USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1630 to 1855 > Part 6
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May 25, 1661 : Richard Russell, who had occupied the "mansion-house " five years, sold it, with. twelve hundred acres of his land, to Jonathan Wade, who lived near the bridge on the south side of the river. After the death of Mr. Russell, his heirs sold three hundred and fifty acres to Mr. Peter Tufts. . The deed is dated April 20, 1677. This tract is now the most thickly settled part of Med- ford.
Land and Land-Owners in Medford. - The value of real estate from 1655 to 1675 may be learned from transac- tions that were placed on record at that time.
Oct. 20, 1656 : James Garrett, captain of the ship " Hope," sells for five pounds, to Edward Collins, "forty acres of land on the north side of Mistick River, butting on Mistick Pond on the west."
March 13, 1657: Samuel Adams sells " to Ed. Collins forty acres of land, bounded on the east by Zachariah Symmes, south by Meadford Farm, on the south and west by James Garrett." Paid ten pounds.
March 13, 1675 : Caleb Hobart sells to Ed. Collins, " for £660, five hundred acres in Meadford, bounded by Charles- town northerly, Mistick River southerly, Mr. Wade's land easterly, and Brooks's and Wheeler's lands westerly."
Edward Collins, Richard Russell, Jonathan Wade, and Peter Tufts were the largest land-owners in Medford, after Mr. Cradock's decease, and they laid out small farms and lots, and made many sales. Collins, who lived in Med-
58
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
ford a long time, was perhaps the first specimen of a genuine land-speculator in the Massachusetts Colony. Mr. Tufts had a numerous family, and left an honored name.
There were but few of the Wades, but they were rich and influential ; while little is known of the descendants of Richard Russell.
Jonathan Wade paid the highest tax for several years, and dealt largely in lands, not only in Medford, but in other towns. The records show that in 1656 he purchased four hundred acres of Matthew Avery, then a freeholder in Ipswich, but was outdone the same year by Mr. Collins, who sold to Richard Champney five hundred acres in Billerica, and who in 1660 sold four hundred acres in West Medford.
Dealing in real estate was the most important business transacted by our early fathers. As a specimen of their greed for large estates, we give a list of purchases by Mr. Peter Tufts, chiefly on "Mystic Side :" -
1664, June 22.
Bought of Parmelia Nowell
200 acres.
66
1674, Sept. 28.
66
66 Benjamin Bunker
commons, 24 I7 cow-commons.
1677, April 20.
66 Richard Russell
350 acres.
1679, Nov. 16.
66 A. Shadwell
32
66
1681, Sept. 20.
66
S. Rowse
John Green
6
66
1682, Feb. 3.
May 18.
29.
66
66 Alexander Stewart M. Dady
II
66
66 Dec. 22.
1684, June 8.
66 Dec. 13.
66
Wm. Dady.
3 cow-commons.
1687, April 21.
66
66
66
4 cow-commons.
IO3 acres.
1694, May 17.
66 18.
31.
66
J. Phipps
2
66
66 Aug. 23. 66
66
" J. Newell .
103
66
66 Dec. 8.
1697, April 15.
Timothy Goodwin
John Cary (Walnut Tree Hill) . 32 three pieces.
66 May 10.
66 John Dexter
9 acres.
1698, May 30.
" John Frothingham
IO3 66
66
66 Nov. 25.
John Blaney
7
Including the cow-commons, about
835 acres.
60
66
T. Crosswell
3
3 acres.
1691, Oct. 5.
1693, Aug. 20.
66 66 T. Frost
66
J. Lynde
83 4
66
66
1695, April 23.
1696, Nov. 3. 66
John Melvin 7%
IO 66
8ł 66
16
Isaac Johnson
I cow-common.
1685, June 20.
L. Hamond
Christopher Goodwin .
32
66
66
66 W. Dady
59
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
During this time, they sold as follows :
1680, Jan. 30. To S. Grove, in Malden 20 acres.
1691, Feb. 22. To Jonathan Tufts, brick-yards .
39
1697, Jan. IO. To Jonathan Wade, in Medford
123
Mr. Peter Tufts, born in England, 1617, was the father of the Tufts family in Medford. He died May 13, 1700, aged eighty-three. He was buried in Malden, where his tomb may now be seen.
An Indian squaw, the sachem of her tribe, had a great friendship for a family named Gibbon, and in 1637 gave to a lad of that family, named Jotham Gibbon, then only four years old, a portion of land in Medford, the deed to which was perfect in all respects, as will be seen, when we shall treat of the lands of the Indians and their con- veyancing, in another chapter. In 1675, Mr. Collins, at the age of seventy-three years, was still engaged in specu- lations in real estate; for we learn that he then sold "a piece of land to Daniel Markham, bounded by the river on the south, by Joshua Brooks on the west and north, and by Caleb Hubbard on the east." He also sold the next year thirty acres to George Blanchard. The " Blanchard Farm" was a large one, and is frequently mentioned in the records.
ANCIENT LANDMARKS AND MONUMENTS. - Medford is peculiarly rich in monuments of her early history, and es- pecially in ancient buildings ; and, as she has lost her earliest records made upon paper, it is all the more im- portant that the old landmarks be preserved as long as possible, and that the historian snatch them from the oblivion with which they are threatened, and cause them to appear upon the printed page, when future generations fail to find their corner-stones. From Pine Hill, south- westerly to Purchase Street, there are scattered remains of houses, now almost lost in the forest, which prove that there were living in this region many families. The cel- lars are, in some places so near together as to show quite a social neighborhood. When some of the " Scotch-Irish " who settled Londonderry,. N.H., in 1719, became dissatis- fied with that place, they came into this quarter, and many of them settled in Medford. They built some of the houses, whose cellars yet remain among us, and introduced the foot spinning-wheel and the culture of potatoes. They were as scrupulous about bounds and limits in these wilds as they
60
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
had been in Scotland ; hence the remarkable stone walls which still stand to testify to their industry. They were Scotch Presbyterians in religion ; and the Rev. Mr. More- head of Boston frequently came to preach to them. Some of them migrated to the then District of Maine ; and fifty years ago there was living in Maine Gen. Jacob Auld, who was born about a mile north-east of Medford meeting- house, whose father was Irish, and left Londonderry about 1730. These people kept up many of their European customs ; and tradition says, that once, when a young child died among them, they held a genuine "Irish wake." A few of these adventurers remained, and became good citizens ; and among their descendants we may name the Fulton, Wier, Faulkner, and McClure families.
Gov. Cradock's House. - The old two-story brick house on Riverside Avenue, in East Medford, 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, will appear from the following facts.
The land on which it stands was given by the General Court to Mr. Cradock. When the heirs of Mr. Cradock gave a deed of their property, June 2, 1652, they mentioned houses, barns, and many other buildings, but did not so specify these objects as to render them cognizable by us. There is no deed of this house given by any other person, and it must have passed in the aforesaid conveyance by the Cradock heirs.
It was on Mr. Cradock's land, and just where his busi- ness made it necessary : the conclusion, therefore, is inevi- table that Mr. Cradock built it. There is every reason to believe that it was commenced early in the spring of 1634. Mr. Cradock made such an outlay in money as showed that he intended to carry on a large business for a long time, and doubtless proposed visiting his extensive plantation. The very first necessity in such an enterprise was a suffi- cient house. The sooner it was finished, the better; and it was commenced as soon as the land was granted, which was March, 1634. Who, in that day, could afford to build such a house but the rich London merchant ? and would he delay doing a work which every day showed to be in- dispensable? He was the only man, then, who had the funds to build such a house, and he was the only man who needed it. Tradition has always spoken of it as the
RA DOCK
HOUSE
J. H. Wheeler
CRADOCX HOUSE.
61
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Cradock House. Taking all these circumstances into con- sideration, the inference is clear that the "Old Fort," so called, was Gov. Cradock's house, built in 1634. It is an invaluable historical jewel.
It has been called the " Fort " and the "Garrison House," because its walls were so thick, and because it had close out- side 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 re-enforcements from Boston. Its walls are eighteen inches thick. There were heavy iron bars across the two large arched windows, which are near the ground, in the back of the house; and there are sev- eral 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 back wall of the western chimney, so as to afford a sight of persons coming from the town.
It was probably built for retreat and defence ; but some of the reasons for calling it a fort are not conclusive. Out- side shutters were in common use in England at the time above mentioned ; and so was it common to ornament houses with round or oval openings on each side of the front. The ovals in this house are twenty inches by six- teen. Mr. Cradock's company was large, and he was very rich, and had told them to build whatever houses they needed for shelter and defence. That they should build such a house as now stands where their first settlement took place, is most natural. 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 thick. They have the color of the bricks made afterwards in East Medford, where clay is abundant. They are hastily made, but very well burned. Bricks were made in Salem in 1629. A Mr. Shedd purchased this house about eighty years ago, and he found the east end of it so decayed and leaky at that time, that he took a part of it down, and rebuilt it : otherwise it has undergone few changes. There is a tradition, that in early times Indians
62
HISTORY OF MEDFORD).
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 included this house. It is undoubtedly one of the oldest buildings in the United States, perhaps the old- est that retains its first form.
Another old brick house, built, probably, about the same time and by the same persons, was not large. It stood about five hundred feet north of Riverside Avenue, and about five hundred feet west of Park Street, opposite Thacher Magoun's shipyard, and was taken down many years ago by that gentleman.
The third house was built by Major Jonathan Wade, who died 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 Pasture-Hill 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, about one hundred years ago.
Of the three brick buildings mentioned above, and called forts, two have descended to us as specimens of ancestral architecture, and may well compare with any specimens left in the neighboring towns. They were doubtless erected for the purpose of habitation ; but the thought which gave them form and strength was begotten by the builders' fears.
They were places of refuge from the Indians, and were doubtless necessary defences. Circumstances compelled the settlers to take counsel of their fears. Their condi- tion and wants were anticipated by the company in London as early as 1629, for in October of that year the following order was passed : -
" That, for the charge of fortifications, the company's joint stock to bear the one half, and the planters to defray the other ; viz., for ordnance, munition, powder, etc. But for laborers in building of forts, etc., all men to be employed in an equal proportion, according to the number of men upon the plantation, and so to continue until such fit and necessary works be finished."
Any plantation disposed to build a place of retreat and defence was authorized by the above vote to do so, and to call upon the company to pay half the expense. Undoubt-
GARRISON HOUSE ON PASTURE-HILI. LANE
63
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
edly, Mr. Cradock's house was so built. That forts were thought to be necessary appears from the records of Charlestown : -
" 1631 : It was concluded to build a fort on the hill at Moulton's Point, and mount the six guns left by the company last year upon the beach of this town, for defence, in case ships should come up on the back-side of Mistick River."
The project was abandoned, because, on examination, it was found that a fort in that place would be too far away from the river.
To illustrate the peril supposed to exist in the early settlement, we copy the following order of the General Court : -
" Sept. 3, 1635: It is agreed, that hereafter no dwelling-house shall be built above half a mile from the meeting-house, in any new planta- tion, without leave from the Court."
The house of Col. Royal, on Main Street, was the most expensive in Medford. Built by his father, after the model of an English nobleman's house in Antigua, it has stood a tempting model to three generations. Mr. Thomas Sec- comb's large brick house, on the north side of the market- place, was the first copy of Col. Royal's. Rev. Mr. Turell's house, formerly owned by Jonathan Porter, is a good ex- ample of another style. The next fashion, introduced as an improvement upon these, was the broken or "gambrel- roofed " houses, many of which still remain. These soon gave place to the present models, which are importations from distant ages and all civilized countries.
in
movi.
Summer House, Royal Farm.
64
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
CHAPTER III.
ROADS.
IN the absence of the earliest records of Medford, the location of the first roads is conjectural ; and in lack of other information, we are obliged to resort to deeds, wills, and legislative enactments, where incidental mention is made of them.
The present Cradock Bridge is built at or near the same place where the "Ford" was located in the days of our fathers, and one of the first roads was through the stream at that point. At first it was little used, but afterwards became a popular way, not only for the inhabitants of Med- ford, but for those of the northern towns who took loads on horseback to Boston.
If the earliest records of the town had been preserved, we should doubtless have found in them some notices of the Ford, and some regulations concerning it.
We learn that in 1642 the General Court restricted the right of towns to build roads beyond their own boundaries. The act was as follows : -
" It is declared by this Court, that the selected town's men have power to lay out particular and private ways concerning their own town only."
The first public road laid out in Medford was Main Street, leading from the Ford to Boston ; the second was Salem Street, leading to Malden; the third was High Street, leading to Arlington ; the fourth was the road lead- ing to Stoneham. These sufficed for all necessary uses for half a century : indeed, we learn of no new public road opened after these for nearly a hundred years. But roads and streets were made from point to point for local pur- poses, and among them were the following. The road on the south bank of the river (South Street), connecting the brickyards with the wharf and the lighters, was early
65;
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
opened : it was known as "Fish Lane" until 1828, when it was called South Street.
A road was made by Charlestown from the landing, called: "No Man's Friend," opposite the southern end of Cross; Street, to its lands north of Medford. The road was where Cross and Fulton Streets now are. Doubtless it was this: act of making a road through a part of Medford by another town, which called for the restrictive Act just referred to. To gain free access to the river, at that time the great highway to Boston, private roads were opened for the use of the owners of land, and what were called "rangeways " for the free use of the public. Among these were Cross. Street, already referred to. The next street west of it was. at the Ford, and the " Pasture Hill" was a continuation of it. Another was at Rock Hill, and the old Woburn: Road was a part of it. The next was above the Lowell Railroad Depot, in High Street, and connected with Grove Street, formerly called " the road round the woods." These roads to the river, in Medford, were opened soon after the. main thoroughfare.
In October, 1675, the town voted to levy a fine of ten shillings upon any one who should take a load of earth from a public road.
The town also voted that every man might work out his own highway tax; and prices were fixed for a day's labor of a man, also what should be allowed to a man and his team.
In 1715 Rev. Aaron Porter, Peter Seccomb, Peter Waite, Thomas Tufts, and Benjamin Parker wished some enlarge- ment of the road near the bridge, they being residents there ; and the town appointed a committee to see about the matter. They fixed the width of the road at the bridge at two rods and twelve feet, and reported the road leading to Woburn " wide enough already.'
Feb. 20, 1746 : Several gentlemen of Medford agreed to open a road from the market to " Wade's Bank, or Sandy Bank " (Cross Street), and build a bridge over " Gravelly Creek." This was done, and it made a convenient way to the tide-mill.
The citizens of this town have always had a commenda- ble pride in every thing that could be made to contribute. to its beauty and prosperity, and in nothing has this been seen more strikingly than in their work in planting and caring for their shade-trees. The streets of Medford are at
66
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
the present time charmingly ornamented with fine elms, maples, horse-chestnuts, and other trees.
No farm is complete without shade-trees on the sides of the road and in front of the dwelling ; and no village or city has clearly comprehended its sweetest source of external attraction if it has not beautified its streets with trees. The citizens of Medford appreciated this fact early in her history : and, more than half a century ago, the " Delta," at the meeting of Grove and High Streets in West Medford, was set with trees which then could be carried in the hand by any man of ordinary strength, but which to day defy the tempests ; and, were they rooted, up, a hundred men could not carry one of them away. These trees were planted, and the fences around them built and kept in order, by Hon. Peter C. Brooks, whose memory, if no other jewels were hung about it, should be honored and fondly cherished for that one thoughtful act. His son, Mr. Edward Brooks, during his life, continued to care for them ; and his grandson, Mr. Francis Brooks, who occupies the old Brooks homestead, faithfully guards what his ancestor planted so many years ago.
But Mr. Brooks was not the only man of those times whose heart was fixed on the work of beautifying the streets of Medford with trees. A legacy of five hundred dollars from Turell Tufts, Esq., was expended, according to his direction, in planting ornamental trees on the roadsides.
Many others, since that time, have adorned their yards and lawns with various kinds of trees ; and the author of this history recalls the pleasant fact, that the trees around his residence, and on the street in front of the same, in West Medford, some of which are now eighteen inches in diameter, were planted by him when they were mere saplings.
Streets in Medford in 1882. - The following is a com- plete list of the names of streets in Medford at this time. Those marked with a star are still private ways, but will doubtless be accepted by the town at no distant day.
Adams, Albion, Alfred,* Allen Court,* Allston, Allston- street Court, Almont, Ashland, Auburn, Avon,* Boston Avenue, Brooks, Brooks Place, Bowers, Canal, Central Avenue, Cherry,* Chestnut, College Avenue, Cottage,* Cotting, Court, Cross, Curtis,* Daisy,* Dexter, Dudley, Fountain, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Garden, George, Gove,* Grove, Emerson, Everett, Hadley Court,* Ham-
--
67
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
mond Place,* Hancock, Harvard, Harvard Avenue, High, Highland Avenue, High-street Court,* Irving, Jerome, Laurel,* Lawrence,* Lincoln,* Lincoln (in West Med- ford), Linden,* Madison, Main, Manning, Maple Avenue,* Medford, Middlesex Avenue, Myrtle, Mystic, Mystic Avenue, Oakland, Otis, Paris, Park, Pearl, Pleasant, Porter, Porter Court,* Prescott, Purchase, Revere Place,* Riverside Avenue, Arlington Court, Royal, Salem, Sharon, Sherman, South, South-street Court,* Spring, Stearns Avenue, Summer, Swan, Taintor, Tufts, Truro, Vernon, Vine,* Walnut, Warren, Washington, Washington Avenue, Water, Webster, West, Williams,* Winthrop, and Wo- burn.
Medford Turnpike. - The construction of turnpikes in the early part of this century made a new era in travel. ling and in speculation all over New England.
Medford had long felt the need of a thoroughfare to Boston more convenient for the transportation of heavy loads than the road over Winter Hill ; and on the 2d of March, 1803, the Medford Turnpike Company was incorpo- rated. This enterprise was started by citizens of Medford ; and Benjamin Hall, John Brooks, Fitch Hall, Ebenezer Hall, 2d, and Samuel Buel were the petitioners to the Le- gislature for a charter. The Act was obtained in three years from the time when the first movement was made, and it required them to run the road east of Winter Hill and Ploughed Hill. It must be three rods on the upland, and not more than six on the marsh. If not completed within three years, the grant was to be null and void. The corporation were required to build all extra bridges over Middlesex Canal, and keep them and the sluices in repair. They could hold real estate to the amount of six thousand dollars. Shares in the stock were deemed personal prop- erty.
The investment was never a very profitable one. A tax on travel is always unpopular, and the new road had a for- midable rival in the free highway over Winter Hill. The patronage of the road gradually fell away ; and its scanty income grew more and more insufficient for its proper maintenance, to say nothing of dividends. Frequent at- tempts, beginning as early as 1838, were made by the town to have it converted into a free road ; but they were suc- cessfully resisted by the corporation. Finally, in 1865, the proprietors petitioned the Legislature for the dissolution
68
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
of the corporation ; and the next year the turnpike was laid out as a public highway by the county commissioners.
Andover Turnpike. - This road encountered the usual amount of opposition from those who saw that it would lead travel away from their houses, also from those who thought its passage through their farms would ruin them. But the saving of three miles' travel for loads of ship- timber and country produce was too great a gain of time, space, and money, to be relinquished without a struggle. The first projectors of the enterprise persevered, and subscriptions for stock were opened in 1804. Medford was largely interested in the enterprise ; and an act of incor- poration was obtained June 15, 1805, by Jonathan Porter, Joseph Hurd, Nathan Parker, Oliver Holden, and Fitch Hall. The route was designated in the Act. It was to run from the house of John Russell, in Andover, in an easterly direction, to the east of Martin's Pond, nearly on a straight line to the house of J. Nichols, in Reading, thence to Stoneham, by the west side of Spot Pond, to the market-place in Medford. As usual, the cost was poorly estimated. More money was expended in the construc- tion of the road than was at first supposed necessary, and for this cause it did not prove to be remunerative to the stockholders. Propositions were made, in 1828, for its sale. These were not accepted ; and finally it was concluded to abandon the road, and to offer it as a free public highway to the towns through which it passed. In 1830 the town of Medford voted to accept and support that part of it which is in Medford, whenever it shall be free of toll. Again, in 1831, the town express the wish that it may become a free road, and promise to keep their part in good repair. This disposition having been made of it, the town has performed its promise ; and to-day, under the name of Forest Street, it is one of the most popular localities for private residences.
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