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 37
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FISHERIES.
In Mystic Pond, there are few fish at present. The fresh- water perch, which appear in the sun like a fragment of a rainbow shooting through the water, are the most numerous. The bream are not uncommon ; but their size is very small. The tomcod come to winter there, and are easily taken thus : Some ten or twelve of them gather about a small stone, very near the shore, and each makes its nose to touch the stone. The fisherman sees this unfrightened family circle quietly reposing ; and he suddenly and strongly strikes the ice with an axe, directly over the unsuspecting group. The blow stuns the fish ; and he quickly cuts a hole, and takes them all out ! Of minnows there are scarcely any, owing to the presence of that fresh-water shark, the pickerel. Eels are taken in win- ter by means of forked irons, thrust into the mud through holes in the ice ; and smelts are taken at the same time, in the river near Charlestown, by means of the common hook.
Oyster-fishing is another branch of trade carried on from Mystic River. In the early settlement of our town, oysters were extensively used as food, and they were easily taken. They so far abounded in that part of the river which is now between our turnpike river-wall and Malden Bridge that they obstructed navigation. Mr. Wood, speaking, in 1633, of these hinderances, has these words: "Ships, without either ballast or lading, may float down this (Mystic) river ; other- wise, the oyster-bank would hinder them, which crosseth the channel." This oyster-bank is one of those unfortunate institutions whose fate it has been to be often "run upon," and on which the " draughts " have been so much greater than the " deposits " that it long ago became bankrupt; yet, like an honest tradesman, it has never despaired ; and, within our memory, has made some good fat dividends. In 1770, the sludge from the distilleries was supposed to have poisoned these shell-fish.
Lobsters have not frequented our river in great numbers ; but, in 1854, they came up in large companies as far as Chelsea Bridge ; and, in the warm month of October, more than two thousand, of prime quality, were taken from that bridge !
The names of all the fishermen in Medford cannot be recovered ; but, among them, there have been men of that great energy which secures success.
The fish found their market chiefly in Boston; and were sometimes cured, and sent in barrels to the Southern States, as food for slaves, or to the West Indies for common con-
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sumption. Many were smoked, after the manner of herring, and eaten in New England ; many more were used as bait for cod-fishing on the Banks. Alewives, in early times, were sometimes used as manure; and shad were salted in tubs, and eaten in the winter.
The income from these fisheries may not have been very large, unless we count the support which fish furnished as food; and, in such case, we apprehend the income was great indeed. They gave a needed and most welcome variety in that brief list of eatables with which our fathers were wont to be contented.
In 1829, by the enterprise of Mr. John Bishop, the busi- ness of mackerel-fishing was attempted. Some of the finest schooners from the fleets of Hingham were purchased, and fitted out in amplest order. Three schooners were built in Medford for this service. But, before two years had elapsed, it was found impossible to compete with Plymouth, Hing- ham, Gloucester, and Boston. In these places, barrels and salt were cheaper than at Medford, and the common market more accessible, especially in winter.
MEDFORD CRACKERS.
He who introduces a better kind of bread than was ever known before is entitled to honor for his ingenuity, and to gratitude for his beneficence. The individual richly deserv- ing both these is Convers Francis, Esq., the first manufac- turer of the Medford crackers. Mr. Francis served his apprenticeship to the baking business with Captain Ebenezer Hall, in Medford. After acting as his foreman for some years, he set up for himself in West Cambridge (then called Menotomy), where he remained two years, when Captain Hall came to him, and proposed to him to return to Medford, and take his bakehouse and business, and carry it on for him- self. This he agreed to do. Thus Mr. Francis, in 1797, found himself in Medford, doing a good business in the place of his master. In that business he continued till 1818, with- out intermission, and accumulated a comfortable property. He early gave the energies of an active mind to the invention of a new kind of cracker. He well knew that the quality of the flour demanded his first scrutiny ; and so skilful had he become in the examination of that article, that he cared
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nothing about its marks or popularity. He would tell the true price in a few moments, and was never known to select a bad barrel. In the manufacture of his bread, every com- ponent part was personally examined, and every rule most scrupulously complied with. There was a severe exactness in each particular, that helped greatly in securing the final success. Mr. Francis produced a cracker which was consi- dered as more tasteful and healthy than any heretofore invented. Every year increased his reputation, and widened his business ; and, as early as 1805, Medford crackers were known through the country, and frequently sent to foreign lands. The writer of this was walking in a street of London in 1834, and saw, at a shop-window, the following sign : " Medford crackers." This bread deserved all the fame it acquired ; for never had there been any so good, and we think there is now none better. It required great labor ; and all the work was done by hand. Each cracker was nearly double the size of those now made; and the dough was kneaded, rolled, weighed, pricked, marked, and tossed into the oven, by hand. Now all these are done by machinery. The labor of making a barrel of flour into crackers cost then nine dollars, and now about three dollars. This bread was called crackers, because one of them would crack into two equal parts. One piece of dough was rolled out just thick enough to enable it to swell up with the internal steam gene- rated by baking on the hot brick-floor of the oven ; and holes enough were pricked into the dough to allow a part of the steam to escape, and so leave the mass split into two equal parts, adhering mostly by the edges.
The deleterious mixtures called bread, which we now often use, are the cause, we apprehend, of some of our chronic diseases. If the General Court would legislate properly on the great and vital subject of bread, a good inconceivable great and durable would result to society. If some bakers, without designing it, are administering mineral or vegetable poisons by their bread, cake, and pastry, what pleasing reflec- tions must now belong to Mr. Francis, in his old age, as he counts up the years in which he fed thousands daily with bread wholly nutritive, and always palatable !
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
DISTILLATION.
This was a branch of trade held in high repute by our ancestors, and some of the most intelligent and pious of our Medford citizens engaged in it ; but none grew rich from it. It was not uncommon, in the first century of our settlement, for private families to have a " still," by which they supplied themselves with alcoholic liquors ; and not to offer a visitor " something to drink " was a flagrant breach of hospitality. It may have been during one of Rev. Dr. Byles's many visits in Medford that the following dialogue occurred. The lady at whose house he was calling asked him to step into her kitchen, and see her new still; and, having assured him of its extraordinary powers, the doctor replied, " Well, madam, if it be so remarkable, I wish you would do a job for me with it." " With all my heart, sir : what shall I do for you ?" " Why, still my wife's tongue."
When the first distillery was built in Medford; cannot be ascertained with precision ; but the evidence is mostly in favor of Andrew Hall (1735). The spot he selected is that which Mr. Lawrence now occupies ; and the building was of wood. This spot was chosen chiefly for the reason that a most copious spring of peculiarly good water issues from the earth at that place. The great reputation obtained by the Medford rum is owing to the singular properties of this spring. Other distillers, therefore, in different parts of New England, put the name of Medford on their barrels. He died just as his eldest son, Benjamin, had reached his majority. This son stepped into his father's place, and carried on the busi- ness.
There is a tradition that a man named Blanchard, who had connections in Malden, was the first who set up a distillery in Medford. It was upon the south side of the river, on the first lot east of the bridge. It was afterwards used by Heze- kiah Blanchard, the inn-holder, who distilled anise-seed, snake-root, clove-water, &c. These drinks were afterwards produced in large quantities in Medford. In 1777, Medford rum sold at 3s. 10d. a gallon, by the barrel ; 4s. 6d. by the single gallon.
After the Malden distiller had invested his little all in molasses, and occupied every vat, and was beginning to prosper, there rose a tide so high as to overflow all his vats
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DISTILLATION.
with salt water. This catastrophe ruined him as entirely as it did his rum. With much of the Anglo-Saxon courage, he kept his spirits up, and looked to his Malden friends to aid him. They consented to do so; and Captain John Dexter, Captain Harnden, and Mr. John Bucknam, joined him in building the second distillery, which, in our day, is con- verted partly into a store, and partly into a shelter for the locomotive of the Medford Branch Railroad. After this time, Mr. John Bishop built a distillery on the opposite side of the road, in Ship Street, nearer to the river ; and Mr. Benjamin Hall, in 1797, took down the one which his father had built of wood, and replaced it with the one of brick which is now used. This enlargement of the business, together with the high reputation justly acquired by the manufacturers in Medford, gave employment to many men in many ways.
The business has been carried on by Messrs. Andrew Hall, Benjamin Hall, John Bishop, Nathaniel Hall, Fitch Tufts, Joseph Swan, Hall and Manning, and Joseph Hall. It is now prosecuted only by Mr. Daniel Lawrence. It was never a profitable branch of trade ; and, till 1830, it ruined many persons who entered it. Since the "temperance reforma- tion," it has yielded great profits to the few who pursue it.
The business demanded a larger investment of capital than any other manufacturing interest within the town. Agents were employed to purchase molasses in the West Indies ; and schooners of the largest tonnage were often seen unlading at wharves on the borders of which the distilleries stood.
Soon after 1830, all the distilleries but one were discon- tinued, and three of the buildings were demolished. In 1849, the efforts of temperance societies had so far influenced public opinion and the general habits as to diminish the use of rum to an extent almost fatal to the manufacturers of it. But about that time commenced an active demand for alcohol, as a component part of the " burning fluid " now so generally used ; and this demand rather increases. The present war in Europe has greatly augmented the consumption of rum ; and so brisk is the demand, that now, for the first time within thirty years, new distilleries are being established, not only in the United States, but in Cuba and other West India islands.
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
LIGHTERING.
This name was applied to a freighting business, carried on extensively through Mystic River, between Medford and Boston. The craft generally used were sloops ranging from fifty to one hundred tons' burden. They were introduced for the transportation of bricks, and afforded the only mode of transfer before Charlestown Bridge was built. Mystic River, to our fathers, was bridge, turnpike, and railroad. When adventurers settle in a forest, it is the first wisdom to fix themselves near a river ; because a river is an easy high- way, always kept in good repair, and free from all taxation. The business of lightering employed many men ; and the in- habitants at first used these sloops as passenger-packets to Boston and Salem. So important had become this mode of conveyance for bricks, merchandise, and people, that, when a petition was started for permission to build Charlestown Bridge, Medford opposed it with unanimity and zeal, “ be- cause it would destroy the lightering business." The result was much as our citizens had foretold : bricks soon began to be carried by oxen in carts ; thus saving both the loading and unloading in the sloop, where many were necessarily broken.
The labor of lightering was very hard; for, at times, it became necessary for men to walk on the banks, and thus tow the sloop by means of long ropes. This toil was often under- taken in the night, and during stormy weather. Wood and bark were freighted from Maine, and rockweed from Boston Harbor. A business that was suspended during two or three months of each year, on account of ice, was not attractive to those who wished steady employment, and was not likely therefore to secure the best laborers.
MILLS.
The building of a mill required more iron and stone work than our fathers in Medford were at first prepared to carry through : they therefore adopted the Indian's mill ; which was a rock hollowed out in the shape of a half-globe, and a stone pestle. The mortar held half a bushel, and the pestle weighed forty or fifty pounds. A small, flexible tree was bent down, and the pestle so tied to its top as to keep it sus-
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pended immediately over the mortar. When the pestle was set in motion, the elastic spring of the tree would continue its blows on the grain for a minute or more.
They found a mill driven by wind cheaper than one driven by water: nevertheless, the water-power here was sufficient, and so convenient that it soon became serviceable. April 20, 1659 : Thomas Broughton sold to Edward Collins, for six hundred and fifty pounds, "his two water-mills, which he built in Mistick River." They were then occupied by Thomas Eames.
There was a mill a short distance below the Wear Bridge ; but who built it, and how long it stood, we have not been able to discover. The place is yet occupied. In 1660, Ed- ward Collins conveyed a " gristmill on the Menotomy side " to Thomas Danforth, Thomas Brooks, and Timothy Wheeler. This,mill was previously occupied by Richard Cooke.
There was a mill at. the place now called the " Bower," about one mile north of the meeting-house of the first parish, carried by the water of Marble Brook. The banks, race, canal, and cellar are yet traceable. This was used for grinding grain and sawing timber. It was on land now owned by Mr. Dudley Hall.
The remains of another water-mill are still visible on land now owned by Mr. W. A. Russell, near the north-west border of the town. It was carried by the water of Whitmore Brook. This mill must have been among the earliest in Medford.
The first action of the town respecting mills was May 30, 1698, and the record reads thus :' " Put to vote, whether the inhabitants of Medford will petition the General Court for li- berty to build a gristmill on the river, near and above Mistick Bridge. Voted in the affirmative." This was not successful ; nor was the following, -Nov. 26, 1700: " Whether the town will petition the General Court for liberty to build a corn-mill in their town, at Gravelly Bank, near Mistick Bridge. This was voted in the affirmative."
When the circular stone windmill, now standing on Quarry Hill, in Somerville, was built, the inhabitants of Medford carried their grain there. Before the Revolution, the mill was converted into a powder-house, and has been used as such to our day.
1730 : Mr. John Albree built a mill upon his own land, on a branch of Marble Brook. It stood about six rods west of Purchase Street, on land now owned by Mr. P. C. Hall,
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
where it joins the land of Mr. B. L. Swan. The supply of water was small, as the present banks indicate. There hc, and his only son Joseph, wove cloth by water, prepared wool for spinning, and had lathes for turning wood. His house, of two stories, which he built, stood about six rods north-east from his mill. The mill stood more than forty years, and was once used for the manufacture of pomatum and starch.
1746 : This year the tidemill, near Sandy Bank, was built ; and it was the first of the kind in that part of the town. As it is now standing, it may be worth while to state a few facts touching its origin. Articles of agreement were con- cluded, Feb. 20, 1746, between Richard Sprague, cooper, Samuel Page, yeoman, Simon Tufts, Esq., physician, John Willis, yeoman, Stephen Hall, trader, Stephen Bradshaw, yeoman, Simon . Bradshaw, leather-dresser, and Beniamin Parker, blacksmith, on the one part, all of Medford, and owners of land; and, on the other part, Stephen Hall, Samuel Page, and Stephen Willis, of Medford, husbandmen, and Benjamin Parker, of Charlestown, housewright, as under- takers. They, of the first part, give the portions of land they own lying between the market and Cross Street, on con- dition that they, of the second part, will open a straight road, two rods wide, from the market to Cross Street, and build a stone bridge over Gravelly Creek. This was introductory to building the tidemill. Benjamin Parker gave the land on which the mill was built, -thirty-one feet long, and twenty- five wide. John Willis and Benjamin Parker gave liberty to the undertakers to cut a ditch from Gravelly Creek to the
mill, and to build a dam. Dr. Tufts, John Willis, Samuel Page, Thomas Oakes, and Nathaniel Hall, bind themselves never to obstruct the free flow of water to the mill. The undertakers then bind themselves " to erect a good gristmill on the spot of land above mentioned ; and said mill shall be ready to go at or before the last day of September next." As gua- ranty for each party, they " bind themselves in the penal sum of five hundred pounds."
The mill was completed, and answered its purpose. It afterwards came into the possession of Timothy Waite, jun. He sold it to Seth Blodget, March 9, 1761. Mr. Blodget sold it to Matthew Bridge, Oct. 18, 1780. Mr. Bridge sold one half of it to John Bishop, April 7, 1783 ; and sold the other half to John Bishop, jun., April 29, 1784. John Bishop sold
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MIDDLESEX CANAL.
the whole to Gershom Cutter, who sold to Samuel Cutter, who sold to George T. Goodwin, its present owner.
This mill has had various fortunes, and, by turns, has done all sorts of work. Whether it has been most successful in grinding grain or mustard-seeds or paints, or in sawing ma- hogany and turning wood, we know not.
May 10, 1766 : It was again suggested " to build a grist- mill near the great bridge." But it was not done.
May 12, 1791 : The town voted " not to allow any one to build a mill near the great bridge."
The mills of Baconville are mentioned under the head of manufactures. They had at first a checkered fortune, as devoted to clothing and fulling, as saw and grist mills, as screw-factory, foundery, door and sash, leather, and snuff fac- tories. To their present owners they would have been very profitable, if frequent fires had not consumed them.
Mills carried by steam-engines are now becoming com- mon ; and families are supplied with meal by the regular traders.
MIDDLESEX CANAL.
This was the first canal in New England, if not the first in the New World, which was opened under a charter derived from a legislature, with tolls regulated by law. The enter- prising citizens of Medford were among the first movers of the project, and the steadiest helpers of the work. It con- tributed so much to the wealth of our town, by inducing ship-builders to settle and work among us, that a notice of it belongs to our records.
I find the following statistics in an " Historical Sketch of the Middlesex Canal," gathered by their faithful agent, Caleb Eddy, Esq., and dated 1843 : -
" In the month of May, 1793, a number of gentlemen associated ' for opening a canal from the waters of the Merrimac, by Concord River, or in some other way, through the waters of Mystic River, to the town of Boston.' There were present at this meeting the Hon. James Sullivan, Benjamin Hall, Willis Hall, Ebenezer Hall, Jonathan Porter, Loammi Baldwin, Ebenezer Hall, jun., Andrew Hall, and Samuel Swan, Esq.
" After organizing, by the choice of Benjamin Hall as chairman, and Samuel Swan as clerk, 'the Hon. James Sullivan, Loammi Baldwin, and Captain Ebenezer Hall, were chosen a committee to attend the General Court, in order to obtain an act of incorpora-
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tion, with suitable powers relating to the premises.' In conformity with this vote, a petition was presented to the General Court, and a charter obtained ('incorporating James Sullivan, Esq., and others, by the name of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal'), bearing date June 22, 1793; and on the same day was signed by his excel- lency John Hancock, Governor of the Commonwealth.
" By this charter, the proprietors were authorized to lay assess- ments, from time to time, as might be required for the construction of said canal. At the first meeting of the proprietors, after the choice of James Sullivan as moderator, and Samuel Swan as clerk, the following votes were passed ; viz., 'That the Hon. James Sulli- van, Hon. James Winthrop, and Christopher Gore, Esq., be a com- mittee to arrange the business of the meeting, which they reported in the following order : -
"' Voted that the business of the corporation be transacted by a committee, annually elected, consisting of thirteen directors, who shall choose their president and vice-president out of their own number.
"' Voted that the Hon. James Sullivan, Loammi Baldwin, Esq., the Hon. Thomas Russell, Hon. James Winthrop, Christopher Gore, Esq., Joseph Barrell, Esq., Andrew Cragie, Esq., Hon. John Brooks, Captain Ebenezer IIall, Jonathan Porter, Esq., Ebenezer Storer, Esq., Caleb Swan, and Samuel Jaques, be directors for pursuing the business of the canal for the present year.'
" At a meeting of the directors, Oct. 11, the following vote was passed : -
"' Voted that the Hon. James Sullivan be president; Loammi Baldwin, Esq., first vice-president; and Hon. John Brooks, second vice-president.'
"The board of directors being duly organized, the next duty was to commence ' the necessary surveys of the most eligible route between Medford River and Chelmsford, by the Concord River.' Here the committee were met by an almost insurmountable diffi- culty : the science of civil-engineering was almost unknown to any one in this part of the country. They were, however, determined to persevere ; and appointed Mr. Samuel Thompson, of Woburn, who began his work, and proceeded from Medford River, at a place near the location of the present lock, and followed up the river to Mystic Pond, through the pond and Symmes's River, to Horn Pond in Woburn, and through said pond to the head thereof. Meeting here bars they could neither let down nor remove, they went back to Richardson's Mill, on Symmes's River, and passed up the valley, through the east part of Woburn, to Wilmington, and found an easy and very regular ascent until they reached Concord River; a dis- tance travelled, as the surveyor says, 'from Medford Bridge to the Billerica Bridge, about twenty three miles ; and the ascent he found to be, from Medford River to the Concord, sixty-eight and one-half feet.' The actual elevation, when afterwards surveyed by a prac-
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tical engineer, was found to be one hundred and four feet. By the original survey from Billerica to Chelmsford, the surveyor says, ' The water we estimate in the Merrimac at sixteen and one-half feet above that at Billerica Bridge, and the distance six miles ; ' when, in fact, the water at Billerica Bridge is about twenty-five feet above the Merrimac at Chelmsford. This report shows one of the many diffi- culties the directors had to contend with for the want of requisite scientific knowledge.
" On the first day of March, the directors passed a vote, appoint- ing Loammi Baldwin, Esq., to 'repair to Philadelphia, and en- deavor to obtain Mr. Weston's (an English engineer) assistance in conducting the canal. If he cannot come, then that he endeavor to obtain some other person who shall be recommended by Mr. Weston; and that said agent be authorized to write to Europe for some suitable person for the undertaking, if none can be found else- where.' Col. Baldwin made a lengthy and able report on the twelfth day of May, 1794. Among other things, he says he lias engaged Mr. Weston to make the survey of the route in the month of June, and closes his report as follows : 'I consider the prospects before us, in this undertaking, much more flattering in respect to the exe- cution of the work, in proportion to the extent, than any I have seen in the Southern States, the Washington Canal excepted.' About the 15th of July, Mr. Weston arrived; and a committee, consisting of Loammi Baldwin and Samuel Jaques, was appointed ' to attend him during his survey and observations relating to the canal.' The survey was completed, and a full report made by Mr. Weston, on the second day of August, 1794. Agents were imme- diately appointed to carry on the work, to commence at Billerica Mills, on Concord River, and first complete the level to the Merri- mac, at North Chelmsford. The season having so far advanced, but little could be done until the next spring, except purchasing ma- terials and making contracts for future operations. The work was prosecuted with great caution, from the commencement to the year 1803, at which time it was so far completed as to be navigable from the Merrimac to Charles River ; but delays and great expense were incurred for many years, owing to imperfections in the banks and other parts of the work ; and about the whole income was expended in additions, alterations, and repairs ; and no dividend could be, or was, declared until Feb. 1, 1819 !
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