History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 193

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 193

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" Besides, we apprehend it to be a very great hardship for the inhab- itants of said tracts of laod to be obliged to go, almost all of them, more than four miles, and othere more than seven miles, to town-meetings, trainings, etc.

" Furthermore, we would humbly move that some of the honorable members of the General Assembly may be appointed to view the preol- isee petitioned for, etc.

" in consideration of what is before-mentioned, and other moving arguments that might be used in this affair, we hope your Excellency and Honors, in your great wisdom and goodness, will grant our petition. Although the inhabitants of eaid Charlestown have not been pleased to be so free (when petitioned) ae to let us know whether they would gratify us berein or not.

"So shall your petitioners, as in duty bound, ever pray. " CALEB BROOKS. JONATHAN TUFTS.

" BENJAMIN PARKER. JOHN JENKS.

" BENJAMIN TEAL. ROBERT CRANE.

"JAMES TUFTS. JOHN DEONUSHY.

" EBENEZER MARGOW.

" Medford, Dec. 13, 1753.

" We, the subscribers, being owners of a considerable part of the

Baid lands, and heving dwelling-honses thereon, do hereby signify that we heartily join with the inhabitants of Medford in the foregoing petition.

" SAMUEL BROOKS, " EBENEZER BROOKS, " Z. POOL, " JOSEPH TUFTS, " STEPHEN HALL,

Committee for Medford."

This petition was granted April 17, 1754, and from that date the town entered upon a new and more prosperous era of its history. Under the act the boundaries of the town at the north were consider- ably extended, and its accessions on the south included all of its present territory, which lies south of the river. The area of Medford was more than doubled, and now embraced nearly six thousand acres. Since that time it has lost portions of its territory, which have at different times been set off to neighboring towns-to some of them on their formation. The present area of the town is about five thousand acres, or nearly eight square miles.

The organization of the municipal government of the Colonial towns in the early times was of the sim- plest sort. The population was small, nothing like the present elaborate system of public service was known, and little was done at the public charge. Medford was very peculiarly situated. Mr. Davison, Governor Craddock's agent, was vested with full au- thority to conduct the affairs of the plantation, and, owing to the loss of the earliest town records, we cannot tell how soon the people took the management of their concerns into their own hands. Probably it was not till after the death of Mr. Cradock, in 1644. Among the earliest existing records of the town is the following entry touching the proceedings of a town- meeting :

"The first Monday of February in the year of our Lord 1677, Goodman John Hall was chosen constable by the inhabitants of Meadford for the year ensuing. Joseph Wade, Jobu Ilall and Stephen Willis were chos- en selectmen for ordering of the affairs of the plantation for the year ensuing. John Whitmore, Daniel Woodward, Jacob Chamberlain, John Hall, juo., Edward Walker, Walter Crauston, Patrick Hay, Andrew Mitchell and Thomas Fillebrown, jun., took the oath of fidelity.

" .JOSEPH WADE, Town-clerk."

Mr. Brooks has preserved for us a copy of an old- time warrant for a town-meeting :

"To Mr. Stephen Hall, jun., Constable of Medford, Greeting : You are hereby required, in his Majesty's name, to warn the freeholders and other inhabitants of Medford to meet at their meeting-house, the first. Monday of March next ensuing the date hereof, by eight o'clock in the morning, theu and there to choose & constable, selectmen, town-clerk and other towu-officers, as the law directs. Aud all persons to whom the Baid town is indebted to bring in their accounte, and lay the same before the said town. And the town-treasurer for said Medford is here- by required to give said town at said meeting a particular account of the disposing of the said town'e money ; and whatsoever else may be needed, proper, and necessary to be discoursed on and determined of at said meeting. Hereof you may not fail, ae you will answer your de- fault at the peril of the law.

"Dated in said Medford, February 14, 1702, in the fourteenth year of his Majesty's reign.

By order of the selectmen of sald Medford. " JNO. BRADSTREET, Town-clerk."

A few years later we find that the departments of the public service had increased in number :

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" March 5, 1691: Caleb Brooke was chosen constable for the year ensuing. Major Nathaniel Wade, Lieut. Peter Tufts and Stephen Wil- lis were chosen selectmen. John Bradshaw and John Hall, jun., were chosen surveyors of highways. Ensign Stephen Francie was chosen tything-man. John Hall, seu., and Lieut. Peter Tufte, were chosen viewers of fences : and Stephen Willie, town-clerk."

Again, in 1710 :

" At a town-meeting, legally convened in Medford, March 6, 1710, Lient. Stephen Willis, chosen moderator ; Peter Seccomb, choeen con stable ; Ebenezer Brooks, John Hall and Samuel Wade, selectmen; John Whitmore, jun., and Thomas Dill, surveyors of highways; Ben- jamiu Peirce and Isaac Farwell, viewers of fences ; Ichabod Peirce and John Albree, wood-corders ; Nath. Peirce, hog constable. At said meet ing, Lieut. Thomas Willis was chosen tything-man and sealer of weights and measures. At said meeting, the selectmen were chosen assessors for this year."

Coming down to a later date we find that the de- partments of public service take a more modern com- plexion :

"At a town meeting legally convened at Medford, March 7, 1748, Mr. Andrew Ilall was chosen Moderator.

Dea. Benj. Willis, Capt. Samuel Brooks, Lient. Stephen Hall, Select- men.

Thomas Seccomb, Towo-clerk.

Benj. Parker, Town-treasurer.

Joseph Tufts, Thos. Brooke, Edward Hall, Aseessors.

Stephen Willis, choseu Constable, refused to serve, and paid £10, old tenor.

Francis Whitmore, 2dl Constable, but refused to serve, and paid £10, old tenor.

Samuel Reeves, 3d Conetable. He refused to serve, and paid £10, old tenor.

Samnel Page, hired to serve as Conetahle, for £25, old tenor.

Jonathan Hall, Henry Fowle, Tithing-meu,

Stephen Bradshaw, Lieut. John Francla, Stephen Greenleaf, Survey- ore of Highways.

Saminel Brooke, jun., William Tufts, John Ilall, Fence-viewers. Stephen Greenleaf, John Bishop, Ebenezer Francis, Hog-reevee. John Tufts, Jacob Polly, Thomas Brooke, Wood-corders.

Jonathan Watson, Capt. Saml. Brooks, Surveyors of Boards and Tiniber.

Samuel Reeves, Pound-keeper.

Sanmel Francie, Benjamin Tufts, Haywards, or Field-drivers.

Simon Bradshaw, Joseph Tufts, Deer·reevee.

Dea. Thomas llall, Sealer of Leather.

Benjamin Parker, Sealer of Weights and Measures. Stephen Bradshaw, Grand juror.

Andrew ITall, Esq., Capt. Sanmel Brooks, Lient. Stephen Hall, jun., Zechariah Poole, Ebenezer Brooke, a committee to manage the affair of obtaining some pert of the lands now belonging to Charlestown, with the inhabitants thereon.

Joseph Tufts, Lieut. Stephen Hall, jun., Thomas Brooks, a Committee to audit the Towo-treasurer's accounts for the year past, 1747, and the town's account likewise.

The inhabitants of Medford took a deep interest in the rights secured by the charter. In 1732 the town voted that "it was their desire that their representa- tive should act with the greatest eaution, and stand for the defence of the privileges granted us by his Majesty in the royal Charter."

The town maintained a thoroughly patriotic atti- tude in the stirring events which immediately pre- ceded the Revolution, and from time to time entered vigorous protest against the oppressive acts of the British Government. After the passage of the Stamp Act (Oct. 21, 1765), the inhabitants of Medford held a public meeting and gave open expression to their sense of its unconstitutionality and injustice. A remonstrance, addressed to their representative, was

adopted, in which they denounce the Stamp Act as "this most grievous of all acts, wherein a complica- tion of those burdens and restraints are unhappily imposed which will undeniably deprive us of those invaluable liberties and priviliges which we, as free- born Britons, have hitherto enjoyed. ... Therefore we seriously enjoin it upon you, as our representative, that you be no ways aiding and assisting in the exe- cution of said act."

That the town was in full sympathy with the action of Boston in resisting the importation of taxed tea is proved by the following vote, passed December 31, 1772:

" Voted that the thanke of the town of Medford be given to the re- epectable inhabitants of the town of Boston for their patriotic care and vigilance (manifest on several occasions) in endeavoring to preserve our civil constitution from innovation, and to maintain the same inviolate. And wedo agenre them that our assistance shall not be wanting in the use of allsuch lawful proper measures as shall be thought expedient to be adopted for the preservation of our liberties, civil and religione."

A little later they expressed their sentiments upon the same subject in a series of resolutions adopted in town-meeting. A single extract will show their spirit :

" That we will exert ourselves, and join with our American brethren, in adopting and prosecuting all legal and proper measures to discour- age and prevent the landing, storing and veoding and using those teas among us ; and that whosoever shall aid or assist said India Company, their factors or servants, in either landing, storing or selling the same, does a manifest injury to his country, and deservee to be treated with severity aud contempt.

"That we are ready at all times, in conjunction with our American brethren, as loyal subjects, to risk our lives and fortnoee in the service and defense of Ilis Majesty's person, crown and dignity ; and also, as a free people, in asserting and maintaining inviolate our civil and reli- gioue rights and privileges againet all opposers whatever."

A company of Medford men, fifty-nine in number, under the command of Capt. Isaae Hall, took part in the engagements at Concord and Lexington, and one of them, William Polly, was killed. The records of the town show that throughout the Revolution, Med- ford stood ready to make all sacrifices to bring the war to a successful conclusion, and we find frequent entries touching special taxation to meet the expenses of the war, the raising of the town's quota of men, and care for the families of the absent soldiers.

Besides furnishing its full quota of men to the Con- tinental Army, Medford contributed three officers who rendered distinguished service to the patriot cause. Col. John Brooks (afterwards Governor of Massa- chusetts) was born in Medford, May, 1752, where he early engaged in the study of medicine under Dr. Simon Tufts, and on acquiring his profession, settled at Reading. He had a natural fondness for military exercises, and held the position of major in the Col- onial militia. He commanded a company of minute- men on the 19th of April, and was active in his pur- suit of the British troops. He received the commis- sion of major in the Continental Army, and assisted in fortifying the heights of Dorchester. He was pro- moted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, thic practical com- mand devolving upon him, owing to the sickness of

815

MEDFORD.

the Colonel. He distinguished himself by covering the retreat of the army at White Plains, and the value of his service was acknowledged by Washington, whose esteem and confidence he held unto the end. He was a proficient in military tactics, to the study of which he had closely applied himself, and the reg- iment he commanded was distinguished for the superiority of its discipline. When Baron Steuben was appointed inspector-general of the army, Colonel Brooks was, by the order of Gen. Washington, asso- ciated with him in the duty of introducing a uniform system of tactics into the army. His gallant conduct at Saratoga was especially marked. At the head of his regiment, he stormed the entrenchments on the right flank of the enemy, and maintained his position against all attempts to dislodge him. This action compelled Burgoyne to change his position, and con- tributed in no small degree to his final surrender. At the close of the war he settled in Medford, and once more engaged in the practice of his profession. He was elected Governor of the Commonwealth in 1816, and held the office for seven successive terms. The purity of his character, and the eminent service he had rendered his country and State, as a soldier and civilian, gained for him universal esteem. He died in 1825.

Col. Ebenezer Francis, born in Medford, in 1743, raised and commanded the Eleventh Massachusetts Regiment. He fell mortally wounded while engaged in a skirmish with British troops, at Hubbardton, near Whitehall, N. Y. A contemporary record says of him : " No officer so distinguished for his military accomplishments and regular life as he. His conduct in the field is spoken of in the highest terms of ap- planse."

John Francis, a brother of Col. Ebenezer Francis, was adjutant in his brother's regiment, and dis- tiuguished himself by his bravery at Hubbardton. He was wounded at Saratoga, and acquitted himself with honor through his six years' term of service in the Revolutionary army.

Medford has remained true to the patriotic tradi- tions of the Revolution throughout its later history. It furnished its full quota of soldiers to the national armies in the War of 1812. Lieut. Jolin Brooks, a son of Governor Brooks, was killed in the battle on Lake Erie.

In the Civil War, the town of Medford came up to the full level of its duty. It furnished two full com- panies to the Union army. At the outbreak of the Rebellion the town made a quick response to the call for troops for the defence of the capital. The Law- rence Light Guard, Company E, Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, under the command of Capt. John Hutchins, rendered valuable service as three months' volunteers. In August, 1862, the company enlisted for three years, and as Company C, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Massachu- setts Volunteers shared the varied fortunes of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment served with

great credit until the close of the war. In September, 1862, another town company, the Medford Light In- fantry, Capt. Charles Currier, organized for that pur- pose, enlisted for nine months, and as Company F, Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, took hon- orable part with the regiment in the military opera- tions in North Carolina.

During the war, Medford furnished a large number of men to other organizations. According to Mr. Usher, eleven calls for men were made upon the town, and the whole number brought by the town into the field was 769.

As with all the early New England settlements, the narratives of the ecclesiastical and the civil his- tory of Medford are closely interwoven. For many years after its settlement, the town had, except for brief intervals, no settled ministry. Mr. James Noyes, a graduate of Oxford, came to Boston in 1634, and "was immediately called to preach at Mystic, which he did for nearly one year." After his de- parture, the town appears to have depended upon the occasional ministrations of the clergymen of the neighborhood, and, having contributed to the general fund raised for the purpose, doubtless enjoyed its share of the clerical serviee rendered to the infant settlements by Rev. George Phillips and Rev. John Wilson. In 1692, Mr. John Hancock, grandfather of the patriot, was engaged as a preacher, but he re- mained only a few months. It would appear from the town records that, in 1694, a subscription was raised for the support of a minister. His board was fixed at five shillings a week. In 1698, the town hired Mr. Benjamin Woodbridge, of Charlestown, to preach for six months, and the connection con- tinued, in some sort, for a period of ten years. He seems never to have been regularly "settled " over , the parish, and the record of his ministry is one of constant bickering and disagreement between pastor and people. Their differences were referred to emi- nent clergymen, and were brought before ecclesiasti- cal councils, for arbitration and settlement ; but Mr. Woodbridge held a most tenacious grasp upon his position, and it was not till 1708 that the connection was dissolved. He died in Medford in 1710, and, despite the long-standing contention, it is pleasant to record that the town made liberal provision for his funeral, which was attended by the President of Harvard College and a good representation of the neighboring dignitaries.

In 1696, the town built its first meeting-house " on the land of Mr. Thomas Willis, near the gate by Marble Brook, on a rock on the north side of the Woburn road." It was a small and unpretending structure, "seven and twenty feet long, four and twenty feet wide, and fifteen feet between joints." A second church building was erected in 1727, near the site of the first, which had become too small for the population.

In 1713, Medford entered upon a more prosperous

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

period of its church history. Rev. Aaron Porter, a graduate of Harvard College, was settled over the parish, and he remained until his death in 1722. He married a niece of Chief Justice Sewall, and is hon- orably mentioned in his " Diary."

The successor of Mr. Porter was the Rev. Ebenezer Turell, whose ministry lasted from 1724 to 1778, a period of fifty-four years. Mr. Turell was a fine type of the old colonial clergyman, dignified, yet social and kindly. It is recorded to his credit that he preached a sermon in favor of inoculation, at a time (1730) when there was a strong popular preju- dice against the new practice. By his will he freed his slave Worcester, and left fifty pounds for his maintenance, in case he should need it.

After the death ot Mr. Turell, in 1778, Rev. David Osgood, who had, four years before, received settle- ment as his colleague, assumed the sole charge of the pastorship, which he held until his death in 1822- a ministry of forty-eight years. Dr. Osgood was a divine of considerable local celebrity, and was a man of strong character and convictions, He was an ardent Federalist, and did not hesitate to give free expression to his political opinions in the pulpit. Some of his utterances provoked sharp comment from the contemporary partisan press. With his pastorate, the history of the First Parish, as the only church in Medford, comes to a close. The religious fermentation which prevailed in the first quarter of the present century in the churches of New England, extended itself to Medford. After the installation of Rev. Andrew Bigelow, Mr. Osgood's successor, in 1823, a considerable number of the members of the church, holding the old theological views, seceded, and established the Second Congregational (Trinitar- ian) Church. The First Parish has maintained its connection with the Unitarian body ever since.

The Second Congregational Church, composed, as already mentioned, of those who withdrew from the First Parish, was established in 1824, and erected a church edifice on High Street near the Public Square. Rev. Aaron Warner was the first pastor. As an out- growth from this society, the Third Congregational Church was formed in 1847, and built a house of wor- ship on Salem Street. The new society took the name of the Mystic Church. In 1874, the Second and Third Congregational Churches were consolidat- ed, and the reunited bodies have continued to wor- ship in the house on Salem Street.

The Universalist Society was organized in 1831, and Rev. Winslow Wright was installed as its first pastor.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Medford was incorporated in 1828, and built a chapel on Cross Street. Since then the society has built two churches on Salem Street, the second of which it now occupies.

The First Baptist Church was incorporated in 1842, under the pastorship of Rev. George W. Bosworth, and worshipped for thirty-one years in a chapel on

Salem Street. In 1873 the society erected a new church edifice on Oakland Street.

The Grace (Episcopal) Church was organized in 1848, under the rectorship of Rev. David Greene Haskins. Its elegant stone church on High Street, the gift of Mrs. Gorham Brooks, was erected in 1868.

In West Medford, the Congregational Church was" organized in 1872, and the Trinity Methodist Society in the same year.

The first Catholic Church edifice in Medford was built in 1885, on Salem Street, on land which is now a part of Malden, and was designed for the use of the Catholics of both towns, In 1876, the Catholics of Medford purchased the church building of the Second Congregational Society, on High Street, which is now the place of worship of a distinctively Medford parish.

True to the teachings of the New England fathers, Medford was from the first a liberal supporter of the cause of popular education. In the earliest records of the town we find that a town-meeting was called, "to see if the town will have a school kept for three months," The question was decided affirmatively, and it was voted that " this school shall be free." In 1719, the town voted that the school continue during four months, and later, in 1720, it was voted to build a school-house ; up to that time it is probable that the schools were kept in private houses. The same year two schools were organized in the town. "Mr. Caleb Brooks was engaged to keep the West School for three months, at two pounds per month ; Mr. Henry Davi- son, the East, at the same price." In 1730, the town voted to build a new school-house, and to set up a reading and writing school for six months.

The following extracts from the town records, as given by Mr. Brooks, will best show the progressive measures adopted by the town for the advancement of education :

March 11, 1771 : " Voted to build the school-house upon the land be- hind the meeting-house, on the north west corner of the land."

1776: " Voted that the master instruct girls two hours after the boys are dismissed."

April 6, 1790 : A committee was chosen to inquire " if it be expedient for girls to attend the master's school." The committee wisely rocom- mended the affirmative; whereupor, at the next town-meeting, it was " voted that girls have liberty to attend the master -school during three summer months."

June 20, 1794 : " Voted that females attend the master-school sepa- rately, from the Ist of May to the Ist of October, four hours each day, and that the boys attend four hours each day, - Thursday and Saturday afternoons being vacations," Samne date : " Voted, that no children, whether male or female, be admitted into the public school under the age of seven years, nor then unless they have hoen previously taught to read the English language by spelling tho same ; and as this regula- tion will probably exclude many who have heretofore attended, there- fore it is

" Voted, that the selectmen are hereby empowered to pay school-mis- tresses for instructing those children who are excluded from the pubhe town-school, and whose parents are unable to pay such extra expenses. " And as the great end of the public school is to furnish the youth with such a measure of knowledge that they may be able to read and write with propriety, and understand so much arithmetic as may fit them for the common transactions of life ; therefore, Voted, that the selectmen and school-committee be desired from time to time to make such regulations in the school as may best answer the above purposes."

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MEDFORD.

In 1818, when Medford had 202 families, the expenses of the schoole were as follows :

Master for one year, at $20 per month $240

Board for the same, at $3 per week . 156

Master, four months, at $20 per month 80

Board for the same, at $3 per week . 52

Three female teschers, twenty-five weeks each, at $4 300

Rent for school-houses for female schools 45

$873

With the advance of the present century, broader views began to prevail in Massachusetts as to the true scope of our system of popular education, and Med- ford took an honorable place in the general movement for improved methods in school management, and a more liberal expenditure of money in that behalf. At a town-meeting held in 1835, a special committee was chosen "to inquire into the different and best methods of conducting public-schools, and to report what improvements, what number and kind of schools are necessary in this town to qualify every scholar who desires an education, for the active duties of life." This committee made such recommendations as led to the immediate grading of the schools, and to the establishment of a high school. It is believed that this high school was " the second or third organ- ized in the State for the free co-education of the sexes in the higher branches of learning." The equipment of the school in the early period of its existence, was on a humble scale, although classical study had from the first a recognized place in the curriculum. Since then, the standard of qualification for admission has been gradually raised, and every opportunity afforded to the youth of the town for thorough preparation for college and the technological schools.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 193

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