecture. - ED.
" COLLEGE HILL, Nov. 3, 1879.
" Some years ago Mr. Simms, the present superintendent of the Mystic Water-Works, called my attention to some human bones which he had discovered near the road leading from Curtis Street to the engine-house. On visiting the place and making slight
161
MEDFORD.
James of Lynn, aud Sagamore George of Salem. George finally became Sachem of the Pawtuckets.
After the death of Nanepashemit, his wife, as queen and squaw sachem, reigned. She married Webcowit, the physician of the tribe, "its pow- wow, priest, witch, sorcerer, and chirurgeon." In 1637 the Squaw Sachem deeded a tract of land in Musketaquid (Concord). In 1639 she deeded a tract to Charlestown (now Somerville) ; also another tract to Jotham Gibbon of Boston. This last deed is as follows : -
" This testifies that I, the Sachem which have right and .possession of the ground which I re- served from Charlestown and Cambridge, which lies against the Ponds of Misticke with the said ponds, I do freely give to Jotliam Gibbon, his heyres, executors, and assigns for ever ; not willing to have him or his disturbed in the said gift after my death. And this I do without seeking too of him or any of his, but I receiving many kind- nesses of them, and willing to acknowledge their
excavations, we discovered the skeletons of an adult and of an infant within a few inches of the surface, the head, in each in- stance, turned toward the west.
" At that time it was not suspected that they were Indian re- mains, and nothing more was thought of the matter until last month, when Mr. Simms again brought me a few bones and a specimen of red ochre which had been dng np near the place where the skeletons had been previously discovered.
" A new road has been constructed the present year, leading more directly from the reservoir on the top of College Hill to the Pumping Works on the Mystic, and at the junction of this with the old road the workmen engaged in making a sidewalk found eight or ten skeletons of adults, within a foot of the surface, the heads all placed toward the west. The hones were for the most part quite fragile, only a few of the longest being strong enough to hear removal from the clayey soil in which they were em- bedded. The molar teeth were very much worn down, though otherwise in excellent preservation.
" Near one of the largest skeletons was found more than a peck of red ochre, that lay as if originally deposited in some receptacle -perhaps a basket - which had a circular form.
" Underneath the same skeleton was dug out a fine stone chisel, made of dark porphyry, whose length is about six inches and its breadth about two inches on the cutting edge. This is preserved in the museum of Tufts College.
" A few stone arrow-heads picked up near the remains, together with the discovery of the stone chisel and the red ochre, which was the favorite war-paint of the Indians, would seem to indicate strongly that this is the necropolis of the Medford Indians, whose existence had been suspected, but could not be determined until these excavations for a highway had been made through it.
" Its location is on the northwest slope of College Hill, about midway between its summit and the Mystic River, at the junction of the two roads leading from Curtis Street to the euginc-house of the Mystic Water-Works.
" With great respect I am
" Yours very truly, "JOHN P. MARSHALL."
many kindnesses by this small gift to their son, Jotham Gibons.
" Witness my hand, the 13th of 11 mo., 1636. " The SQUA SACHEM E marke. " WEBECOWIT O marke.
" Witness, EDMUND QUINCY."
Another grant, by the "Squa Sachem of Mistick," of lands bordering on Medford, is as follows : -
" The 15th of the 2d mo., 1639: Wee, Web- Cowet and Squa Sachem, do sell unto the inhabi- tants of the towne of Charlestowne all the land within the line granted them by the Court (except- ing the farmes and the ground on the west of the two great ponds, called Misticke Ponds), from the south side of Mr. Nowell's lott, neere the upper end of the ponds, unto the little runnel that cometlı from Capt. Cook's mills, which the Squa reserveth to their use, for her life, for the Indians to plant and hunt upon, and the weare above the ponds they also reserve for the Indians to fish at whiles the Squa liveth ; and, after the death of Squa Sachem, she doth leave all her lands, from Mr. Mayhue's house to neere Salem, to the present Governor, Mr. John Winthrop, sen., Mr. Increase Nowell, Mr. John Willson, Mr. Edward Gibons, to dispose of, and all Indians to depart; and, for sattisfaction from Charlestowne, wee acknowledge to have received, in full sattisfaction, twenty and one coates, ninten fathom of wampon, and three bushels of corn. In witness whereof, we have here unto sett o'r hands the day and year above named. " The mark of SQUA SACHEM, m'c.
" The mark of WEB-COWET, m."
This queen died in Medford before 1662, as appears from the following documents in the second volume of Middlesex Registry of Deeds : -
" Mr. Francis Norton and Nicholas Davison (Mr. Cradock's agent) do, in the name of the in- habitants of Charlestown, lay claim to the tract of land reserved to Squa Sachem during her lifetime, and which is at present possessed and improved by Thomas Gleison of Charlestown ; this land bounded on the east by Mystic Pond, on the west by Cam- bridge Common, on the south by the land of Mr. Cooke, on the north formerly in the possession of Mr. Increase Nowell.
" This demand and claim was made in the person of John Fennell and Mr. William Sims, the 25th of March, 1662, at the house of Thomas Gleison.
" Entered 29th of March, 1662, by T. Danforth.
" Signed, JOHN FENNELL. "WM. SIMMES."
162
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Sagamore John, whose Indian name was Wono- haquaham, lived in Medford, and probably occu- pied at times the house of his father. He was friendly to our ancestors; he gave them permis- sion to settle, and afterwards apprised them of the premeditated assault of the unfriendly Indians. He died in Medford, December 5, 1633.
The following affidavits refer to grants of land at an early date : -
" The testimony of Benjamin Crispe, aged about 51 years. Testifieth and saitlı that about twenty- six years agoe, Squa Sachem told mee often times, that shee had given unto Jotham Gibbons 500 acres or more of land, lying neer the brooke, that now goes by the Name of Capt. Cooke's brooke, which said Land has a house built upon [it] long since, and part of the said Land fensed in; and further this Deponent saith that Major Gibbons possessed the whole Land, for his sonne Jotham Gibbons about 26 years agoe, and further this Deponent saith that Major Gibbons would have had mee improove this Land that now is in contro- versie for his sonne, Jotham Gibbons, and sent by his men unto mee to fence in the said Land, and this was about the time above said. Charls-towne, 17, 10,1662.
" Sworne in Court as attests " THOMAS DANFORTH, Recorder."
"The testimony of Richard Beers, Benjamin Crispe and Garret Church, Testifieth and saith that Mr. Thomas Mayhew lived at Mistick alias Mead- ford in the yeare, one thousand six hundred thirty and six. Charls-Towne the 17th of the 10th, 1662.
" Sworne in Court as attests
" THOMAS DANFORTH, Recorder."
"I, Thomas Convars, do further testify that I was sent to those Gentlemen for a resignation of this land now in controversie and no other. Charls- towne, 17, 10, '62.
" Sworne in Court as attests
" THOMAS DANFORTH, R."
"I, Joseph Hills, aged about 60 yeares, testify that about 1638, Mr. Davison lived at Meadford house, who shewed me the accomodations of the farme, being about to take the said farme and stoek of him and Captaine Will. Ting; and I testify that Mr. Mayhew did not then dwell at Meadford house to the best of my Knowledge. 17, 10, 1662.
" Acknowledged in Court by the party as attests " THOMAS DANFORTH, R."
An easy transition from these records leads us to consider the old houses which have been a part of the history of the town.
The old two-story brick house in East Medford, on Ship Street, is one of the most precious relics of antiquity in New England. That it was built by Mr. Cradock soon after the arrival of his company of carpenters, fishermen, and farmers, is abundantly proved. It has been called the Fort and the Gar- rison House, because its walls were so thick, and because it had close outside shutters and port-holes. It is certainly well placed for a house of defence. It is on land slightly elevated, where no higher land or rocks could be used by enemies to assail it, and is so near the river as to allow of reinforce- ments from Boston. Its walls are eighteen inches thiek. There were heavy iron bars across the two large arehed windows, which are near the ground, in the back of the house; and there are several fire-proof closets within the building. The house stood in an open field for a century and a half, and could be approached only by a private road through gates. As the outside door was cased with iron, it is certain that it was intended to be fire-proof. There was one pane of glass, set in iron, placed in the baek wall of the western chim- ney, so as to afford a sight of persons coming from the town.
" The bricks are not English bricks either in size, color, or workmanship. They are from eight to eight and a half inches long, from four to four and a quarter inches wide, and from two and a quarter to two and three quarters inches thick. They have the color of the bricks made afterwards in East Med- ford. They are hastily made, but very well burned. They are not like the English bricks of the Old South Church in Boston. The house has under- gone few changes. Mr. Francis Shedd, who bought it about fifty years ago, found the east end so de- cayed and leaky that he took a part of it down and rebuilt it. There is a tradition that in early times Indians were discovered lurking around it for several days and nights, and that a skirmish took place between them and the white men; but we have not been able to verify the facts or fix the date.
" The park impaled by Mr. Cradock probably in- cluded this house. It is undoubtedly one of the oldest buildings in the United States ; perhaps the oldest that retains its first form.
" The other old brick house, built probably about the same time and by the same persons, was not
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Cradock House.
165
MEDFORD.
large. It stood about five hundred feet north of Ship Street, and about five hundred feet west of Park Street, opposite Mr. Magoun's ship-yard, and was taken down many years ago by that gentle- man.
" The third house was built by Major Jonathan Wade, who died in 1689. It was sometimes called, like the other two, a fort, and is yet standing in good repair, and used as a comfortable residence. It is seen from the main street as we look up the Governor's Lane. Its walls are very thick, and it is ornamented with what have been called port- holes. When first built it was only half its pres- ent size ; the addition was made by Benjamin Hall, Esq., about seventy-five years ago."
The Royall House, so called from having once been occupied by Colonel Royall, is of course of less antiquity, but it is of interest as a specimen of the style in which the rich men lived in the colonial period. The present aspect of the place is thus described by Mr. Drake : -
" The brick quarters which the slaves occupied are situated on the south side of the mansion and front upon the courtyard, one side of which they enclose. These have remained unchanged, and are, we believe, the last visible relics of slavery in New England. The deep fireplace where the blacks prepared their food is still there, and the roll of slaves has certainly been called in sight of Bunker Hill, though never on its summit.
" At either end of the building the brick wall, furnished with a pair of stout chimneys, rises above the pitched roof. The cornice and corners are relieved by ornamental wood-work, while the west face is panelled, and further decorated with fluted pilasters. On this side, too, the original windows are seen.
" The Royall House stood in the midst of grounds laid out in elegant taste, and embellished with fruit- trees and shrubbery. These grounds were sepa- rated from the highway by a low brick wall now demolished. The gateway opening upon the grand avenue was flanked by wooden posts. Farther to the right was the carriage-drive, on either side of which stood massive stone gate-posts, as antique in appearance as anything about the old mansion. Seventy paces back from the road, along the broad gravelled walk, bordered with box, brings you .to the door.
" Behind the house, as we view it, was an en- closed garden of half an acre or more, with walks, fruit, and a summer-house at the farther extremity.
No doubt this was the favorite resort of the family and their guests.
" This summer-house, a veritable curiosity in its way, is placed upon an artificial mound, with two terraces, and is reached by broad flights of red sandstone steps. It is octagonal in form, with a bell-shaped roof, surmounted by a cupola, on which is placed a figure of Mercury.
" Without lingering in the hall of entrance far- ther than to mark the elaborately carved balusters and the panelled wainscot, we passed into the suit of apartments at the right hand, the reception- rooms proper of the house. These were divided in two by an arch, in which folding-doors were concealed ; and from floor to ceiling the walls were panelled in wood, the panels being of single pieces, some of them a yard in breadth. In the rear apartment, and opening to the north, were two alcoves, eachi flanked by fluted pilasters on which rested an arch enriched with mouldings and carved ornaments. Each recess had a window furnished with seats, so inviting for a tête-a-tête, where the ladies of the household sat with their needlework ; these windows were sealed up in winter. The heavy cornice formed an elaborate finish to this truly elegant saloon.
" The second floor was furnished with four cham- bers, all opening on a spacious and airy hall. Of these the northwest room only demands special de- scription. It had alcoves similar to those already mentioned in the apartment underneath, but in- stead of panels the walls were finished above the wainscot with a covering of leather on which were embossed, in gorgeous colors, flowers, birds, pago- das, and the concomitants of a Chinese paradise. On this side the original windows, with the small glass and heavy frames, still remain."
Distinguished Citizens. - The most noted citi- zen of Medford in the early part of the eighteenth century was undoubtedly John Usher. He in- herited considerable money from his father, and increased it by successful business, first as a book- seller and afterwards in foreign trade. He was a counsellor under Dudley, and counsellor and treasurer under Andros. He was a son-in-law of that Samuel Allen, a London merchant, who bought out the claims of the Mason heirs to the pro- prietorship of New Hampshire. Usher was made lieutenant-governor there in 1692, and was thence- forward engaged in endless controversies with the settlers.
Much of his correspondence with the Home
166
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Office remains, and quotations will be found in the fourth volume of Palfrey's history. This author writes : "Usher's want of personal dignity provoked gross affronts. . . . . His invariable style of speak- ing and writing had a ludicrous peculiarity, consist- ing partly in the omission of connecting words. The following is a specimen of his characteristic manner : ' Acts of Parliament ought not to be laws for plantations, unless had representatives in Par- liament, if may write plainly, are not for Kingly but for commonwealth government, which pray libera nos.'" Lord Bellomont speaks of Usher's choleric temper, and, indeed, his administration was at a time and under circumstances calculated to provoke the mildest temper. As the representative of the claimant's of the soil under a royal grant, he had to wage a ceaseless contest with the actual set- tlers, -" squatters," as they may be termed.
He held office at intervals, often going to Mas- sachusetts or to England, until 1715, when he was displaced. Vaughan wrote then1: " We pray Lieu- tenant-Governor Usher may have his quietus, which he said he had often written to England for. He complains his office is a burden to him, and so 'tis a pity but both were eased."
He withdrew to Medford, where he died Septem- ber 25, 1726. His widow sold his estate of 504 acres and his house, to Colonel Royal, December 26, 1733, for £10,350.
He left a son, Rev. John Usher (H. C. 1719), a clergyman at Bristol, R. I., whose son was also ordained, and descendants are still living in that state. An own cousin to Lieutenant-Governor Usher was Robert Usher of Dunstable, who left descendants, one of whom, Robert, moved to Med- ford, where he died in 1793. Of his sons, Rev. James M. Usher has been prominent in political affairs, as has also Roland G. Usher of Lynn, late United States marshall for Massachusetts.
In 1724 Medford acquired as its pastor Rev. Ebenezer Turell. He was a clergyman of consid- erable note, an author in a small way, a clear- headed and useful man during his long ministry of over fifty years. He opposed Whitefield and his revivals, but he also wrote against witchcraft. He married Jane, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Colman, and he printed biographies of his wife and his father-in-law. Mrs. Turell was one of our few American authoresses before the Revolution, and she was perhaps the most able of them. Her me- moirs show that she possessed a decided poetical I Palfrey, IV. 353.
inclination, and her religious convictions, though strong, had not the morbid tendency so often shown in the writings of that date. A century after her death her poems were quoted and praised in Black- wood's Magazine, when any literary ability in an American was deemed a wonder. Both husband and wife may be included among our notabili- ties.
The following extracts from the Memoir of Mrs. Turell present a fair view of her character, and indicate slightly her literary abilities.
" Before her second Year was compleated she could speak distinctly, knew her Letters, and could relate many Stories out of the Scriptures to the Satisfaction and Pleasure of the most Judicious. I have heard that Governour Dudley, with other Wise and Polite Gentlemen, have plac'd her on a Table and setting round it own'd themselves diverted with her Stories. Before she was four Years old (so strong and tenacious was her Mem- ory) she could say the greater Part of the Assem- bly's Catechism, many of the Psalms, some hundred Lines of the best Poetry, read distinctly, and make pertinent Remarks on many things she read.
" In this her Eleventh Year I find an Hymn fairly written by her, dated January 4, 1718, Which I give you Verbatim.
' I Fear the Great Eternal One above, The God of Grace the God of Love : He to whom Seraphims Hallelujah's sing, And Angels do their Songs and Praises bring. Happy the Soul that does in Heaven rest, Where with his Savior he is ever blest ; With heavenly Joys and Rapture is possest, No Tho'ts but of his God inspire his Breast. Happy are they that walk in Wisdom Ways, That tread her Paths, and shine in all her Rays.'
" When I was first inclin'd (by the Motions of God's Providence and Spirit) to seek her Acquaint- ance (which was about the Time she entered her nineteenth Year) I was surpriz'd and charm'd to find her so accomplish'd. I found her in a good measure Mistress of the politest Writers and their Works; could point out the Beauties in them, and had made many of their best Tho'ts her own : And as she went into more free Conversation, she dis- cours'd how admirably on many Subjects !
" An Invitation into the Country, in Imitation of Horace, left only in a rough Copy.
' From the soft Shades, and from the balmy Sweets Of Medford's flow'ry Vales, and green Retreats, Your absent Delia to her Father sends And prays to see him 'ere the Summer cnds.
167
MEDFORD.
' Now while the Earth's with beauteous Verdure dy'd And Flora paints the Meads in all her Pride; While laden Trees Pomonia's Bounty own, And Ceres Treasures do the Fields adorn. From the thick Smokes, and noisy Town, O come, And in these Plains a while forget your Home.'
" The People, among whom she liv'd the last eight Years of her Life, both Old and Young had a Love and Veneration for her ; as a Person of the strictest Virtue and undefil'd Religion. Her Inno- cence, Modesty, Ingenuity, and Devotion charm'd all into an Admiration of her. And I question whether there has been more Grief and Sorrow shown at the Death of any private Person, by Peo- ple of all Ranks, to whom her Virtues were known ; Mourning, for the Loss sustain'd by ourselves, not for her, nor as others who have no Hope. For it is beyond Doubt that she died in the Lord, and is Blessed."
About 1737 Isaac Royall returned from An- tigua, where he had gained a fortune, and estab- lished himself at Medford. He died two years later, leaving a son, Isaac, and a daughter, Pe- nelope, who married Henry Vassall.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.