History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 192

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 192

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"Oar Governor, Mr. Cradock, hath entertained [paid the expenses of] two gardeners, ons of which he is content the company shall have use uf, if need ba."

It is probable that Mr. Cradock's people at once engaged in the fisheries, building, farming, and in such other employments as furthered the interests for which the settlement was established. Their patrou kept a watchful eye over their welfare. In the first year of their settlement he provided a man, Richard Waterman, "whose chief employment," he writes, " will be to get you good venison." Cradock's opera- tions were not confined to Medford. He had an establishment also at Marblehead, where he employed "Mr. Allerton and many fishermeu." As early as 1632, his agent, Mr. Davison, built a vessel of one hundred tons on the Mystic; and the next year, one of two hundred tons. Davison, in 1638, under the authority of the General Court, built the first bridge over the Mystic River, a short distance from the site of the present substantial stone structure known as the Cradock Bridge.

The General Court, March 4, 1634, made a grant of land to Cradock as follows: "All the ground, as well upland as meadow, lying and being betwixt the land of Mr. Nowell and Mr. Wilson on the east, and the partition betwixt Mistick bounds on the west, bounded with Mistick River on the south, and the rocks on the north." In 1635 the court ordered that " the land formerly granted to Mr. Cradock, merchant, shall extend one mile into the country from the river-side in all places." These grants of land covered almost the whole of the north side of the valley of the Mystic within the present boundaries of Medford, and comprised about two thousand acres.

This included all the territory of Medford in the earliest stage of its history. Wood, in his description of the Bay Settlements, written in 1634, thus speaks of Medford :

"Towards the northwest of this bay is a great creek, upon whose shore is situated the village of Medford, a very fertile and pleasant place, and fit for more inhabitants thau are yet in it."

And further on, he says :

810

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

"The next town is Mistick, which is three miles from Charlestown hy land, and a league and a half by water. It is seated by the water's side very pleas- antly ; there are not many houses as yet. At the head of this river are great and spacious ponds, whither the alewives press to spawn. This being a noted place for that kind of fish, the English resort hither to take them. On the west side of this river the Governor has a farm, where he keeps most of his cattle. On the east side is Mr. Craddock's plantation, where he has impaled a park where he keeps his cattle till he can store it with deer. Here, likewise, he is at charges of building ships. The last year one was upon the stocks of a hundred tons ; that being finished, they are to build one twice her hurden. Ships, with- out either ballast or loading, may float down the river, otherwise the oyster bank would hinder them which crosseth the channel."

While Mr. Cradock must in justice be considered as the founder of the town of Medford, it is doubtful whether his connection with the settlement enured to its ultimate advantage. His monopoly of the land kept out small proprietors, thus restricting the settle- ment of a permanent population, and after his death, which occured in 1644, the settlement lost whatever benefit it had received from his patrona ge. Mr. Sav- age, in his edition of Winthrop's Journal, says :

" Of so flourishiog a town as Medford, the settlement 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 public charges in the colony rates, it must be concluded that it was, within the first eight years, superior in wealthı, at different times, to Newbury, Ipswich, Hingham and Wey- month, all ancient towns. . . . Yet the unorber of people was certainly soall; and the weight of the tax was probably borne by the property of Gov. Cradock, there invested for fishing and other purposes. When that establishment was withdrawn, the town languished many years."

With our present scanty information, we can only conjecture that the population of the infant settle- ment consisted in a very large part of Mr. Cradock's dependants and tenants, and so remained for some years after his death. In 1652 the heirs of Cradock quit claimed to Edward Collins " all that messuage, farm or plantation, called Medford, in New England," by them owned. In 1656, Collins sold 1600 acres of the land, together with the mansion and buildings to Richard Russell of Charlestown. Five years after, Russell sold the " mansion-house " with 1200 acres of land to Jonathan Wade. After the death of Russell, his heirs soll 350 acres to Peter Tufts.

These successive sales ot largc portions of the Cra- dock estate indicate little more than a change of proprietorship, and show that the taste for land speculation is not a thing of rescent origin. It was not till after the middle of the seventeenth century that the lands of Medford were sold in smaller parcels and the town began to enter upon a natural and healthy growth.

According to Brooks, the following Medford names are found in the list of freemen, between 1630 and 1646 :

John Collins, Jonathan Porter, Richard Bishop, Thomas Brooke, John Waite, William Manning, John Hall, Richard Francis, William Blanchard, Henry Simonds, Zachery Fitch, Richard Wade, Richard Bugbe, John Watson, Abraham Newell, Henry Brooke, Gamaliel Wayte, Hezekiah Usher, Thomas Bradbury, Richard Swan, John Howe, Edmund An- gier, Thomas Oakes, Hugh Pritchard.

In the county records we find the following names of men represented as at Medford :

George Felt

1633

Jonathan Wade 1668

James Noyes.

1634

Edward Colline

.1669

Richard Berry 1636

Jolia Call

1669

Thomas Mayhew 1636

Daniel Deane 1669

Benjamin Crisp

1636

Samuel Hayward 1670

James Garrett

1637

Caleb Brooks 1672

John Smithı

1638

Daniel Markham

1675

Richard Cooke

140

John Whitmore

1678

Josiah Dawstin

1641

John Greenland

1678

- Dix

1641

Daniel Woodward

1679

Ri. Dexter

1644

Isaac Fox

1679

William Sargent

1648

Stephen Willie

1680

James Goodnow

1650

Thomas Willis

1680

John Martin

1650

John Hall .

1680

Edward Convers

1650

Gershom Swan

1684

Goulden Moore

1654

Joseph Augier

1684

Robert Burden

1655

John Bradshaw

.1685

Richard Russell

1656

Stephen Francis 1685

Thos. Shephard

1657

Peter Tufte

1686

Thos. Danforth

1658

Jonathan Tufts

1690

Thomas Greene

1659

John Tufts

1690

James Pemberton

1659

Simon Bradstreet

1695

Joseph Hills .

1662

The following persons owned land in Medford be- fore 1680 :

William Dady.

lacrease Nowell.

Rob. Broadick.

Zachary Syonues.

Mrs. Anne Higginson.

John Betts.

Caleb Hobart.

Jotham Gihoos.

John Palmer.

Richard Stilman.

Nicholas Davidson. Mre. Mary Eliot.

The town had, in 1707, 46 ratable polls, indicating a population of about 230.

The depressed condition of Medford in the first half century of its existence is plainly enough shown by the small proportion of the tax imposed upon the town under the general levy. It should be remem- bered, however, that the grants of land, some of them lying in Medford, made by the General Court to Rev. Mr. Wilson, Matthew Cradock, and Mr. J. Newell, were exempted from taxation. In the records of the General Court, April 4, 1645, we find the following curious piece of legislation : " It is ordered that all farms that are within the bounds of any town shall be of the town in which they lye, except Meadford." Of course the income of the town was reduced by the amount of such exemption. In a general levy of £600, in 1634, Medford paid £26; Charlestown, £45. In 1635, Medford paid £10, and Charlestown, £16. Win- throp tells us :

"Of a tax of £1,500, levied by the General Court in 1637, the proportion paid by Medford was £52.108. ; by Boston, 233.108 .; Ipswich, £180; Salem, £170.10s .; Dorchester, £140; Charlestown, £138; Roxbury,

811

MEDFORD.

€115; Watertown, £110; Newton, £106; Lynn, £105.”

In 1645, the levy upon the towns of the Province was £616. 15s. ; and Medford's share was £7.

Following Brooks, we find that in 1657, Medford was taxed as one of the towns of the county of Mid- dlesex, in a county levy, £3. 68. 11d .; in 1658, £3. 3s. 1d .; in 1663, £4. 48. 6d .; in 1670, £4. 128 .; in 1674, £4. 38. 10d .; in 1676, £4. 18. 10d. During these years Cambridge was paying £40; Woburn, £25; Malden, £16; and Charlestown, £60. A county-tax of £1. 138. 9d., levied on Medford, January 17, 1684, was paid by the inhabitants as follows :

£ 8. d.

£ s. d.

Capt. Jonathan Wade . 0 64

Jobn Bradshor 00 8

Capt. Nathaniel Wade 0 4 3

Jonathan Tufts 0 0 10

John Hall 0 3 3 Daniel Woodward 0 0 8

Caleb Brooks 0 1 11

Andrew Mitchell 0 8

Thomas Willia 0 3 7

Roger Scott 0

Stephen Willis 0

1 10

Edward Walker 0 0 8

l'eter Tufts, Jr. 0 3 4

Jacob Chamberlain 0 0 8

Joseph Baker 0 0 8

John Whitmore 0 1 7 Gershon Swan 0 1 5 £1 15 8

Isaac Fox 0 0 11

The excess raised in this tax, over the sum re- quired, was to pay the collector.

" The first session of the General Court, under the second charter, began June 8, 1692 ; and they voted that 10s. a poll, and one quarter part of the annual income on all real and personal estate in the Prov- ince, he assessed. These taxes, assessed upon the Province by the House of Representatives from 1692 to 1702, averaged £11,000 per annum. Of this sum, Medford paid, in 1692, £32. 18s .; in 1696, £42; in 1698, £20; in 1702, £19. Is .; while Malden paid, in the same years, £121, £90, €45, and £48. Woburn paid £181, ₺144, £75, and £85. Cambridge paid £214, £189, £102, and £102.

"To show a town-tax at this period, and also the names most frequently occurring in the town's records, we here insert 'a rate made by the selectmen, May 16, 1701, for defraying town charges; namely, for the deputy, and the laying-in of ammunition, and for fetching and carrying Mr. Woodbridge, and the entertaining of him.'

s. d.

¿ s. d.

Maj. Nathaniel Wade . . 1 6 4

Mr. Richard Rookes 070

Mrs Elizabeth Wade 0 18

Stephen Hall, Jr. 0 7 5

Parcill Hall 0 6 6 Eliezer Weir 0 5 8

George Blanchard 0 3 6 John Bradstreet -

7 6

Jacob Shepherd 0 13 0

James Tufta U 4 5 Lieut. Peter Tufts 1 5 10

Timothy Prout. 0

Mr. Thomas Swan 0 1 8

John Tufte 2 4

Mr. Joseph Prout 0 10

Francis Whitmore 0

.1 0

Jobo llall, Jr. 0 8 6

Jonathan Tufts 0 19 10

James Wright

William Merroe 2

Stephen Hall, Sr. .

0 6 6

Thomas Miler 2 G

Mathew Miler 0

2 5

William Walden 0 2

Samuel Brooks 0 10 10

Thomas Clark . 0

Peter Seccomb 0 2 6 William PateD 0 2 0

Eben. Brooks hie lan 2 0 Mr. Jonathan Dunster . 0 1 8

Benjamin Peirce 0 2 0 Mr. Jobn Hall . . 1 1 10

Samuel Stone 0 2 0

As we follow down these records of assessments, we find a gradual increase in the number of tax-pay- ers. The tax-list, in 1730-one hundred years after the town's settlement-includes 98 names; and, in 1798, we learn that there were 146 " occupiers of houses " who were taxed for more than $100 of property. We have tolerably good proof that Medford had in 1754, its share of men of substance, and could in that respect compare not unfavorably with the neighboring towns. In that year the General Court laid a tax on coaches, chariots, chaises, calashes, and riding-chairs. Medford had 1 chariot, 7 chaises, and 31 chairs. Cambridge, at the same date, had 9 chaises and 36 chairs ; Woburn, 2 chaises and 9 chairs; Malden, 2 chaises and 20 chairs.

In its possession of a "chariot," Medford shows to advantage in this record. The vehicle was probably owned by Col. Isaac Royall.

The Indians seem to have played an unimportant part in the early history of Medford. Nanepashemit, the sachem of the Pawtuckets, is said to have taken up his residence on the Mystic near the close of his life, and was killed and buried there in 1619. He left three sons, of whom Sagamore John was the chief of that portion of the tribe which resided on the Mystic. Governor Dudley, writing in 1631, says: " Upon the River Mystic is situated Sagamore John; and upon the River Saugus, Sagamore James, his brother. Both these brothers command not above thirty or forty men, for aught I can learn." Rev. Francis Higginson, in 1629, says of the Sagamores : "Their subjects, above twelve years since, were swept away by a great and grievous plague that was amongst them, so that there are very few left to inhabit the country. . .. The greatest Sagamores about us can- not make above three hundred men, and other less Sagamores have not above fifteen subjects, and others near about us but two." Governor Winthrop states that, in 1633, Sagamores Jolin and James, and most of their people died of the small-pox. Sagamore John was extremely friendly to the whites, and is thus kindly noticed in "New England's First Fruits :"

"Sagamore John, Prince of Massaquesers, was from our very first landing more conrteons, ingennous, and, to the English, more loving, than others of them. He desired to learn and speak our language, and loved to imitate us in our behavior and apparel, and began to hearken after our God and bis ways, and would much commend Englishmeu and their God, saying, 'Much good man, much good God ;' and being convinced that our condition and ways were better far than theirs, did resolve and promise to leave the Indians, and come live with us, but yet, kept down by the fears and scoffs of the Indians, had not power tu make good his purpose ; yet went on, not without some troublo of mind and secret plucks of conscience, as the sequel leclares ; for, being struck with death, fearfully cried out of himself that he had not come to live with ne to have known our God better. 'But wow,' said be, 'I minnet die. The God of the English is much angry with me, and will destroy me. Ah ! I was afraid of the scoffs of the wicked Indians. Yet muy child shall live with the Englieb, and learn to know their God, when I

Nathaniel Ilall . 0 5

John Francis 0 12 6

Benjamin Marble 2 6

0 Jobb Man 5 1

Nathaniel Pierce 0

1 6 Ena. Stepben Francis . 0 16 8

Serg. Joho Bradshaw 0 11 5

Mr. Thomas Willie 0 17 6

Stephen Willis, Jr. 0 6

Serg Stepben Willis 1 1 4 Ebenezer Brooks 0 17 8

Stepben Francis 0 1 10

John Whitmore 0 6 8

812

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

am dead. I will give him to Mr. Wilson : he is much good man, and much love me.' So he seot for Mr. Wilson to come to bim, and com- mitted his only child to his care, and so died."

After the death of Nanepashemit, his wife, or Squa- Sachem, as she was called, succeeded to his authority. She married Webcowit, the medicine-man of the tribe, and, in 1639, she deeded to Charlestown a tract of land bordering on Medford, in terms as follows :

" The 15th of the 2d mo., 1639 ; Wee, Web-Cowst, and Sqna Sachem do sell ueto the inhabitants of the towne of Charlestowne all the land within the line granted them by the Court (excepting the farmes and the ground on the west of the two great ponds, called Misticke Ponds), from the south side of Mr. Nowell'e lott, neers the upper end of the ponds, unto the little runnet that commeth from Cept. Cook's mills, which the Squa reserveth to their use for her life, for the Indians to plant and bunt upon ; aud the weare above the ponds they aleo reserve for the Indians to fish at whiles the Squa liveth : aod, after the death of Squa Sachen, she doth leave all her lands, from Mr. Mayhue's house to neere Salemi, to the present Governor, Mr. John Winthrop, sen., Mr. Increase Nowell, Mr. John Willson, Mr. Edward Gibbons, to dispose of, aod all Indians to depart. And, for satisfaction from Charlestowne, wee ackoowledge to have received. in full sattisfaction, twenty and one coates, ninteo fathom of wampom, aod three bushele of corn. In wit- Dese whereof, wee 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."

The last remnant of the tribe which once held the lands of the Mystic, is said by Brooks, to have taken up its residence in "Turkey Swamp," in the northern part of Medford. The skeletons of five Indians were exhumed, from the grounds of the late Edward Brooks in West Medford, in 1862, and many evidences of their former occupancy of the locality have been found in tools and weapons of stone.

Medford had a very contracted territory up to the middle of the last century, and embraced only the grants made to Mr. Cradock, in 1634 and '35 ; the lands granted to Wilson and Newell, 400 acres in extent, intervened between the eastern boundary of the town and Malden River. On the north, its line followed the range of hills then called the "Rocks," parallel to, and one mile from the river. The Mystic Ponds formed the western boundary, and on the south, the town rested ou the Mystic. The area of the town was about 2000 acres. Until 1640, Med- ford was surrounded by Charlestown, which then embraced the present territory of Malden, Stoneham, Woburn, Burlington, Somerville and a part of the three towns of Cambridge, Arlington and Medford.

The General Court ordered, Oct. 7, 1640, that

"Mr. Tynge, Mr. Samuel Sheephard, and Goodman Edward Converse, are to set out the bounds between Charlestown and Mr. Cradock's farm on the north side of Mistick River."

In 1687, the town appointed three gentlemen, who, in conjunction with three appointed by Charlestown, were directed to fix the boundaries between the two towns. The committee reported as follows :

"Ws have settled and marked both stakes and lots as followeth : From the creek in the salt-toursh by a ditch below Wilson's farm and Medford farm to a stake and heap of stonee out of the swamp, then turn- ing to a savin-tree and to three stakce more to heaps of stones within George Blanchard's field with two stakes more and heaps of stones etanding all on the upland, and ap round from stake to etake as the

ewamp rueneth, and then straight to a stake on the south side of the house of Joseph Blanchard'e half, turning then to another oak, an old marked tres, thence to a maple tree, old marks, theace unto two young maples, new merked, and thence to three stakes to a creek-head, theoce straight to the corner line on the south side of the country road leading to [Malden]."

Chafing within their narrow limits, the inhabitants of Medford made repeated efforts for the extension of their boundaries. In 1714, a committee was chosen to petition Charlestown on the subject of annexing certain districts. The petitioners ask " for some part of Charlestown adjoining to Medford, on the north side of Mystic River." The same year, having receiv- ed, as is supposed, an adverse reply to that petition, they chose another committee to examine the Prov- ince Records, and see if Medford has any right to land lying in Charlestown, and, if so, to prosecute the same at the town's expense.

Again, in 1726, the town presented a petition to the inhabitants of Charlestown, praying that the lands on the north side of the Mystic River might be set off to Medford. This request was emphatically re- fused ; and, in 1738, another petition of the same im- port met with a like fate.

In 1734, the town voted to "petition the Great and General Court for a tract of the unappropriated lands of this Province, to enable the said town of Medford the better to support the ministry and the schools in said town." The record of the action taken on this petition is as follows :

" At a Great and General Court or Assembly for his Majesty's Prov - ince of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, begun god held at Boston, upon Wednesday, the 28th of May, 1735, and continued hy several ad- jouroments to Wednesday, the 19th of November following, -

"20 May, 1735: A petition of the inhabitants of the town of Med- ford, showing that the said town ie of the smallest extent of any in the Province, and yet their town-charges extremely high, so that the main- tenance of ministry and school is very chargeable to them, and there- fore praying for a grant of some of the waste lands of the Province to be appropriated for the support of the ministry and schoolmaster in auid town.

" In the House of Representatives, read and ordered that the prayer of the petition be so far granted as that the town of Medford is hereby allowed and empowered, by a surveyor and chairman on oath, to survey aud lay out one thousand acres of the unappropriated lande of the Prov- ince, and return a plat thereof to this Court, within twelve months, for confirmnation for the uses withie mentioned.

"In Council, read and concurred. Dec. 29th : Consented to,

" A true copy, examined : " THADE. MASON,

" J. BELCHEB.

" Deputy Secretary."

Under this grant the town selected 1000 acres of land on the Piscataqua River. The tract was called the " Town's Farm," and was sold after a few years' possession. It was of small valne.

The long-felt desire of the people of Medford for an increase of territory was at length gratified. In 1753 they presented the following petition to the Pro- vincial authorities :

."To his Excellency, William Shirley, Esq., Captain-General and Governor- in-Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, to the Honorable his Majesty's Council, and to the Honor- able House of Representatives.

" The petition of the inhabitants of the town of Medford, in the County of Middlesex, humbly showeth that there are certain tracts of

813

MEDFORD.

lend lying on the southerly and northerly sides of said Medford, which are hounded as follows ; viz., tbe eoutherly tract, lying io Charlestown, is bounded northerly with Mistic or Medford River, westerly with the westerly bounds of Mr. Smith'e farmi, southerly with the sontherly hounds of Mr. Smith'e, Mr. James Tufte's, and Mr. Jonathan Tufts's farina, and theo runuing from the south-easterly corner of said Jonathan Tufts's farm eastward straight to the westerly side of Col. Royal's farm, Rgain westerly with the westerly bouade of Col. Royal's farm, again southerly with its southerly bounds, and then rnoning from the south- easterly coruer thereof, eastward, straight to Medford River.

" The northerly tract, lying also in Charlestown, is bounded sontherly with said Medford's northerly line and the southerly bounds of Mr. Symmes's farm, westerly with the line that divides Mr. Symmes's from Mr. Gardner's farm, northerly with Wobura and Stoneham lines, Fast- erly ou Melden line.

" Which lends, with their inhabitants, we pray may be added to the contracted limits of the said town of Medford, together with a propor- tionable part of the said town of Charlestown's rights and privileges, according to the quantity and circumstances of said lands : at least, these pieces of land, and the privileges, which are within the lands hereby petitioned for.

" And joasmuch as the said town of Charlestown has conveyed the land called the grevel-pit, with the marsh adjoining, containing about half an acre, that they used for getting gravel, laying timber, etc., for the eoutberly half of the bridge commonly called Mistic Bridge, sad the ' Causey ' thereto adjoining, to Capt. Aaron Cleaveland and Mr. Samuel Keodal ; for which consideration they have covenanted and agreed with the said town of Charlestown to keep the half of the bridge and the ' Causey ' aforesaid in good condition forever :

" We pray, that, in case the before-described laods are laid to said Medford, it may not be subjected to quy cost or charges on account of the before-mentioned part of said bridge and the Cancey adjoining.

" Which petition we humbly conceive will appear reasonable by whet follows :--

" First, The contents of the said town of Medford are exceedingly small, amouuting to but about two thousand acres, the inhabitants very few, and consequently its chargee very great, compared with other towns. Besides, us to brick-making, upoo which our trading aod a great part of our other business depends, it very much fails.

" Secondly, The said town of Charlestown almost encompasses the town of Medford, Rod therefore (notwithstanding the great necessity) it cannot receive large addition from any other town.

"Thirdly, Those that now dwell on the said tracts of land, and those who heretofore dwelt ou thetn, heve from time to time enjoyed the liberty of attending the public worship in Medford without paying Rny thing to the taxes there. Neither is there any probability that any of the inhabitants of said lands, or any other persons that may settle on them, can, with any conveniency, attend the public worship in any other town. Moreover, the inhabitants of the said southorly tract are within about half a mile of seid Medford meeting house, -the greatest part of theos,-end the rest withiu a mile.

" And the inhabitants of the northerly tract before-mentioned are, the farthest of them, but about two miles from said meeting house. And great part of the lands in both the said tracts are now owned and pos- sessed by those who are with us in this petitioo, and some of the inhab- itants of said Medford.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 192

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278