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 4
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In the Charlestown records, 1664, John Greene, giving a history of the first comers, says : -
" Amongst others that arrived at Salem, at their own cost, were Ralph Sprague with his brethren Richard and William, who, with ' three or four more, by joint consent and approbation of Mr. John Endicott, Governor, did, the same summer of anno 1628 (9), undertake a journey from Salem, and travelled the woods above twelve miles to the westward, and lighted of a place situate and lying on the north side of, Charles River, full of Indians, called Aberginians. Their old sachem being dead, his eldest son, by the English called John Sagamore, was their chief, and a man naturally of a gentle and good disposition. ... They found it was a neck of land, generally full of stately timber, as was the main, and the land lying on the east side of the river, called Mystick River, from the farm Mr. Cradock's servants had planted called Mystick, which
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
this river led up unto ; and, indeed, generally all the country round about was an uncouth wilderness, full of timber."
This party from Salem, passing through Medford, were the first European feet that pressed the soil we now tread.
At the Court of Assistants, held in London, May 21, 1629, it was thus ordered : -
"That two hundred acres of land be by them allotted to each adventurer for £50 adventure in the common stock, and so, after that rate, and according to that proportion, for more or less, as the adventure is, to the intent they may build their houses and improve their lands thereon. It is further fit and ordered, that all such as go over in person, or send over others at their charge, and are adventurers in the common stock, shall have lands (fifty acres) allotted unto them for each person they transport to inhabit the plantation, as well servants as all others."
Mr. Cradock, according to this, must have had large grants. The lands granted must be improved within three years, or forfeited. If a person came here who had no share in the common stock of the Company, he could have only fifty acres of land, though a head of a family. These small grants surprise us till we consider that land in the Old World, and especially in England, was scarce and dear.
Governor Winthrop in his Journal says : "Thursday, 17th of June, 1630: We went to Massachusetts to find out a place for our sitting down. We went up Mystick River about six miles." This was the first exploration of the river, carried probably as far as Medford lines ; and the English eyes in that boat were the first eyes of settlers that looked upon these fields on which we now live. The first settlers came from Suffolk, Essex, and Lincolnshire, in England.
The first grant made by the Court of Assistants of lands in Mistick was made to Governor Winthrop in 1631. The record says : "Six hundred acres of land, to be set forth by metes and bounds, near his house in Mistick, to enjoy to him and his heirs for ever." He called his place, after the manner of the English noblemen, the "Ten Hills Farm ; " which name it still retains. This favorite selection of the chief magistrate would naturally turn his thoughts to his fast friend, Mathew Cradock, and lead him to induce Mr. Cra- dock's men to settle in the neighborhood. Thus we arrive at a natural reason for the first coming of shipwrights and
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
fishermen to this locality. Gov. Winthrop had early settled the question for himself, and then immediately gave his advice to his friend's company ; for, by special contract in England, the artisans were to work two-thirds of the time for the Company, and one-third for Mr. Cradock. This arrangement brought the Governor and these workmen very near together, and made it the interest and convenience of both to become neighbors. We do not see how it could have been well otherwise.
The facts we infer are these. The four ships, Arbella, Jewell, Ambrose, and Talbot, which sailed from the Isle of Wight, April 8, 1630, brought the first settlers of this region. Two of the ships belonged to Mr. Cradock. The Governor had the care of Mr. Cradock's men, and, as soon as possible after his arrival, searched for the best place wherein to employ them. His choice fell on Mistick, probably on the 17th day of June ; and so rapidly did our young plantation thrive, that, on the 28th of September (only four months afterwards), Medford was taxed £3 for the support of military teachers.
Nov. 30, 1630, another tax of £3 was levied. Thus Medford became a part of " London's Plantation in Massa- chusetts Bay." Twelve ships had brought, within a year, fifteen hundred persons ; and Medford had a large numerical share. The running streams of fresh water in our locality were a great inducement to English settlers ; for they thought such streams indispensable. In 1630 they would not settle in Roxbury " because there was no running water." In Charlestown (1630) the "people grew discontented for want of water; who generally notioned no water good for a town but running springs." Medford, at the earliest period, became that anomolous body politic called a town ; creating its own government, and electing its own officers. No municipal organization, like this, had been witnessed in the old world for four centuries !
How natural was this growth. By the law, " each adven- turer had a right to fifty acres of land." Each one would see that this grant was made and secured. Thus the territory was divided into manageable lots, and thus farms began. Gov. Dudley says : "Some of us planted upon Mistick (1630), which we called Meadford." This shows the beginning of a settlement by other than Mr. Cradock's men. Mr. Cradock's men had their rights to land ; and probably each one received . his due. The grant was not confirmed to Mr. Cradock till
5
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
1634. 'The sales of land, after his death, to Edward Collins, Jonathan Wade, Richard Russell, Peter Tufts, Thomas Brooks, Timothy Wheeler, and others, shows the slow pro- gress of the infant settlement.
With the Governor and Mr. Cradock's men, many, doubt- less, were glad to associate themselves ; because something like a definite organization already existed among them. The elements of power and prosperity scemed to be with them ;' and we can imagine our first settlers beginning their eventful experiment with lion hearts and giant hands. We may therefore reasonably fix upon June 17, 1630, as the time when our Anglo-Saxon ancestors first came to Medford, and determined upon the settlement of the town, and thus took possession. Gov. Dudley says : "They who had health to labor fell to building." This must have been so with all the first comers here; and we can see, in our mind's eye, the lofty forest falling by the woodman's axe, and anon taking its place in the tents or log-huts, which were the only shelter from the fast approaching cold. Here let it be remarked, that there is not connected with the first steps of our Med- ford plantation the slightest trace of injustice, violence, or crime., In the minute accounts of the best historians, there is no mention of treachery, idleness, or dissipation. If any violation of good neighborhood, or civil law, or gospel morality, had existed, we should certainly have heard of it ; for every man was emphatically his brother's keeper, and was Argos-eyed to detect the offender, and Briarian-handed to clutch him. We therefore confidently infer, that they who had concluded to make this place their home, were noble adventurers, conscientious patriots, and uncompromising Puritans ; men whose courage dared to meet the panther and the tomahawk, whose benevolence would share with the red man its last loaf, and whose piety adored the hand that sent
sickness and death. We should expect from no one but Archbishop Laud the following remark : "These men do but begin with the Church, that they might after have the freer access to the State." Their hired men and servants were of excellent character, with one or two exceptions. Our fathers brought with them the Company's directions, dated April 17, 1629 ; and they complied with the following : "Our earnest desire is, that you take special care, in settling these families, that the chief in the family (at least some of them) be grounded in religion ; whereby, morning and evening family
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
duties may be duly performed, and a watchful eye held over all in each family, by one or more in each family to be appointed thereto, that so disorders may be prevented, and ill weeds, nipt before they take too great a head." Their trust was the Bible, law-book, and gun.
The early histories tell of many, in other places, who became dissatisfied with their first choice, and moved to more promising localities ; but not a word of complaint reaches us from the first planters of Medford, and no one, to our knowledge, left the plantation. They brought with them the animus manendi.
To show how fast the settlement went on, it is said, under date of Oct. 30, 1631, that "the Governor erected a build- ing of stone at Mistick." The houses of the first settlers were fortified by palisades, thought to be a very necessary defence of themselves and their cattle against the nocturnal attacks of wild beasts and savages. It was not uncommon for a plantation to unite in building a stone or brick house, into which they could retire for the night, or escape from the Indians. In Medford were built three of these strong brick citadels, two of which yet stand. Obliged to depend in great measure for subsistence, during the first winter, upon food brought from England, there must have been an impatient waiting for spring ; and, when it arrived, the whole population must have gone to work in clearing whatever open land could be used for planting. A writer says (1630) : "The scarcity of grain was great ; every bushel of wheat-meal, 14s. sterling ; every bushel of peas, 10s .; and not easy to be procured cither."
" Aug. 16, 1631 : Six hundred acres of land given to the Governor near his house in Mistick."
The crops of 1631 were most abundant. Having made their selection and commenced their settlement, our ancestors were not likely to be disturbed by interlopers ; for the Court of Assistants, Sept. 7, 1630, passed the following : "It is ordered, that no person shall plant in any place within the limits of this patent, without leave from the Governor and Assistants, or the major part of them." Governor Winthrop felt too deep an interest in his near neighbors to allow any infringement of this law. The first planting of Medford was thus singularly auspicious under the supervision of the illus- trious chief magistrate, called the " American Nehemiah,"
,
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
and by the more effectual patronage of the richest member of the Company. Its numbers and prosperity increased while Mr. Cradock lived; and, when his interest was removed, it declined.
The lands of a town were parcelled out by a committee, chosen by the inhabitants. Seven wise and prudent men were selected for this purpose. The town mainly directed, and then ratified, the work. Sometimes lots decided a case.
How many of the first settlers became freemen we shall not know until the lost records of Medford are discovered. We find the following Medford names among the list of free- men between 1630 and 1646. How many were settlers here, we know not. Nathaniel Bishop, Thomas Reeves, John Collins, Jonathan Porter, Richard Bishop, Thomas Brooke, John Waite, William Manning, John Hall, Richard Francis, William Blanchard, Henry Simonds, Zachery Fitch, Richard Wade, Richard Bugbe, John Watson, Abraham Newell, Henry Brooke, Gamaliel Wayte, Hezekiah Usher, Thomas Bradbury, Richard Swan, John Howe, Edmund Angier, Thomas Oakes, Hugh Pritchard. If any historian issues a writ of replevin, then we must appeal to lost records, or give up.
In the county records we find the following names of men represented as at Medford : -
George Felt 1633.
Thomas Greene . 1659.
. James Noyes
1634.
James Pemberton
1659.
Richard Berry
1636.
Joseph Hills 1662.
Thomas Mayhew
1636.
Jonathan Wade
1668.
Benjamin Crisp 1636.
Edward Collins 1669.
James Garrett
1637.
John Call 1669.
John Smith
1638.
Daniel Deane 1669.
Richard Cooke
1640.
Samuel Hayward
1670.
Josiah Dawstin Dix
1641.
Caleb Brooks
1672.
Ri. Dexter
1644.
John Whitmore
1678.
William Sargent
1648.
John Greenland
1678.
James Goodnow .
1650.
Daniel Woodward
1679.
Edward Convers
Stephen Willis
1680.
Goulden Moore
1650. 1654.
Thomas Willis
1680.
Robert Burden
1655.ª
John Hall
1680.
Richard Russell
1656.
Gersham Swan
1684.
Thos. Shephard
1657.
Joseph Angier
1684.
Thos. Danforth
1658.
John Bradshaw
1685.
1641.
Daniel Markham 1675.
John Martin
1650.
Isaac Fox 1679.
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Stephen Francis . 1685.
John Tufts 1690.
Peter Tufts 1686.
Simon Bradstreet . 1695.
The following owned lands in Medford before 1680 : -
William Dady.
Rob. Broadick.
Mrs. Anne Higginson.
John Betts.
Caleb Hobart.
Jotham Gibons.
John Palmer.
Richard Stilman.
Nicholas Davidson.
Mrs. Mary Eliot.
-
Jonathan Tufts 1690.
Increase Nowell. Zachary Symmes.
The lands of Medford were apportioned to the first settlers according to the decision of the Court of May 21, 1629; and Josselyn speaks of the town, in 1638, as " a scattered village." We suppose that the three "forts," or brick houses, were placed conveniently for the protection of all the inhabitants. If so, the first settlers occupied the land near the river, on its north bank, from the old brick house on Ship Street to the west brick house, now standing behind the house of the late Governor Brooks. Soon the population stretched westward to Mystic Pond; and, when the inhabitants came to build their first meeting-house, they found the central place to be " Rock Hill ; " and there they built it. The West End was very early settled as the best land for tillage.
It is natural to ask, by what right our Medford ancestors held their farms at first, and what guarantees they had from adequate authorities. We have abundant testimony that not a foot of land was taken from the Indians by force. Every particle was fully and satisfactorily paid for, as we have shown elsewhere. Having thus honorably come into possession, the question was, how can ownership be legally secured ? That question was answered by the following most important order of the General Court, under date of April 1, 1634 : -
"It is ordered, that the constable and four or more of the chief inhabitants of every town (to be chosen by all the freemen there, at some meeting there), with the advice of some one or more of the next Assistants, shall make a survey of the houses backside, corn- fields, mowing-ground, and other lands, improved or enclosed, or granted by special order of the Court, of every free inhabitant there, and shall enter the same in a book (fairly written in words at length and not in figures), with the several bounds and quanti- ties, by the nearest estimation, and shall deliver a transcript thereof into the Court within six months now next ensuing; and the same, so entered and recorded, shall be sufficient assurance to every such
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
free inliabitant, his and their heirs and assigns, of such estate of inheritance, or as they shall have in any such houses, lands, or frank-tenements." (See History of the Indians.)
Mr. Wm. Wood, who resided some years in the Colony, published, in 1634, the following description of Medford : -
"Towards the north-west of this bay is a great creek, upon whose shore is situated the village of Medford, a very fertile and pleasant place, and fit for more inhabitants than are yet in it."
We omit the descriptions of Newton and Watertown here introduced. The writer then says : -
"The next town is Mistick, which is three miles from Charles- town by land, and a league and a half by water. It is seated by the water's side very pleasantly : there are not many houses as yet. At the head of this river are great and spacious ponds, whither the alewives press to spawn. This being a noted place for that kind of fish, the English resort hither to take them. On the west side of this river the Governor has a farm, where he keeps most of his cattle. On the east side is Mr. Craddock's plantation, where he has impaled a park, where he keeps his cattle, till he can store it with deer. Here, likewise, he is at charges of building ships. The last year, one was upon the stocks of a hundred tons ; that being finished, they are to build one twice her burden. Ships, without either bal- last or loading, may float down this river; otherwise, the oyster- bank would hinder them which crosseth the channel."
The Hon. James Savage, in his edition of Winthrop's Journal, vol. ii. p. 195, has the following note concerning Medford : -
" Of so flourishing a town as Medford, the settlement of which had been made as early as that of any other, except Charlestown, in the bay, it is remarkable that the early history is very meagre. From several statements of its proportion of the public charges in the colony rates, it must be concluded that it was, within the first eight years, superior in wealth at different times to Newbury, Ips- wich, Hingham, Weymouth, all ancient towns, furnished with regu- lar ministers. Yet the number of people was certainly small ; and the weight of the tax was probably borne by the property of Go- vernor Cradock, there invested for fishing and other purposes. When that establishment was withdrawn, I suppose, the town languished many years. Simon Bradstreet and James Noyes preached. The consequence of their subsequent destitution of the best means of religion were very unhappy. The town was poorly inhabited, the people much divided, occasionally prosecuted for their deficiencies, and long in a miserable condition. A long period of
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
happiness at last arrived in the times of Turell and Osgood ; and, for more than a century, Medford has appeared one of the most thriving villages in the vicinity of Boston."
The shadows in this picture, we think, are darker than the records will warrant.
The first settlers came to Medford in June, 1630. The grant of land to Mr. Cradock was March 4, 1634. Here, therefore, were almost four years in which the first comers were gathering and settling before Mr. Cradock came into possession. His prosperous company would naturally induce others to come here; and, when they had thus settled, they would form a government ; and, when all these things were done, it would not be policy for Mr. Cradock to disturb or remove such friends. For more than three years they labored on the land, and made an agricultural beginning, confirmed by Mr. Cradock. In his letter he gives special charge con- cerning all such ; that every thing be done for their safety and comfort. These were the fathers of Medford. 1633: An historian says of the colonists : "Although they were in such great straights for food that many of them ate their bread by weight, yet they did not faint in spirit." Gov. Winthrop, Sept. 9, 1630, says : " It is enough that we shall have heaven, though we pass through hell to it."
As soon as Gov. Winthrop had settled himself on the Ten- Hill Farm, in 1630, he recommended Gov. Cradock's men to plant themselves directly opposite him on the north side of the river. They did so. A promontory there, jutting towards the south into the marsh, was the only safe place then to build upon. It is about sixty rods south-east of the ancient house now standing on the farm of Messrs. James and Isaac Wellington. The marshes stretch away from this pro- montory, on every side except the north, where it joins the mainland. On its highest point they built the first house erected in Medford. This was in July, 1630. There are persons now living who knew an old lady, named Blanchard, who was born in that house. It was probably a log-house, of large dimensions, with a small, deep cellar, having a chimney of bricks laid in clay. The cellar was walled up with stone, and has been destroyed but a few years. The bricks, very similar to those in Gov. Cradock's mansion-house, have been in part removed. We have to-day (April 25, 1855) taken away half a dozen of them as specimens of the
-
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HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
first manufactory in Medford. They are very large, very badly made, and burned to the hardness of granite. Thus fixed, in the most favorable position, Gov. Cradock's men passed the first winter ; and were ready to proceed to busi- ness in the spring of 1631.
As we sit in our safe and comfortable homes, how difficult is it for us to estimate the perils and labors of our ancestors ! How faintly do we appreciate those daily toils by which they rescued from the forest the fields we now reap ! How inade- quate is our measurement of those multiform deprivations through which they secured to us our present abundance ! Above all, how imperfect is our appraisement of those anxious endeavors to establish the civil institutions by which we are protected, and to cement those social relations in which we are blessed ! Theirs were the labors of sowing; ours, the joys of harvest. In their life's great picture, poverty and suffering were the dark clouds prepared as the background for the exhibition of their Christian graces. They had made up their minds on the duties of their mission, and they " endured as seeing Him who is invisible." They did not expect that a natural Virginian bridge would be thrown over all the deep gulfs of human life. They meditated, prayed, resolved, acted, and conquered. Honor virtutis premium.
We confess to hear with small patience some of the fashionable and flippant denunciations of our pilgrim ances- tors. They are uttered sometimes by those who should know better, and sometimes by those who are sumptuously feeding from tables which these ancestors have spread for them. If we disregard the early education and conventional habits, the peculiar exposures and straightened circumstances of our forefathers, it may then be very easy, judging them by our rules, to impugn their motives, criticize their plans, ridicule their errors, and magnify their faults ; but we think it would show our wisdom and magnanimity much better if we should do for posterity, in our situations, as much as they did for it in theirs.
To illustrate the peril supposed to exist in the early settle- ment, 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 plantation, without leave from the Court."
Our Medford ancestors kept a jealous eye upon new com-
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FIRST SETTLEMENT.
ers, and enforced the following order, passed Sept. 6, 1638 : " Ordered, That constables shall inform of new comers, if any be admitted without license."
That the Company in London had fixed firmly one point, the following extract from their second letter, May 28, 1629, will sufficiently prove : "The course we have prescribed of keeping a daily register in each family will be a great help and remembrance to you and to future posterity, for the upholding and continuance of this good act, if, once well begun and settled, which we heartily wish and desire as afore- said." This referred to a spiritual espionage which they had resolved should be held over every family.
It will be interesting here to see how the heirs of Mr. Cradock disposed of his large estate, and to trace how it came into the hands of Medford settlers.
Mr. Cradock's widow, Rebecca, married Richard Glover, who, March 1, 1644, rented to Edward Collins one-half of his land "in Medford in New England ; " viz., " houses, edi- fices, buildings, barns, stables, out-houses, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, findings, woods, highways, profits, com- modities, and appurtenances."
Mr. Cradock's widow married her third husband, Rev. Benj. Whitchcot, D.D., in 1652. Damaris, Mr. Cradock's daughter, married Thomas Andrews, leather-seller, of London. Samuel, his brother, was elder of Chapleton, and had three sons. By instruments, dated June 2 and Sept. 6, 1652, they quit-claim to Mr. Collins " all that messuage, farm, or plan- tation, called Meadford in New England " by them owned.
Aug. 20, 1656 : Mr. Collins, after residing twelve years on his farm in Medford, sells to Richard Russell of Charlestown, sixteen hundred acres of it, with his mansion-house and other buildings. This track was bounded by Mystic River on the south, by Charlestown line on the north, by trees standing near a brook on the west, and by the farms of Nowell and others on the east. "Collins covenants to save Russell harmless from all claims from the heirs of Cradock, unto whom the said plantation was first granted " by the Court. No specification is given of the number of " cattle " or of " tenements." At this time, Mr. Collins deeds other portions of his farm to other persons.
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
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