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 33
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ALMS-HOUSES.
Our intelligent and thrifty Puritan ancestors had no need of alms-houses. They 'who came here were the robust and young ; and they insisted on obedience to the text, " He that will not work, neither shall he eat." Idleness was whipped out of the men by the magistrates, as out of the boys by their parents. The first mention in our Medford records of any . alms-house is May 16, 1737, - more than a century after the incorporation of the town ; and then it is proposed to invite neighboring towns to unite in building a common workhouse. The inhabitants chose a committee to confer with the adjacent towns, and to induce them to join in " building a house for employing poor, indigent, and slothful persons." This pro- position was not accepted ; and Medford did nothing more about the matter till May 23, 1774, when a committee was chosen to provide a poorhouse on account of the town exclu-
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
sively. This was the definite movement that led to practical results, and it was the first in this particular direction. It shows that the number of paupers were small till this time.
In 1790, the town purchased a large house at the West End, near where the Lowell Railroad Station now is, together with a small lot of land, sufficient only for a vegetable garden. Here the poor and helpless were gathered and made com- fortable ; but after twenty years it was found insufficient ; and the constant perplexities to which the overseers of the poor were subjected, induced the town to think of building a new and ample house of brick. On the 4th of March, 1811, the whole matter was committed to the five following gentlemen : Timothy Bigelow, John Brooks, Jonathan Brooks, Isaac Brooks, and Abner Bartlett. After several meetings and much investigation, they report, that it is expedient for the town to build a large and commodious house, of brick, on the spot occupied by the old one. This report was accepted ; and the same gentlemen were appointed the building-commit- tee, to proceed immediately in the work. Discontents arose to fetter the proceeding ; and, after much vacillating legislation, the final result was the ample brick square house, whose strong walls only are yet standing to support a new, expensive, and commodious country-seat. It is only justice to say, that this act of the town was suggested, and the work carried for- ward, through the wisdom and energy of Isaac Brooks, Esq., who was indefatigable, as an overseer of the poor, in procur- ing every convenience and comfort for the inmates of the house that he consistently could.
This house answered its purpose well for forty years. In 1827, the town voted to purchase eight acres of land adjoin- ing the alms-house lot, at one hundred dollars per acre. In 1828, the project of purchasing a farm, as some town's had done, on which to employ the poor as laborers, came up for discussion ; and so favorably did the inhabitants view it, that they voted to purchase as soon as a proper one could be found. No purchase was made ; and in 1832 a committee is directed to sell the poorhouse, if they think it advisable. It is not done; and in 1837 the town again called up the sub- ject, and appointed a committee to examine lands and close the bargain. But no farm was purchased.
In 1849, the town bought a large lot of ten and a half acres in West Medford, on Purchase Street, for a cemetery. After the purchase, it was thought that the situation was
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TRADE.
better for an alms-house than a cemetery ; and accordingly, March 10, 1851, they voted to change the appropriation.
April 8, 1852 : A committee was appointed to sell the old alms-house, and devise a plan for a new one. This commit- tee consisted of the following gentlemen : Samuel Joyce, Elisha Stetson, Caleb Mills, John A. Page, and Franklin Patch. The committee performed their duty acceptably, and were directed to build according to the model ; and the con- sequence was the spacious and comfortable house now occu- pied by the public poor of the town.
June 28, 1852: The town appropriated $5,500 for the building of the house. It cost $6,450.
ENGINE-HOUSES.
Number.
When built.
Builders.
Place.
Cost.
No. 1
1848
James Pierce
No. 2
1851
No. 3
1849
James Pierce James Pierce
Union Street High Street Park Street
$575.00 2,375.13 663.00
CHAPTER X.
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TRADE.
MEDFORD having for its friend the richest merchant belonging to the " Company " of the Massachusetts Plantation, its trade was great at first.
Oct. 16, 1629 : The General Court ordered " that the com- pany's joint stock shall have the trade of beaver and all other furs in those parts, solely, for the term of seven years from this day."
May 18, 1631 : " It is ordered that every plantation within the limits of this patent shall, before the last day of June next, provide common weights and measures, which shall be made by some which the governor hath already sealed, and
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
1 by which also all others that will have weights and measures of their own are to be made."
1635 : Voted that beaver-skins shall pass for ten shillings per pound.
Sept. 6, 1638 : Mr. Cradock's accounts were audited in Boston.
Mr. Cradock's large outlay here, for all the accommodations requisite in building schooners and carrying on an extensive fishing business, made this region a trading centre. This first state of things continued till the withdrawal of Mr. Cra- dock's property, a few years after his death. The fishing business had been unsuccessful, and no one would continue it. The second period of trade in Medford reached (to speak in round numbers) from 1650 to 1750, during which time the manufacture of bricks was the most important and lucrative business pursued in the town. Other branches gra- dually increased.
1650 to 1700, there were no newspapers, no scientific lectures, no bank, no insurance-companies, nc post-office, no stage-coaches, no good roads. Must not trade have been sınall ?
The third period extended from 1750 to 1805. It began to be understood that Medford could furnish the staple arti- cles of iron, steel, lead, salt, molasses, sugar, tea, codfish, chocolate, guns, powder, rum, &c., to country traders at a less price than they could get them at Boston. The distil- ling business and the manufacture of bricks required many lighters to go loaded to Boston : returning, they could bring back iron, steel, &c., at small cost. Medford, there- fore, by its river, became a centre of supply to country tra- ders from New Hampshire and Vermont. Supply begets market, as market begets supply. Traders here could pur- chase ivory-handled knives, spring-bocks, brass-ware, tin, and pewter; of groceries, every thing but good tea and coffee ; of dry goods, Kent linen, cotton, Irish stockings, Turkey mohair, red serge, broadcloth, muffs, ribbons, lace, silks, combs, napkins, yellow taffety, thread-lace, gloves, &c. Bar- ter was the most common form of trade ; and the exchanges were made with about half the care and selfishness so active at this day.
Pitch, tar, and turpentine were brought from the interior at an carly date; but, in 1755, it became an active business. Casks for them were made in Medford ; and the vote of the
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TRADE.
town required that each cask should be examined by a com- mittee, and, if well made, then marked with a double M. Coopering now became an extensive and profitable branch of business. It was begun, before the Revolution, by the agency of Mr. Benjamin Hall. Charles Henley, of Boston, was his foreman, and superintended it till 1802. Andrew Blanchard, Joseph Pierce, and James Kidder were appren- tices in Mr. Hall's establishment.
Mr. Benjamin Hall was among the first and the most active of the Medford merchants. He not only carried on the dis- tilling business, but had a large store for wholesale barter. It was not uncommon for him to receive a hundred barrels of pearl-ashes per day, and five hundred tierces of flax-seed per year. He also carried on the " beef business," having seven hundred head of cattle slaughtered each year. Mr. Ebenezer Hall had an equal number slaughtered ; and they made a'l their tallow into candles. The drovers were glad to take their pay in sugar, molasses, iron, tea, rum, &c.
Hov different this from the course of trade in England, where a man was forbidden by law to carry on two mechanic trades or different pursuits ! A tanner could not be a shoe- maker. These monopolies and legal restrictions had no place in New England ; and their absence was a prime cause of our great prosperity. It made every free man a free trader. The British Parliament tried to put on the handcuffs of restriction ; but the colonists would not wear them. Gal- latin says, "No cause has contributed more to the prospe- rity of this country than the absence of those systems of internal restriction and monopoly which continue to disfigure other countries."
Mr. Jonathan Porter opened a store of English goods pre- vious to the Revolution, and gradually enlarged his business till he sold all the heavier articles of inland commerce. There are those now living who remember when from twenty to thirty " country pungs " were gathered about the doors of these Medford traders, discharging and taking in their loads. These pungs were drawn by two horses each, and started as far north as Montpelier, Vt., and Lancaster, N.H. With three large distilleries in full action, and many sloops and schooners navigating the river, Medford became one of the most active and thriving towns in the Commonwealth. Dis- tillation was then esteemed by most persons not only lawful and right, but a highly respectable business. With rapid
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
strides, Medford rose in wealth and increased in numbers ; and, in 1805, there were many stores opened, where the necessaries and conveniences, and even the ornaments and luxuries, of life could be obtained at as cheap a rate as in Boston.
The fourth period of trade in Medford extends from 1805 to the present time. The ship-building, the introduction of steam, the Middlesex Canal, the immigration of Bostonians to this place, - these all helped to open new avenues to wealth, and increase the facilities of supply. Within this period, more than half the present number of houses have been built; and there are now five public highways where there was one fifty years ago. The whole course of trade has changed from barter to cash payments or credits ; and cne trader now can do as much in a year as three could at the beginning of this century. The number of gentlemen who reside here, and do business in Boston, is very large, and they are multiplying every month. The cars on both rail- roads are filled every morning, - the earliest with laborers, the next with merchants, and the last with ladies.
During the embargo, in 1808, an old black schooner came up Mystic River with a deck-load of wood and bark. A custom-house officer from Boston took possession of her as a suspected smuggler. The captain invited the officer to take supper with him in the cabin. They sat and ate together ; and the captain asked to be excused a moment while he gave an order to his men. No sooner had he arrived on deck than he turned and fastened the cabin door. Extempore Indians were ready to unload the hold of the schooner, which was full of English goods, wire, &c., from Halifax. During half the night, horse-wagons were passing to Boston from the old wharf, owned by Francis Shed, below the ship-yard. Some teams went to Malden, and some to West Cambridge. The amounts were very large, and the goods of the costliest kinds. The planting of that night produced a rich harvest. The goods were never discovered ; but the vessel was condemned and confiscated. How soundly the officer slept is not known.
MANUFACTURES.
Of these Medford has never had many, in the modern ac- ceptation of the term. Among the first settlers, every house
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MANUFACTURES.
was, in one sense, a factory ; for almost every one had a spinning-wheel and loom. For the early ship-building, there must have been extensive iron-works; and much weaving of cotton and wool must have been necessary to supply the large numbers of fishermen and brick-makers. Much wool was cleaned, carded, and rolled at the mill of Mr. John Al- bree, who was a manufacturer of starch and pomatum. Leav- ing out brick-making, ship-building, and distilling, we have little to record. Wooden heels were made by Mr. Samuel Reeves, 1750 ; and specimens of his work are yet among his great-grandchildren in Medford. Candles and hogsheads were extensively made, about the same time, by Messrs. Benjamin and Ebenezer Hall. Saltpetre was made in con- siderable quantities by Mr. Isaac Brooks. Wheelwrights carried on their business to a large extent. Mr. James Tufts and Son carried on for many years the pottery business. Tanning was vigorously pursued, with a great outlay of capi- tal, by Mr. Ebenezer Hall, on land a few rods south-west of the Episcopal church ; and by Mr. Jonathan Brooks, on land ncar Marble Brook, now owned by Mr. Noah Johnson. The first tan-yard in Medford was on the corner lot south- cast of Whitmore's Bridge. It was bounded on the east by the brook, on the west by Lowell Street, and on the north by High Street. It was last owned by Mr. Nathan Tufts and Mr. Jonathan Brooks, in company. When they sold it, Mr. Tufts moved to Charlestown, and became the most extensive manufacturer of leather in the State.
At Baconville, now in Winchester, Medford had a factory, first owned by Mr. Josiah Symmes. About forty years ago, a company of Boston gentlemen purchased the water-power of Mr. Symmes, for the purpose of setting in motion a new machine for spinning yarn for the manufacture of broadcloth. This project, introduced by a Frenchman, failed; and the mill-power was then applied to the manufacture of wood screws, by a machine entirely new. This would have suc- ceeded ; but, the war of 1812 with Great Britain having ended, wood screws were imported from England so cheap as to render competition ruinous. John L. Sullivan, Esq., the chief agent, afterwards sold the establishment to Mr. Stowell for $4,000, through whom it came into possession of its present owner, Robert Bacon, Esq. He has built three factories and two dwelling-houses, which have been burned ; three in 1840, the last in 1843.
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Since writing the above, we are called to record another destructive fire at Baconville of the factories there. They were burned Sunday evening, April 8, 1855.
Mr. Bacon brought his machinery from Boston to Medford in 1824, and manufactured hat-bodies, feltings, &c., employ- ing eighteen or twenty men. Once only he counted ; and in that year he formed 83,000 hat-bodies. This work was done by the use of Silas Mason's patent, and T. F. Mayhew's im- proved machine. He also planked many thousands yearly ; which operation was by the use of Macomber's patent, and his own improvement. He also blowed the hair from fur, by the use of Arnold Buffom's patent blowing-machine. This process was truly ingenious. It was accomplished by placing the fur on the apron, which was drawn upon a cylin- drical picker, revolving at the rate of five thousand times a minute ; thence it was thrown to a fan revolving at nearly the same speed ; this sent it through a trunk sixty feet long into a closet. The bottom of the trunk was lined with coarse cloth ; the hair, being heaviest, fell and stuck to the cloth : the consequence was that the fur was almost entirely cleared of the hair, and thus the hats were finer. This business he continued till 1848, when he resigned it to his son, who has changed the business to the manufacture of all kinds of felt- ings and lambs'-wool wadding. Among the feltings he has invented a new kind, called sheathing felt, used for cover- ing the bottoms of ships : it can also be placed under the copper, and is much used in covering steam-boilers and pipes.
The making of linseed oil was carried on by Mr. George L. Stearns, on land about fifty rods south of Mystic Bridge. He imported his seed from Calcutta. A convention of manu- facturers of this oil was held at New York in 1841 ; and they agreed to send a committee to Washington, to induce Con- gress to shape the tariff of 1842 so as to protect them. The committee succeeded ; and Mr. Stearns was one of them. The effect was the opposite of what they expected : it induced so many new men to begin the business that it ruined it. From 1835, the manufactory in Medford continued in operation to 1845, when it suspended activity. It resumed work for a year, when the building was burned in 1847.
The factory of Messrs. Waterman and Litchfield, for the making of doors, blinds, window-sashes, &c., is a large and flourishing establishment, near the entrance of Medford Turn-
355
BRICK-MAKING.
pike. It is operated by steam-power, and is extensively pa- tronized by house-carpenters for planing boards.
The mechanics and artisans of Medford, in their various departments, have excellent reputation, and much property.
BRICK-MAKING.
The large deposits of valuable clay within the town of Medford early directed the attention of the enterprising in- habitants to the manufacture of bricks ; and those made in 1630 for Mr. Cradock's house were the first. Bricks were made on Colonel Royal's estate. Clay deposits were found between his mansion-house and the river. A most extensive and profitable business was carried on in these yards for many years. At a later date, say 1750, bricks were made on land directly north of Dr. Tufts's house. The steep bank now in front of Mr. George W. Porter's house marks the place. This land, called Brick-yard Pasture, was owned by Rev. Matthew Byles, of Boston, and sold by him to Dr. Si- mon Tufts, March 26, 1761.
Nov. 14, 1774, the town passed the following vote : " That this town does disapprove of any bricks being carried to Boston till the committees of the neighboring towns shall consent to it."
In 1785, Stephen Hall willed " the brick-yards now in the occupation of Thomas Bradshaw, and Samuel Tufts, jun." About this time, Captain Caleb Blanchard and his brother Simon made bricks in a yard near Mr. Cradock's house, in the eastern part of the town ; and afterwards in a yard on land opposite the Malden Alms-house, just on the borders of East Medford.
The bricks used for the construction of the six tombs first built in the old burying-ground were made in a yard owned by Thomas Brooks, Esq. That yard was near Mystic River, about half-way between Rock Hill and the Lowell Railroad Bridge. In that yard, Samuel Francis made bricks as early as 1750, and sold them at ten shillings per thousand (law- ful money). Mr: Brooks carried on the manufacture in 1760, and sold them at fifteen shillings. Mr. Stephen Hall was the next occupant of that yard, which has been discon- tinued since 1800. In 1795, the price was four dollars.
Captain Caleb Brooks made bricks on the land occupied
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
by the second meeting-house. The banks remain visible at this time.
A bed of clay was opened, in 1805, about forty rods east of the Wear Bridge, on land belonging to Spencer Bucknam, lying on the north side of the road. Only one kiln was burned there.
Fountain-yards. - These yards, which were near the " Fountain House," about eighty rods east of "Gravelly Bridge," were early in order of age. Messrs. William Tufts, Thomas Bradshaw, Hutchinson Tufts, Benjamin Tufts, and Sylvanus Blanchard were the manufacturers in that locality. These yards have been discontinued within our day.
Yards near the "Cradock House " were opened in 1630. Mr. Francis Shedd occupied them in 1700.
" Sodom-yards."- As the familiar and improper sobri- quet of Sodom was early given to that part of Medford which lies south of the river, the brick-yards, opened by the brothers Isaac, Jonathan, and Ebenezer Tufts, obtained the local name. After these gentlemen came Seth Tufts, who, with his son Seth, carried on the business till recently. These yards were situated near Middlesex Canal and the river, about south-south-east from Rock Hill.
The next in order of age were the yards opened in 1810 by Nathan Adams, Esq. They were situated each side of the old county road, leading from Medford over Winter Hill, and were about half a mile south of the "Great Bridge," in the small valley on the borders of Winter Brook. From the first kiln, Captain Adams built the house now standing on the right side of the road, twenty rods north of the kiln, as an advertisement ; and the bricks show the goodness of the clay and the skill of the workmen. These yards were next occu- pied by Mr. Babbitt, but have been discontinued for ten or fifteen years.
We presume that bricks have been made in many places now unknown to us ; for nearly the whole of Medford seems to have a deep stratum of pure clay under it.
The facility of procuring pine, chestnut, and hemlock-wood by the Middlesex Canal made this branch of business pro- fitable ; but when steam navigation could bring bricks from Maine, where wood was half the price it bore here, the Med- ford trade was fatally curtailed. The bricks were carted to Boston at great cost, which gave the yards in Charlestown an advantage over ours. If they were taken in " lighters,"
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SHIP-BUILDING.
by the river, this did not much lessen the expenses of trans- portation, but increased the risks of fracture. The high price of labor, of wood, and of cartage, rendered competition unwise ; and the manufacture of bricks has ceased.
SHIP-BUILDING.
Governor Winthrop sailed from Cowes, in England, on Thursday, April 8, 1630. On Saturday, June 12, he reached Boston Bay ; and, on the 17th of that month, he makes the following record : " Went up Mistick River about six miles."
To this heroic and Christian adventurer belongs the honor of building the first vessel whose keel was laid in this part of the Western World; and that vessel was built on the bank of Mystic River, and probably not far from the governor's house at " Ten Hills." There is a tradition that it was built on the north shore of the river, and therefore within the limits of Medford. The record concerning it is as follows : "July 4, 1631. The governor built a bark at Mistick, which was launched this day, and called ' THE BLESSING OF THE BAY.'" " Aug. 9, the same year, the governor's bark, being of thirty tons, went to sea."
It cost one hundred and forty-five pounds. The owner said of it, May 16, 1636, " I will sell her for one hundred and sixty pounds."
There was something singularly prophetic in the fact that the first vessel built "at Mistick " should have so increased in price after five years of service. Our day has seen the prophecy fulfilled ; as it is no marvel now for a Medford ship to command a higher price after having had a fair trial at sea.
The second year (1632) witnessed another vessel built by Mr. Cradock on the bank of the Mystic, whose register was a hundred tons. In 1633, a ship of two hundred tons was built ; and another, named " Rebecca," tonnage unknown : both built by Mr. Cradock. Mr. William Wood, in 1633, writes : "Mr. Cradock is here at charges of building ships. The last year, one was upon the stocks of a hundred tons : that being finished, they are to build twice her burden." There is reason to believe that Mr. Cradock's ship-yard was that now occupied by Mr. J. T. Foster.
That large vessels could float in the river had been proved by the governor, who may be called the first navigator of our
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
narrow and winding stream. The long passages made by these schooners prove to us, that their form and rig were not after the model and fashion of our day. One of them was " six weeks going to Virginea." The build and rigging, now so peculiarly American, have no superiors in the world ; and Medford has long stood among the leaders in improved naval architecture.
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There is a tradition, probably founded on fact, that small sloops, called lighters, fit for the river navigation, were built in very early times at the " landing " near " Rock Hill," in West Medford. At a later day, one of these was built there by Mr. Rhodes, of Boston, and called the Mayflower, in honor of that vessel of one hundred and eighty tons which came across the Atlantic freighted to the full with religion and liberty, and which landed our Pilgrim Fathers on the Rock of Plymouth. The registers of this small craft are lost, if they ever existed ; as no trace of them can be found in the records of the Custom House at Boston, or in those of the Secretary of the Navy at Washington. This business of ship- building, beginning in 1631, and increasing annually for several years, required many men, who required houses and food within the town.
The origin of the name of schooners is thus given in the Massachusetts Historical Collection. Mr. Andrew Robinson, of Gloucester, Mass., built and rigged a small vessel having two masts. At the moment of launching, a bystander cried out, "Oh, how she scoons !" Robinson instantly replied, " A schooner let her be." And thus they named her. The first bark built in Plymouth colony was built by private subscription ; and the paper bears date of January 24, 1641. It was about fifty tons, and cost two hundred pounds.
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