USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1630, to the present time, 1855 > Part 3
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
To Medford belongs the introduction of the celebrated " Baldwin Apple." The first tree, producing this delicious fruit, grew on the side hill, within two rods of the former Woburn line, and about ten rods east of the present road which leads from West Medford to the ancient boundary of Woburn. It was on the farm occupied by Mr. Thompson, forty or fifty rods south of what used to be called " the black- horse tavern." At the request of Governor Brooks, the writer made a visit to that tree in 1813, and climbed it. It was very old and partly decayed, but bore fruit abundantly. Around its trunk the woodpeckers had drilled as many as five or six circles of holes, not larger than a pea ; and, from this most visible peculiarity, the apples were called " Wood- pecker Apples." By degrees their name was shortened to Peckers ; and, during my youth, they were seldom called by any other name. How they came by their present appella- tive is this. Young Baldwin, of Woburn, afterwards a colonel, and father of Loami, was an intimate friend of young Thompson (afterwards Count Rumford) ; and, as lovers of
20
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
science, they asked permission of Professor Winthrop to attend his course of lectures in natural philosophy, at Har- vard College. Twice each week, these two thirsty and ambi- tious students walked from their homes in Woburn to bring back with them from Cambridge the teachings of the learned professor. One day, as they were passing by the " Wood- pecker Tree," they stopped to contemplate the tempting red cheeks on those loaded boughs ; and the result of such con- templations was the usual one, - they took and tasted. Sud- den and great surprise was the consequence. They instantly exclaimed to each other that it was the finest apple they ever tasted, Some years after this, Col. Baldwin took several scions to a public nursery, and from this circumstance they named the apple after him, which name it has since retained. In the gale of September, 1815, this parent tree fell ; but very few parents have left behind so many flourishing and beloved children.
The price of land has steadily increased from 2s. an acre in 1635, and 5s. in 1689, to $50 in 1778 and $100 in 1830, the same positions taken in all the dates. From the year 1800 to the present time, favorite house-lots have advanced in price so rapidly that $2,000 would be refused for a single acre. The fashionable retreat from city to suburban life has induced the owners of farms to cut up into house-lots their tillage lands, and sell them at public auction; because no farmer can afford to till land that will sell at two and three cents the square foot.
Of the farmers of Medford we have nothing but good to report. From the earliest dates to the present time, they have stood without a blot. With that temperance which clarifies the intellect, with that industry which secures gain, and with that economy which saves what is earned, they have presented some of the noblest specimens of citizens, neighbors, and Christians. Society delights to respect a class of men whose investments are in land, water, and sunshine; and whose results are guaranteed by that great and beneficent Being who has promised that " seed-time and harvest shall not fail."
NATURAL HISTORY.
The rocks are mostly primitive granite or sienite, existing in large masses. Some are in a state of decay, as, for
1
21
NATURAL HISTORY.
example, the "pasture-hill gravel." This gravel is used extensively for garden walks, and its fineness and color make it a general favorite. The soil is composed mostly of silex and argilla, a mixture favorable to vegetation.
The flora of Massachusetts would be a fair one of Medford. The high hills, rocky pastures, large plains, alluvial intervales, deep swamps, and extensive marshes, here give food to almost all kinds of trees, plants, shrubs, grasses, and sedges. The presence of fresh water and salt, also the mingling of them in Mystic River, produce a rich variety of herbaceous plants ; and the salt-marsh flowers, though very small, are often very beautiful. Of lichens there are great varieties, and some rare specimens of the cryptogamous plants. Of the forest-trees, we have many of the white and black oak, and some of the red and grey. The oldest survivor of this family of quercus stands in a lot owned by Mr. Swan, and is about half a mile north-east of the meeting-house of the First Parish. It is almost disarmed by time; and it therefore better stood the strain of the tornado of August 22, 1851. Its trunk is six feet in diameter near the ground ; and it is probably as old as Massachusetts Colony. Two varieties of walnut are found among us, and " nutting " is yet a cherished pastime with the boys in October. The sycamore or plane-tree, commonly Of late
called buttonwood, abounds here by plantation. years it has been suffering from a sort of cholera, which has destroyed its first leaves, and rendered its appearance so dis- agreeable as to induce most persons to remove it from sight. The violence of the disease seems past, and the tree gives signs of rejuvenescence. The graceful elms rejoice our eye wherever we turn, and our streets will soon be shaded by them. The clean, symmetrical rock-maple has come among us of late, and seems to thrive like its brother, the white. Of the chestnut, we have always known two large trees in the woods, but have never heard of more. The locust is quite common, and would be an invaluable tree to plant on sandy plains in order to enrich them ; but a borer-worm has so successfully invaded, maimed, and stinted it that its native beauty is gone. The locust is the only tree under which the ruminating. animals prefer to graze. Of beach-trees we have not many, and what we have are small. So of the black and white ash, there is not an abundance. Once there was a good supply of the hornbeam ; but that has ceased. Of birch, the black, white, and yellow, there are flourishing specimens.
24
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
close observer might publish regular ornithological bulletins of their successive arrivals. Of those that rest with us, the first comer in the spring is the bluebird, whose winter home is in Mexico and Brazil, and whose first song here is a soft, exhilarating, oft-repeated warble, uttered with open, quiver- ing wings, and with such a jubilant heart as to thrill us with delight. Then comes the friendly and social robin. The old ones have not gone far south in winter. Some of them remain here through that dreary season, with the woodpecker ; but the young ones migrate in autumn, sometimes as far as Texas. The spring-birds, the warblers, the buntings, finches, sparrows, thrushes, come in quick succession to rear their young. Snipes, quails, partridges, and woodcocks, come a
little later. Sandpipers, plovers, teals, and ducks arrive among the latest. Medford Pond was a common resort for several kinds of wild ducks. About seventy-five years ago, a gunner killed thirteen teal at one shot. There are a few birds that awaken a deep curiosity, and confer constant delight through their long sojourn. The barn swallow, that comes from the Gulf of Mexico to spend his summer with us, is always greeted with a joyous welcome about the 10th of May. The rice-bird of Carolina, called the reed-bird in Pennsylvania, and the butter-bird in Cuba, is called here the bob-o-lincoln ; and it amuses us greatly. The male, when he arrives, is dressed up as showily as a field-officer on parade- day, and seems to be quite as happy. Fuddled with animal spirits, he appears not to know what to do, and flies and sings as if he needed two tongues to utter all his joy. We might speak of the little wren, that creeps into any hole under our eaves, and there rears its numerous family ; the humming- bird, that builds so skilfully in our gardens that we never find its nest; the yellow-bird, that makes the air resound with its love-notes ; the thrush, that seems made to give the highest concert-pitch in the melody of the woods. To these we might add the night-hawk and the whip-poor-will, and many more that spend their summer with us; but these are enough to show that the dwellers in Medford are favored each season with the sight and songs of a rich variety of birds. We find the following record made March 8, 1631 : " Flocks of wild pigeons this day so thick that they obscure the light."
Another record shows that our fathers preserved the game by laws. "Sept. 3, 1634: There is leave granted (by the
25
NATURAL HISTORY.
General Court) to Mr. John Winthrop, jun., to employ his Indian to shoot at fowl " (probably in Mystic River).
The fish most common in our waters are the shad, ale- wives, smelt, bass, perch, breanı, eel, sucker, tom-cod, pick- erel, and shiner. We do not now think of any species of fish which frequent either our salt or fresh waters which is unfit for food.
Of insects we have our share, and could well do with fewer. If all persons would agree to let the birds live, we should have less complaint about destructive insects. The cedar or cherry-bird is appointed to keep down the canker- worm; and, where this useful bird is allowed to live unmo- lested, those terrible scourges are kept in due subjection. The borer, which enters the roots of apple, peach, quince, and other trees, and eats his way up in the albunum, is a des- troyer of the first rank among us. Of late years, almost every different tree, plant, and shrub, appears to have its patron insect that devours its blossoms or its fruit. They are so numerous and destructive that many persons do not plant vines. Fifty or a hundred miles back in the country, these insects are comparatively scarce. The voracious bugs most complained of here are the squash, yellow, potato, cabbage, apple, peach, pear, and rose. The two elements of fire and water, all sorts of decoctions, powders, gasses, and fumiga- tions, have been resorted to for the extermination of the . above-named bugs, yet all with slight effects. Our next neighbor, forty years ago, raised the most and best melons and squashes of the county, by placing a toad, in a small house, next to each hill of plants. Every morning these hungry hunters would hop forth to their duty ; and their mis- sile tongues, glued at the end, were sure to entrap every in- sect. Caterpillars and canker-worms have destroyed orchards, as grasshoppers have fields ; and the way to prevent their ravages is only partially understood.
Assured that every insect has its place for good assigned by the wise Creator, we have only to labor for that true science which shall reveal all uses, and thus prevent abuses.
If we could comprehend all the localities of the globe, with all their varieties, we should then see all animals in their places, and should thus get a glimpse of the great system of correspondencies.
The keeping and increase of honey-bees was a favorite idea with our Medford ancestors ; and a pound of honey bore, for
4
26
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
nearly two centuries, the same price as a pound of butter. As early as 1640, bees were kept here; and their gathered sweets were among the very choicest delicacies on our ances- tral tables. The modes now adopted for taking a portion of honey from every hive, and yet leaving enough to feed the insect family through the winter, was not known by our forefathers. Their mode of securing the honey of their bees was the topmost of cruelty and ingratitude. When autumn flowers ceased to yield any sweets, the owner of bees resolved to devote one hive to destruction ; and his method was as follows : - He dug a hole in the ground, near his apiary, six inches square and three deep ; and into this hole he put brimstone enough to kill all the bees in any hive. When night had come, and the innocent family were soundly sleeping, the owner sets fire to the brimstone, and then imme- diately places the hive over the suffocating fumes, and there leaves it till morning, when it is found that not even an elect one is delivered from the hell beneath! We wonder if our fathers ever thought of the text, " A merciful man is merci- ful to his beast." If bees have souls, some of their execu- tioners may hereafter find themselves surrounded by swarms of tormentors, and then learn the meaning of another text, " Mine enemies compasseth me about like bees." It is cus- tomary now to sow the white clover and mignonette for the bees, as these plants furnish the richest food.
We have given these broken notices of the natural history of Medford in popular language, and without full scientific arrangement, deeming any further catalogue unnecessary.
We may here express the hope, that the parents and teach- ers of coming generations may be wise enough to show their children and pupils the harmonies of nature ; those analogies and relationships of things which can be seen only by look- ing from the divine angle. When the human mind can thus " look through nature up to nature's God," it can then com- prehend the beauty, power, and sacredness of the Creator's approval, " And God saw every thing that he had made ; and, behold, it was very good." Would that anything we could say might induce the inquisitive minds of future days to open the Bible of nature, and read passage after passage for the illumination of the mind and the peace of the heart ! Nothing learned here need be unlearned hereafter. The proper study of natural history will give force to vital Chris- tian faith. This study indicates a safe road from the natural
·
27
MEDFORD RECORDS.
to the spiritual world. The naturalist fixes on facts evolving the order of causes and the harmonies of the universe. He would see truth's polarity in the smallest feather as in the rolling planet. He would thus follow the great and ever- expanding order of creation inwards to the point where mechanics and geometry are realized in the all-embracing laws of Wisdom and Providence; and where, at last, the human mind itself recognizes the very source of life in its humiliation before the throne of God.
CHAPTER II.
-
MEDFORD RECORDS.
THE oldest town-records extant are in a book fifteen inches long, six wide, and one thick. It is bound in parchment, and was tied together by leathern strings. Its first twenty-five or thirty pages are gone ; and the first thirty pages of the pre- sent volume are all loose and detached from their place, and may very easily be lost. The first record is as follows : - " The first Monday of February, in the year of our Lord, 1674. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Meadford, Mr. Nathaniel Wade was chosen constable for the year ensuing." The chirography is very good, the sentences properly con- structed, and the spelling without error. There are Latin quotations in them. Only six pages of Mr. Jonathan Wade's records remain. As it was customary to keep the town- records in the same hands as long as possible, it is fairly pre- sumed that this gentleman was the second, perhaps the first, town-clerk. His successor was Mr. Stephen Willis, who re- mained in office thirty-six years, exercising a fidelity which entitles him to the name of veteran. The first volume of records is wholly of his writing, save the little above-men- tioned and the seven years of Mr. John Bradstreet. When he had finished the volume, he resigned his office ; and we regret that the book closes without showing any vote of thanks for his long and valuable services.
1
28
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
At the end of this first volume of records, there is a cata- logue of births, marriages, and deaths, mixed up with county rates, &c. The last item in the volume is dated Aug. 20, 1718, and is the receipt of Rev. Aaron Porter for his salary. His signature is in that round and manly style, which, as it stands, seems to be a fit guarantee for the truth of all the preceding records.
The second volume is a small folio, bound in parchment. It is twelve inches and a half long, eight wide, and one inch and a half thick. It begins Feb. 12, 1718, and ends June 23, 1735. From 1674 to the present time, the town-records are unbroken.
The third volume is a large folio, but sadly torn and injured. A proper index of the records is greatly needed.
The first volume of church records is bound in parchment. It is eight inches long, six and a half wide, and half an inch thick. It begins May 19, 1712, and ends April 13, 1774. It contains all the records during the ministry of Rev. Mr. Porter, and that of Rev. Mr. Turell. It records births, bap- tisms, and marriages, the doings of the church, the admissions to the Lord's supper, &c. ; but it does not notice any deaths.
The second volume of church records is bound in rough leather, and is of the same form and size as the first. It contains all the facts belonging to the ministry of Dr. Osgood. It begins Sept. 14, 1774, and ends with his last entry, Dec. 2, 1822, made twelve days before his death.
Of the later records in town and church (all unbroken and accurate), it is not necessary to speak. They are well secured in strong books ; but those above mentioned should be copied by a careful hand, and bound in uniformity. The iron or stone safe, where old manuscripts are kept, should be - emptied, aired, and well heated once in every six months.
In early times, one page was sufficient to contain a full record of a town-meeting ; but, in our day, the record of a March meeting is spread over fifteen or twenty pages.
The earliest records of the town-treasurer, which are pre- served, are those of Capt. Samuel Brooks. For many years, this gentleman was placed on the most important committees. On the Sunday after his death, July 10, 1768, Mr. Turell preached two funeral sermons from Phil. i. 21. The first person in Medford who seemed to have any true regard for posterity, in making his records, was Mr. Thomas Seccomb, who, for twenty-two years, recorded with admirable particu- larity the facts most important for the historian.
29
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
To show properly the first coming of our ancestors to this region, it will be necessary to trace their last movements in England. This can be done most briefly and satisfactorily by giving extracts from the truthful and interesting letter of Governor Dudley, dated March 28, 1631, to the Countess of Lincoln. The extracts are as follows : -
" To the Right Honorable, my very good Lady, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln.
" MADAM, - Touching the plantation, which we here have begun, it fell out thus : About the year 1627, some friends, being together in Lincolnshire, fell into discourse about New England and the planting of the gospel there; and, after some deliberation, we im- parted our reasons by letters and messages to some in London and the West Country, where it was likewise deliberately thought upon, and at length, with often negotiation, so ripened, that, in the year 1628, we procured a patent from his Majesty for our planting between the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River on the south, and the river of Merrimack on the north, and three miles on either side of those rivers and bays ; as also for the government of those who did or should inhabit within that compass. And the same year we sent Mr. Jolın Endicott, and some with him, to begin a planta- tion ; and to strengthen such as we should find there, which we sent thither from Dorchester, and some places adjoining; from whom, the same year, receiving hopeful news, the next year, 1629, we sent divers ships over, with about three hundred people, and some cows, goats, and horses, many of which arrived safely.
" These, by their too large commendations of the country and the commodities thereof, invited us so strongly to go on, that Mr. Win- throp, of Suffolk (who was well known in his own country, and well approved here for his piety, liberality, wisdom, and gravity), coming in to us, we came to such resolution, that in April, 1630, we set sail from Old England with four good ships. And, in May following, eight more followed ; two having gone before in February and March, and two more following in June and August, besides another set out by a private merchant. These seventeen ships arrived all safe in New England for the increase of the plantation here this year, 1630; but made a long, a troublesome, and costly voyage, being all wind-bound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds after they set sail, and so scattered with mists and tempests, that few of them arrived together. Our four ships, which set out in April, arrived here in June and July, where we found the Colony in a sad and unexpected condition ; above eighty of them
30
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
being dead the winter before, and many of those alive weak and sick : all the corn and bread among them all hardly sufficient to feed them a fortnight. But, bearing these things as we might, we began to consult of our place of sitting down; for Salem, where we landed, pleased us not. And, to that purpose, some were sent to the Bay to search up the rivers for a convenient place ; who, upon their return, reported to have found a good place upon Mistick ; but some other of us, seconding these, to approve or dislike of their judgment; we found a place liked us better, three leagues up Charles River, and thereupon unshipped our goods into other vessels, and, with much cost and labor, brought them in July to Charlestown. But, there receiving advertisements (by some of the late arrived ships) from London and Amsterdam of some French preparations against us (many of our people brought with us being sick of fevers and the scurvy, and we thereby unable to carry up our ordnance and baggage so far), we were forced to change coun- sel, and for our present shelter to plant dispersedly; some at Charlestown, which standeth on the north side of the mouth of Charles River; some on the south side thereof, which place we named Boston (as we intended to have done the place we first resolved on) ; some of us upon Mistick, which we named Meadford ; some of us westward on Charles River, four miles from Charles- town, which place we named Watertown ; others of us two miles from Boston, in a place we called Roxbury ; others upon the river Sangus between Salem and Charlestown; and the Western-men four miles south from Boston, in a place we named Dorchester. They who had health to labor fell to building, wherein many were interrupted with sickness, and many died weekly, yea, almost daily.
" After my brief manner I say this : that if any come hither to plant for worldly ends, that can live well at home, he commits an error, of which he will soon repent him; but, if for spiritual, and that no particular obstacle hinder his removal, he may find here what may well content him, viz., materials to build, fuel to burn, ground to plant, seas and rivers to fish in, a' pure air to breath in, good water to drink till wine or beer can be made; which, together with the cows, hogs, and goats brought hither already, may suffice for food : as for fowl and venison, they are dainties here as well as in England. For clothes and bedding, they must bring them with them, till time and industry produce them here. In a word, we yet enjoy little to be envied, but endure much to be pitied in the sick- ness and mortality of our people. If any godly men, out of reli- gious ends, will come over to help us in the good work we are about, I think they cannot dispose of themselves nor of their estates , more to God's glory, and the furtherance of their own reckoning; but they must not be of the poorer sort yet, for divers years. I am now, this 28th March, 1631, sealing my letters.
" Your Honor's old thankful servant,
" THOMAS DUDLEY."
-
31
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
" The five undertakers were Governor Winthrop, Deputy Governor Dudley, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Isaac Johnson, Esq., and Mr. Revil."
"The settlement of the patent in New England " meant the establishment of the government here. Hutchinson says : " It is evident from the charter, that the original design of it was to constitute a corporation, in England, like to that of the East India Company, with powers to settle plantations within the limits of the territory, under such forms of government and magistracy as should be fit and necessary."
The decision of the Court respecting the occupancy of land, after their arrival, was known to our fathers. At the meeting in London, March 10, 1628-9, the Court say : -
"This day being appointed to take into consideration touching the division of the lands in New England, where our first planta- tion shall be, it was, after much debate, thought fit to refer this business to the Governor (Cradock), and a Committee to be chosen to that purpose to assist him ; and whatsoever they shall do therein, that to stand for good."
May 28, 1629 : In the " second general letter," the Court say : -
· "We have further taken into our consideration the fitness and conveniency, or rather necessity, of making a divident of land, and allotting a proportion to each adventurer ; and, to this purpose, have made and confirmed an Act, and sealed the same with our common seal."
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.