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 42
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
In 1837, a proposition was made to purchase some land attached to that then owned by the town near the alms-house. After mature deliberation, the committee to whom it was re- ferred reported against the measure.
Since the erection of the new house in 1852, the town's poor have not increased, though every good care is taken of them which their circumstances require. The town of Med- ford has always selected some of its best citizens to oversee and regulate the management of the poor; and they have performed their duties with commendable sympathy and dis- cretion.
The nearness of the alms-house to the places of public worship has rendered special religious services at the house less imperative. Whenever there has been a call for extra service, it has been immediately performed by some clergy- man of the town. A series of sermons was preached at the house, each settled minister taking his turn. Similar services should be had during each winter.
444
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
The amount paid by the town for support of the poor, from Feb. 15, 1854, to Feb. 15, 1855, was $3,571.86 !
TORNADO.
Medford bears its suffering testimony to the effects of the terrible tornado of Aug. 22, 1851. Such extensive destruc- tion of property from such a cause has never before been witnessed in this State. At a meeting of citizens, Aug. 28, the following votes were passed : -
"Voted that a committee of five be appointed to appraise da- mages.
" Voted that Gorham Brooks, Charles Caldwell, Franklin Patch, Albert Smith, and Jeremiah Gilson, constitute the committee.
" Voted that the committee be instructed to consider the circum- stances of the sufferers, and report cases (if any) where charity is deemed necessary.
"Voted that the committee be authorized to communicate with similar committees from other towns, in relation to the publication of the results of their investigations.
" Voted that Rev. Charles Brooks be a committee to collect and arrange the facts in reference to science."
REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF APPRAISEMENT.
The amount of individual losses, as estimated by the com- mittee, is as follows : -
Edward Brooks - Barn $25 Estate belonging to T. P. Smith and others - Buildings, $300; fruit-trees, $600; carriages, $75; vegetables, $10 Charles Rollins-Two dwelling-houses, unfinished, which
'985 Mr. Rollins was building by contract, both entirely demo- lished, including, in one case, the cellar wall. One of these buildings was on the property belonging to T. P. Smith and others, $4,320; the other was for the Rev. Mr. Haskins, $1,450 . 5,770 House building by J. F. Edward, on property belonging to T. P. Smith and others 12 Boston and Lowell Railroad Company - Freight car blown from track, and buildings injured . 40 J. M. Usher - Buildings, $442 ; fruit-trees, $30; fruit; or- namental tree (horse-chestnut), $50 . 522 L. B. Usher - Buildings, $50; fruit-trees and fruit, $58; ornamental trees (elm in road, and horse-chestnut), $100 . 208 Heirs of Leonard Bucknam - Buildings and fences, $450; fruit-trees, $25 . 475
445
TORNADO.
J. M. Sanford - Fence, $10; vegetables, $5; furniture and clothing, $150; carriages, $75 $240 H. T. Nutter - Vegetables, $5; furniture and clothing, $400 405 Joseph Wyatt - Buildings, $250; fruit-trees, $150; fruit, $10 410 Town of Medford - Buildings (school and poorhouse fences, &c.), $410; ornamental trees, $50; fruit-trees, $50 . 510
George E. Harrington - Buildings, $30; fruit-trees, $50; fruit, $8 88
J. Vreeland - Fruit-trees, $150; fruit, $12 162
A. L. Fitzgerald (house slightly damaged).
Samuel Teel, jun. - Buildings, $800; fruit-trees, $200; fruit, vegetables, and hay, $61; wagons, furniture, &c., $120 . 1,181
George Caldwell - House, $25; fruit-trees, $20 45
George F. Lane - Buildings, $600; fruit-trees, $250; vege- tables, $16 866
Thomas Huffmaster - Buildings, $275; fruit-trees, $500; fruit and corn, $45 820
Wellington Russell - Clothing and furniture 25 E. T. Hastings - Fences, $30 ; fruit-trees, $100; fruit, $20 150 J. B. Hatch - Fences, $5; fruit-trees, $75 ; fruit, $25 105
Nathaniel Tracy - Fence . 10
John W. Hastings - House and fence 25
Rev. John Pierpont - Buildings, $500; fruit-trees, $100 600
Heirs of Jonathan Brooks - Buildings and fences, $677; fruit-trees, $500; ornamental trees, $200; fruit, vegeta-
bles, and hay, $80; carriages and hay-rack, $175 . 1,632
Alfred Brooks - Buildings, $350 ; fruit-trees, $100 . 450
Noah Johnson - Buildings, $445; hay and grain in barn, $40; ox-wagon and farming-tools, $42 527
James Wyman - Fruit-trees 30
Moses Pierce - House . 25
John V. Fletcher - House, $25; fruit-trees, $20 45
Joseph Swan - Fruit-trees 20
P. C. Hall-Fruit-trees, $920 ; ornamental trees, $50; fruit, $80 . 1,050
Jonathan Porter - Fruit-trees, $75 ; fruit, $35 . 110
William Roach - Fruit-trees . 25
Dudley Hall - Fruit-trees . 25
Samuel Kidder - Buildings, $50; fruit-trees, $400; orna- mental trees, $50 · 500
Thatcher R. Raymond - Fruit-trees, $100; ornamental trees, $100; fences, $10 . 210
John A. Page - Fruit-trees, $150; ornamental trees, $50; fences, $50 . 250
Russell - Ornamental trees 150
Orchard (East of Andover Turnpike) 40
$18,7 68
446
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Loss of property in West Cambridge, $23,606. In Wal- tham, $4,000.
The other report of facts, in their relation to science, fills forty pages of the little pamphlet which was published Oct. 30, 1851. It will not be republished here, but may be found among the papers of the Smithsonian Institute.
The tornado commenced about five o'clock, P.M., in Way- land, passed through Waltham and West Cambridge, and entered Medford a few rods south of " Wear Bridge." From that point it moved west by south to east by north, and kept this line till it ceased in Chelsea. The report describes the following facts : Direction ; centre ; form; width ; speed; power ; directions in which trees and vegetables were thrown .; directions in which buildings were thrown ; absence of whirl ; miscellaneous items ; personal injuries and death. The re- port closes thus : -
" I must pay a tribute of respect to the people of Medford who were sufferers by this visitation. One and all have sustained their losses, met their disappointments, and borne their sorrows, with a true Christian heroism, worthy of all honor. They see in the event an extraordinary exhibition of a great law of nature, and they bow submissive to nature's GOD."
STORMS AND FRESHETS.
Medford is protected from storms which come from the north and west by the range of hills called "Rocks." It lies exposed to the easterly, and especially to the south-east- erly, winds ; and, from these quarters, it suffers more than some of its neighbors. Snow-storms, coming from the sea, are apt to end in rain ; and our nearness to the ocean pre- vents the snow descending in that quiet way which is so common in the interior. [See remarks on Climate.]
Against freshets, Medford is particularly well guarded. The hilly portions have brooks sufficient to carry off into the river any extra quantity of water that may come from long rains or melting snows. The parts most exposed are those on a level with the banks of the river; and, when violent south-east winds occur during spring-tides, the river rises to a dangerous height. A few times within a century, damages have come from this cause.
-
FIRES.
447
FIRES.
For the first two hundred years of our settlement, there were very few fires, and those few were mostly in the woods. The Indians had been used to clearing their planting-fields by the summary process of burning ; and they occasionally lighted a fire without regard to bounds or proprietorship. Not more than two buildings have been burned at the same time till quite recently ; but, within the last ten years, it has seemed as if former exemptions were to be cancelled by rapidly increasing alarms and widely extended conflagra- tions. The deepest shade of sorrow is added to this calamity by the fact that the fires were sometimes the work of incen- diaries. Several peaceable and excellent citizens have thus lost their barns at seasons when those barns were most full and most needed. The incendiary is truly a child of hell.
The parts of the Town House which were destroyed by two separate fires were restored without much expense to the town.
The greatest and most distressing conflagration that ever occurred in Medford was on the night of the 21st of No- vember, 1850. It destroyed every building, on Main Street and its neighborhood, which stood between the bridge and South Street. The number, including dwelling-houses, workshops, and barns, was thirty-six. It commenced in the old tavern barn, at the north-west corner of the settle- ment, when the wind was blowing a gale from that quarter ; and it spread with such speed as to prevent all passage over the bridge from the north, where ten or fifteen engines were collected, waiting for the first opportunity for duty. There was but one engine north of the bridge. If, instead of a large barn, the first building burned had been a dwelling- house, or if the wind had been at any other point, the terrible destruction might have been stayed ; but, as every circum- stance favored the spread of the flames, their progress seemed like lightning ; and they appeared to leap with frantic fury from one building to another, as a starving man rushes to devour the first food within his reach. Before two o'clock, the whole district was in ashes. It must have gone farther, had not engines from towns south of us arrived, and a few engines from the north been ferried across the river in scows. Nineteen engines were present ; and every fireman and citi-
448
1
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
zen did his utmost. Next to the sufferings of those person- ally interested in the losses of the conflagration, were those of the neighbors and firemen who were stopped on the north side of the bridge, and who saw no way of going to the relief of their friends but by rushing through sheets of fire. If there be acute agony on earth, it is in witnessing calami- ties and pains which we have the wish, but not the power, to relieve.
The deprivations and exposures consequent upon such a catastrophe can better be imagined than described. Every heart and hand in Medford were ready to administer relief ; and all was done for the sufferers that an active sympathy could suggest. Before the first barn was consumed, couriers were sent to the neighboring towns ; and the firemen in each one answered with promptitude, and arrived in season to arrest the devastation. The amount of insurance on the buildings was in many cases small; and losses fell on those who could very ill afford them. $1,335 were immediately raised by subscription in Medford, and distributed by a com- mittee to the greatest sufferers among the poor. To the honor of the sufferers be it said, they met the waste of their property, the derangement of their business, and the suspen- sion of their comforts, with firmness and patience. Before the ruins had ceased to smoulder, the sounds of shovel, hammer, and trowel announced the work of reconstruction ; and, before two years had passed, a new village, Phoenix-like, had risen out of the ashes of the old.
The Committee of Investigation chosen to estimate the losses examined each case; and their report was $36,000, after all insurances were deducted. About half of the pro- perty was insured.
This conflagration convinced the town that another bridge across the river is a necessity ; and we wish it had secured the straightening of Main Street, on the east, from the bridge to Short Street.
At the moment (March 6, 1855) that we chronicle the sad events above, we hear that the school-house in Park Street is in ruins. It took fire this morning, while the children were in it; and, being of wood and exposed to a high wind, it was soon consumed. The children were kept from dangerous alarm, and therefore left the house in safety. The building was insured for one thousand dollars.
449
POUND. DISEASES.
POUND.
In Medford, there were fewer " lands common " than in other towns. The making of fences was difficult at first ; and the " pound " came early into use. It was placed so near a stream of water as to allow the cattle in it to drink. Where the first one in Medford was placed, we know not. The first record is as follows : -
" Feb. 25, 1684: At a general meeting of the inhabitants, John Whitmore granted a piece of land for the use of the town, for the setting up of a pound; which land lies on the south-east of John Whitmore's land, lying near John Bradshaw's house, and is bounded south on John Bradshaw, and east upon the country road. . At the same meeting, the inhabitants agreed to set up a pound on the land aforesaid."
April 28, 1684: "Thomas Willis was chosen to keep the town's pound ; and said pound-keeper shall have, for pound- ing, twopence per head for horses and also neat cattle ; one penny for each hog ; and, for sheep, after the rate of sixpence per score."
This answered all purposes until May 15, 1758, when the town voted "to build a new pound with stone." This was built accordingly, and placed on the west side of the "Wo- burn Road," six or eight rods north of Jonathan Brooks's house, in West Medford. Mr. Samuel Reeves, whose house stood on the spot now occupied by Mr. James Gibson's house, was the pound-keeper. The walls of this pound were very high and strong ; and bad boys thought they had a right to throw stones at the cattle there confined.
March 6, 1809 : Mr. Isaac Brooks and others petitioned the town to have the pound removed. This petition was granted thus : "Voted to have the pound removed to the town's land near Gravelly Bridge, so called ; and said pound to be built of wood or stone, at the discretion of the committee." There the pound remained only for a short time ; when it was removed to Cross Street, near the old brick primary schoolhouse.
DISEASES.
That our Medford ancestors should have subjected them- selves to the attack of some new diseases, or rather of old
57
.
450
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
diseases in modified forms, is most probable. An early his- torian says of this region, "Men and women keep their complexions, but lose their teeth. The falling off of their hair is occasioned by the coldness of the climate." He enu- merates the diseases prevalent here in 1638 : "Colds, fever and ague, pleurisies, dropsy, palsy, sciatica, cancers, worms." Consumption is not mentioned ! We apprehend that the health of our fathers was unusually good. There is scarcely mention of any epidemic. A new climate, poor food, scanty clothing, necessary exposure, hard work, unskilful physicians, may, in some cases, have caused desolating dis- ease to do its rapid work of death; but, as a general fact, health prevailed through the first fifty years.
1764: With reference to the prevalence of smallpox in Medford, we find the following vote: "That a fence and gate be erected across the main country road, and a smoke- house also erected near Medford great bridge, and another smokehouse at the West End, and guards be kept." In 1775, a smokehouse was opened for the purification of those persons who had been exposed to the contagion of smallpox. It stood on the west side of Main Street, about forty rods south of Colonel Royal's house. Visitors from Charlestown were unceremoniously stopped and smoked.
1775 : During this and some following years, there was fatal sickness in Medford from dysentery. Out of fifty-six deaths in 1775, twenty-three were children. In 1776, there were thirty-three deaths ; in 1777, nineteen ; in 1778, thirty- seven ; and in 1779, thirteen. No reason is given for these differences in numbers. Out of the thirty-seven deaths of 1778, eighteen were by dysentery, and twenty were children. Whooping-cough has, at certain times, been peculiarly destruc- tive. Throat-distemper, so called, is often named among prevalent causes of death. In 1795, ten children and three adults died of it between the 20th of August and the 1st of November. Apoplexy seems to have destroyed very few lives. During the first fifteen years of Dr. Osgood's minis- try, only one case occurred !
Oct. 15, 1778 : The town voted to procure a house for those patients who had the smallpox. No disease appeared to excite so quick and sharp an alarm as this. The early modes of treatment gave ample warrant for any fears. In . 1792, the town voted that Mr. Josiah Symmes's house is the only one authorized as a hospital for inoculation. At this
-
451
POPULATION.
house, many, both male and female, whom we have known, have told us that the patients there were numerous, young, and not very sick ; and that the hilarity and frolic of the convalescents exceeded all bounds.
There was one disorder not uncommon among our early settlers and their descendants : it was dropsy ; and we opine that over-doses of cider may have been the cause. Cider did not produce intoxication ; but it filled the stomach to satiety, and produced a kind of water-loggedness and distention, which were apt to make the men cross, and the women sleepy. There is another more active demon, not chronicled in ancient my- thology, whose history has recently been written in fire. He gets a letter of introduction, and comes in the guise of a friend to a house, but finally murders the whole family. The temperance reformers have tried to cast this demon out ; but he will not depart until he has thrown down his victim, and " rent him sore." Luxurious living has produced dis- eases in the digestive organs, and boundless ambition has produced them in the nervous system. Humors have been created in our day, and are becoming transmissible to a de- gree which threatens whole families. The marriage of first- cousins together has done something to produce imbecility and early death.
CHAPTER XIII.
POPULATION.
IT is supposed that Medford, during the first ten years of its settlement, was quite populous ; but the withdrawal of Mr. Cradock's men left it small. Another circumstance which operated unfavorably for the settlement of the town was the few large landholders. Mr. Cradock's heirs sold lots of a thousand acres to individuals, who kept possession of them ; and thus excluded those enterprising and laborious farmers who were the best settlers in those days. Medford could fill up only so fast as these few rich owners consented to sell. This fact explains much of the early history of the settlement.
452
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
While it secured the best kind of settlers, when they did come, it prevented that general rush which took place in other districts, where land could be had almost for the asking. In this, Medford was peculiar ; and these facts explain why the town went so long without public schools and churches. Surely, in some respects, Medford had a small beginning ; but Governor Dudley, speaking on the subject, says, "Small things, in the beginning of natural and political bodies, are as remarkable as greater in bodies full grown."
The following records give the town's population at several epochs : -
1707 : Medford had 46 ratable polls ; which number, mul- tiplied by five, gives 230 inhabitants.
In 1736, it had 133 ; which gives 665.
In 1763, it had 104 houses; 147 families ; 161 males under sixteen ; 150 females under sixteen ; 207 males above sixteen ; 223 females above sixteen. Total, 741 inhabi- tants.
In 1776, it had 967; in 1784, 981; in 1790, 1,029; in 1800, 1,114; in 1810, 1,443; in 1820, 1,474; in 1830, 1,755 ; in 1840, 2,478 ; in 1850, 3,749.
In 1854, 1,299 residents in Medford were taxed.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
The law-maxim, Consuetudo pro lege servatur, expresses what we all feel, -that custom is law ; and is it not stronger than any statute ?" A free people project themselves into their customs and manners as a part of their freedom. So was it with our Medford ancestors. The children of our first settlers, removed from the sight and dread of European aristocracy and social oppression, grew up as the iron cir- cumstances of a pioneer life moulded them. Individualism seemed forced upon them ; and, if a state organization ex- isted, they felt that it existed by them, and not they by it. An intellectual and moral manliness grew out of this fact.
Some of the customs of our ancestors were inconceivable puerile, some were needlessly severe, and some gloriously noble. The Puritan idea of religion was woven, like a golden thread, through the entire web of human life; and nothing but their religion would have enabled them to accom- plish what they did.
453
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
It was the custom in Medford for the selectmen to appoint a thanksgiving day on hearing of any victory gained by British arms in any quarter of the world. They ordered a town-fast if a case of smallpox was reported among them, or if the weather was unfavorable, or if sickness prevailed, or if Quakers threatened to come to their plantation. But there were some physical and social evils which they did not go to God either to prevent or remedy : they took the ad- ministration into their own hands. A Commissioner's Court, composed in part of the selectmen of Medford, had jurisdic- tion within the town, and could issue warrants and enforce judgments. This easy terror proved effective in restraining lawless conduct. The agency of this judicial and executive power may be seen in our account of crimes and punishments. We turn to more agreeable customs.
Marriages. - Whether it was from jealousy of ministerial rights, or hatred of Episcopal forms, or from considering the nuptial tie as a mere civil bond, or from any other cause, we know not ; but the General Court early deprived clergymen of the power of solemnizing marriages, and bestowed it on magistrates. This legislation was in direct hostility to English usage. May 29, 1686, the General Court made pro- clamation, authorizing clergymen to solemnize marriages ; but it was a long time before it became common to apply to them.
If a man made " a motion of marriage " to his chosen one, without first gaining the permission of her parents, he was fined severely. Before they could be legally married, they must be " cried " three times in some public place, each an- nouncement being seven days apart.
Weddings were occasions of exuberant jollity. Pent-up nature leaped forth with an hilarious spring, proportioned to the social duress in which it had been held. To show how much was thought of these red-letter days in Medford, there were instances where provisions for them were made in wills. The entire day was devoted to one ; and every form of youth- ful frolic and maturer joy came in turn. The house of the bride was open for all the invited guests of both parties ; and rural games were all the fashion. The cake and wine, though abundant, did not prevent the offer of more substan- tial viands. A custom like this would be apt to run into extremes ; and this became so apparent as to call forth from the ministers of Boston a " testimony against evil customs " in 1719. They called them " riotous irregularities."
-
454
HISTORY OF MEDFORD.
Funerals. - As the Established Church of the mother country made a formal service over the remains of its mem- bers, it was deemed expedient and Christian, by the Puritans, not to imitate such examples ; and, accordingly, they buried their dead without funeral prayers. Neither did they read the Scriptures ! What they could have substituted for these simple, rational, and impressive rites, we do not know, but presume it must have been a sermon and a hymn. The first prayer made by a clergyman at a funeral, which we have heard of, was made by Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Medfield, at the funeral of Rev. Mr. Adams, of Roxbury, Aug. 19, 1685. The first one made at a funeral in Boston was at the inter- ment of Dr. Mayhew, 1766. The pomp and circumstance of grief were certainly not forgotten on this side of the Atlantic. At the burial of a rich man, a magistrate, or a minister, there was great parade and much expense. Mourn- ing-scarfs, black crapes, pendulous hatbands, common gloves, and gold rings, were gratuities to the chief mourners. The officers accompanying the funeral procession bore staffs or halberts, robed in mourning. The dead body was carried, not by hired men, but by the near friends of the deceased ; and the funeral train was often stopped to allow fresh bearers to take their turn. When a female was buried, females . walked first; when a male, the men. At the grave, the coffin was opened, to allow the last look. On the return to the house, a repast was served ; and there were eating and drinking on the largest scale. In a town near Medford, the funeral of a clergyman took place in 1774 ; and the record of charges runs thus : "For twelve gold rings, £8 ; Lisbon wine, Malaga wine, West India rum, £5. 16s. 8d .; lemons, sugar, pipes, and tobacco, £3.8s. 6d .; gloves, £40. 1s. 6d. ; death's-head and cross-bones, 15s." The funeral of Captain Sprague (1703) cost £147. 16s.
" The Grand American Continental Congress," assembled at Philadelphia, 1774, agreed with regard to funerals thus : " On the death of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go into any further mourning-dress than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or hat, for gentlemen ; and black ribbon and necklace, for ladies ; and we will dis- countenance the giving of gloves and scarfs at funerals." This resolve suddenly changed the New-England customs ; and the new customs then introduced continue to hold their place.
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.