Medford City (part 11 of 14)

We have seen how the farmer's family, in the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic, passed their Saturday : let us now see what they do on the following Sunday. The only manual labor allowed was that of imperious necessity: any thing further was thought to violate the jealous sanctity of the day. The iron strictness with which Sunday must be kept, made every Puritan look on that occasion as if two fast-days had met in one. The hour of rising was remarkably late ; and nothing like hurry was seen in the house. Nature found a relief in this. When the milking was over, and "the chores done," the quiet breakfast gathers the sober family around the table, where the usual provisions are spread, and where, at the end of the meal, the mother surprises her sons with a fresh-baked apple-pie, smoking from a two-quart earthen dish. This argument, addressed to the stomach, the children readily comprehend ; and each one takes his slice in his hand, and, without winking, proceeds to business. Breakfast being finished, the morning worship is now to be offered. The father takes the family Bible ; calls his little daughter to look over him as he reads ; and then, in slow and reverent tone, reads two or three chapters from the New Testament. Careful not to kneel and not to sit, the family all stand^ up while the father, in extemporaneous prayer, thanks the Giver of every good for his bounties, confesses his sins with humility and penitence, asks for pardon through a divine Redeemer, supplicates for the new heart and new life of the gospel, and prays for the heavenly guidance. In these general expressions, he does not forget to thank God especially for the religious freedom enjoyed in America, and to implore that Popery, Episcopacy, and all other heresies, may be for ever kept out of his true church here. There is now an hour before it will be necessary to start for meeting ; and this hour is occupied by the children in committing to memory a few verses from the Bible, or a hymn from Sternhold and Hopkins, or a page from the Catechism. The mother spends the hour in teaching her little daughter some Christian history, or telling her the story of Joseph from the Old Testament. The father hears the other children say their lessons, and acts as the superintendent of this first and best of Sunday schools. The hour has now arrived for the whole family to leave for the meeting-house ; and, whether it be in this plantation or the next, there is no apology available for absence from public worship. God's command, and the penalties of the statute-law, decide this case without equivocation. If the weather be fair, the children walk, be the distance one mile or three. Each one is dressed in the full Sunday attire, and feels it of paramount importance not to tear or soil it. They all keep together. The father mounts his horse, and then takes his wife upon a pillion behind him. If it be rainy, the oxen are hitched to the cart, and chairs and logs make seats within it ; and thus the family go together. If the father be one of the appointed " watchers," then he must take his gun and ammunition, and be ready to repel any savage attack. Public worship began at eleven o'clock ; and the morning service was a glass and a half long ; that is, it ended at half-past twelve. The half-hour of intermission was spent in and around the meeting-house ; and friends met there that could not get within speaking distance at any other time. The young folks were apt to huddle up together, and did not always talk about religion. The services of the afternoon were concluded at half-past two ; and our family on the banks of the Mystic have reached home in one hour afterwards. The pillion, for safe keeping, is put under the bed, the saddle hung up in the barn, and the horse turned out to pasture. The family are now ready for a meal, which unites dinner and supper ; and forth from the oven come that pot of beans with its coronal pork, and that Indian pudding, all perfectly done, having been in prison about twenty-four hours. Grace being said, the pudding is the first dish ; and it is a delicious dish too. The color of the pudding is a deep, rich amber ; and the juice or jelly is abundant. Hunger is the best sauce ; but it does not need that to make this savory. Two plates-full apiece scarcely satisfy the young folks. The beans come next; and this strong and hearty food is eaten with a relish ; though it will taste better to-morrow, when no pudding precedes it. When the dinner seems to be over, the mother opens the table-drawer; and lo ! a nice apple-pie ! Appetite comes again at the sight of new delicacies ; and it takes no logic to convince the children that a slice of that pie will do them good. During the dinner, they have talked about those they saw at meeting, and each narrated what news he had found. The father had heard how much money was sunk by Mr. Cradock in his fishing speculation ; and the reading boy had brought home " J. Janeway's Address to Citizens of London, after the Great Fire of 1666," just published. The first act after Sunday dinner was to take off the Sunday clothes. Each one does this ; and then the mother assembles her children around her, each seated on his block ; and she hears them repeat the Catechism, and then endeavors to impress their minds with the truths which the sermpns of the day have set forth. During this last exercise, the youngest daughter has fallen asleep, the youngest boy has tried to catch flies, and the rest of her audience have paid some heed. It is now time to close the religious exercises of the Sabbath by reading the Sacred Scriptures and joining in family prayer. This service has the truth and fervor of humble worshippers. Piety and love are laid on the altar ; and the concluding Amen testifies to a sabbath spent in the fear of God and the love of man. The father and sons now repair to the barn, and the milking is soon finished. By this time the sun has set ; and, as if conscience had set with it, any secular pursuit now seems half allowable. The wood for to-morrow's washing is carried in ; the great kettle is filled with water ; the kindlings are put in the corner ; and every thing is ready for the earliest start. The mother and daughters, who have not dared to wash the breakfast or dinner things while the sun was up, now begin that operation ; and then get all the clothes together which must be washed, and put them in soak. The great kettle is now hung on ; and it almost seems as if Monday morning had arrived. The eldest son knows it has not, and knows there is a Sunday evening yet to come ; and, full of silent thoughts and tender emotions, he slips out, in full dress, at seven o'clock, to " drop in " accidentally at neighbor A.'s, whose blooming daughter of seventeen he likes to look at. If he can get her to go and help him sing at Mr. B.'s for an hour with some of the Sunday choir, why, then what ? Any visiting on Sunday evening, except for courting or practising singing by the choir, being positively forbidden, it somehow always happened that the choir would meet on Sunday evening ; and there was sure to be a remarkably full attendance ! Thus the " singing-school " was the Newport and Saratoga of Meadford. Recreation of some sort every human being must have, if he would thrive. He claims it as Nature's law. Our Puritan Fathers needed recreation to lubricate the joints of life. While they have been singing at Mr. B.'s, the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic has not been without its music. The parents have led, and the children followed, in some of the good old psalm-tunes which have come down from former generations. At half-past eight o'clock, the candle is put out ; and the day of worship and rest has ended to the farmer's family, - except to the eldest son, who, at half-past nine, opens that door which is never fastened, and quietly steals to bed without disturbing the sleepers. His mother heard him, but did not speak.

We are sure this is but a rough sketch of the manners and life of the early settlers in Medford; but we hope it may suffice to show those salient traits of industry and economy, of truthfulness and devotion, for which they were so clearly distinguished. We must look through their eyes to see them aright. They were content if they could gain a comfortable subsistence, and have the opportunity of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Their condition, their dwellings, their dress, their facilities, their relationships, - how different from ours! Deputy-Governor Dudley, March 1£, 1631, writes thus : t( Having yet no table, nor other room to write in than by the fireside, upon my knee, in this sharp winter, &c." If the deputy-governor had no more accommodations than these, what must have been the deprivations of the rest of the people ? For many of our modern superfluities they had no names in their vocabulary. So late as our day, we have seen aged persons who have assured us that they never tasted tea or coffee until they were over twenty-one years of age. In 1666, tea, in England, was sixty shillings sterling a pound, and was not used much in America till 1750. It was nearly the same with coffee. Any cooking which required sugar was too expensive for our early ancestors ; and the Sunday suit of clothes went through a whole life. For vocal music, they had the volunteer solo from the cradle ; for instrumental, they had the sputter of the churn, the scraping of the wool-cards, the whiz of the spinning-wheel, and the jerk-rattle of the weaving-loom. Their sofa was the " settle," and their springseat was the soft side of an oaken plank ; their carpets were clean white sand ; their ceilings, rough boards and rafters ; and their parlor was at once kitchen, bedroom, and hall. We have seen what their clothing was ; and it was the product of their own looms and knitting-needles. The men were not encumbered with suspenders, or dickies, or umbrellas ; nor were the women sighing after diamonds, operaglasses, or Cologne water. How expensive, vexatious, and useless would have been long female dresses bedraggled every moment in the grass ! Fashion, which is the labor of little minds, and not the repose of great ones, had not become the fickle tyrant we now see it. They aimed at health ; and the children who were born weak and feeble could not be kept alive, as they are by modern skill : hence the robustness of those who survived. We come, then, to the conclusion, that moderate labor, simple diet, sufficient sleep, regular habits, and mental peace, each helped to prolong life and secure contentment. Yes, we say contentment ; for, if any one should think these humble annals descriptive only of ennui or thraldom or stupidity, we must call it a hasty and false conclusion. "When the human mind really desires improvement, it converts rocks and trees, animals and men, trials and joys, into books of philosophy and bibles of truth. By a chemistry which it cannot explain, the hungry and thirsty soul turns every thing into educational meaning and moral nutriment. All that is thus gained are reliable facts and available knowledge, which will stand the test of life and experience, while rainbow theories fade and vanish with the dissolving cloud. Our fathers had strong common sense ; and, while they were devoted to a Puritan faith and an exclusive church, they did not lose their humanity ; but the very necessities of their condition brought them to the most practical results, and to the soundest philosophy of life.

Chapter Xiv Fire-Department

March 7, 1763: Voted to raise £26. 13s. 4d. for procuring a fire-engine, if the rest can be obtained by subscription. Hon. Isaac Royal, Stephen Hall, Esq., and Captain Seth Blodget, were chosen a committee to procure the engine and receive the subscriptions.

This resulted in the purchase of an engine called the " Grasshopper," which was placed near the market. This engine was removed to the West End, April 1, 1799 (when another had been obtained), and was kept in the barn attached to the " Angier House." It is yet in existence, and is sometimes employed in pumping water into vessels.

In 1785, some gentlemen associated themselves under the name of the "Medford Amicable Fire Society," with the motto, Amicis nobisque. Twenty-four members only were allowed ; and they solemnly engage to govern themselves by the nine " regulations " which they adopted. These regulations embrace all the common provisions for choice of officers and transaction of business which such an association would require. The third provides that " each member shall keep constantly in good order, hanging up in some convenient place in his dwelling-house, two leather buckets, of convenient size, in which shall be two bags and one screwkey, each bag measuring one yard and three-quarters in length, and three-quarters of a yard in breadth. If the bags or buckets of any member be out of place at any quarterly inspection, he shall pay a fine of twenty-five cents for each article so out of place.

" At the alarm of fire, each member shall immediately repair, with his bags, buckets, &c, to the place where it happens ; and, if the house or property of any member be in danger, every member shall resort thither, and use his utmost endeavors, under the direction of the member in danger, if present, otherwise according to his own judgment, to secure all his goods and effects, under penalty of what the society may determine. And if there shall not be any property of a member in danger, then each member, at the request of any other person in immediate danger, will consider himself obliged to assist such person in the same manner as though such person belonged to the society."

Candidates for admission must be proposed three months before election ; and three votes in the negative prevent membership. The second line in the first article of regulations reads thus : " The members shall dine together on the first Wednesday in August annually."

"When engines were few, and their hose were short, this society rendered most important service ; and, as their chief aim was to rescue furniture, they were sometimes able to save nearly all by their concentrated and harmonious action. The introduction of better engines and systematic procedure at fires has rendered the society so little needed that it has almost lost its existence.

March 3 1828 : " Voted that the selectmen be a committee to examine' and consider the necessity of procuring a new engine for the west part of the town."

1828 - The first record of the organization of a new enginecompany. 1831, the town voted to give a supper each year to the firemen. Nov. 14, 1836 : Voted to purchase a new

March 6, 1837 : At this time there was a general call tor a more extended and efficient defence against fire; and the town voted that it approves of the Revised Statutes, sections

1839 : The town voted to petition the Legislature for an act of incorporation for their fire-department. This petition suggests to the Legislature the importance of considering the whole subject; and accordingly they reconstruct the laws; and, on the 9th of April, the present law was passed. Ine next day, they authorized the town of Medford to organize a fire-department, according to their petition. The form run^ thus : -

« An Act to establish a Fire-department in the Town of Medford. « Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as fol-

^The" selectmen of the town of Medford are hereby authorized to establish a fire-department in said town, in the manner and according.to the provisions, prescribed in an act to regulate fire departments, passed on the 9th of April, 1889 ; and the said firedepartment/when so established, and the several: ambers thereof, and all the officers and companies appointed by them, and the said town of Medford, and the inhabitants thereof, shall be subject to all hi duties and liabilities, and be entitled to all the privileges and exemptions, specified in said.act, so far as the same relate to them , respectively." April 10, 1839.

The ninth section provides that the act establishing the fire-department « shall not take effect until it is accepted and atmroved by the inhabitants of the town." It was approved by the town, and the present fire-department organized in due

Large cisterns, sunk in the ground in various parts of the town, are filled with water, to be used only in case of fire. These reservoirs were ordered by a vote of the town, Nov. 6, 1850.

In 1840 was published a pamphlet, entitled " State Laws and Town Ordinances respecting the Fire Department of the Town of Medford." It contained the act of the General Court of April 9, 1839 ; also the act of April 17, 1337, " to prevent bonfires, and false alarms of fire ; " also " extracts from the Revised Statutes, chapter 18 ; also " an ordinance for preventing and extinguishing fires, and establishing a fire-department in the town of Medford, - passed by the board of engineers, April 25, 1840 ; " also further " extracts from the Revised Statutes, chapter 58." " Approved by the town, April 29, 1840."

The ordinance passed by the board of engineers had, and still has, the approval of every intelligent and virtuous citizen in Medford. A brief extract is as follows : -

Fines for carrying fire openly in the streets, from two dollars to twenty dollars ; for allowing to remain any defective chimney, deposit of ashes, &c, five dollars to twenty dollars ; chimney set on fire at improper times, two dollars. Engineers shall remove combustible materials where dangerously placed ; the engineers shall choose a chief engineer and officers, control the engines, and make all due regulations ; engineers shall repair to the place of fire immediately, and take all the steps necessary to extinguish the fire and secure property. There shall be hook, ladder, hose, sail, and engine carriages. The chief engineer shall have full command, and make an annual report to the town. No one shall be a member of the fire-department under eighteen years of age ; nor under twenty -one, unless by request of parents. First Tuesday of May, each company shall choose officers. Duties of several officers specified. Engines, after a fire, shall be cleaned ; and, once in two months, the companies exercised. Duties of firemen, to protect life and save property. Badges to be worn. Disobedient members dismissed. Duties of citizens who are present at a fire. Officers of a company may be discharged. When buildings, not on fire, shall be demolished. The ordinance closes with the following twenty-first section : " The members of the several companies shall not assemble in the houses intrusted to their care, except for the purpose of taking the engine or apparatus on the alarm of fire, or for drill and exercise, and of

Fire-Department

The wisdom of Medford in this twenty-first section is most apparent, and has doubtless prevented the intemperance and moral ruin which have elsewhere been deplored. Some towns have provided their engine-men with a furnished hall, lighted and warmed every evening. This plan, which was designed for good, has, in some cases, produced the most fatal results. It has brought together numbers of young men, who have not had a proper early education, and whose passions naturally lead them to excess. Some of these towns have allowed these engine-men a supper, at the town's expense, whenever they have been on duty at a fire. It has been said that some thoughtless young engine-men have rejoiced at the occurrence of a fire, because it secured to them this public supper ,- and newspapers have gone so far as to affirm that fires have been actually kindled by unprincipled firemen, for the purpose of having a supper afterwards ! Common humanity leads us to hope that such statements are not true. Can it be that any human mind is so sunk to the level of a brute, so polluted in moral debasement, and so lost to all feeling and all justice, as to be guilty of one of the most atrocious crimes, merely to get a supper ? If there be one such member of any fire-company in this Commonwealth, the sooner he is transferred to the State Prison, the better for him and for the community. It would be compassion to stop him in his road to ruin, and to put him where his passions can be quieted, and where he could have leisure to see himself as God sees him.

The existence of fire-departments in our wooden cities and towns is indispensable ; but we think they have not been wisely organized or properly sustained. They should be considered as insurance-offices, and supported by a premiumtax on all property. All the officers, without exception, should be chosen by the selectmen, and be paid proportionably, as are officers of fire-insurance companies ; and, like such officers, should be laid under bonds. Each fireman should be appointed by the selectmen, and so paid as to secure the strongest and best principled men. Their connection with the fire-department should be a mark of respectability, and a proof of good character. Their prompt attendance on the alarm of fire should be rewarded by distinction, and their unnecessary absence be punished by the heaviest fines.

There should be no lounging-rooms and no public suppers furnished them ; but all the motives should be so arranged, that each fireman would hear the alarm-bell only with sorrow. A department thus organized would bear just proportion to the vast interests at stake ; it would be the cheapest in the end ; and it would allow every citizen to go to rest at night without troublesome suspicions.

If each town should resolve itself into a mutual fire-insurance company, and make each building pay annually its proportionate premium towards a cumulative fund, it might secure that general and positive interest in the fire-department which it so much needs.

We have great pleasure in learning that the fire-department of Medford is furnished with officers of reliable character, of good judgment, and prompt energy ; and with firemen who have in times past done honor to themselves ; who will, in times to come, show themselves equal to the severest emergencies, and continue to deserve the grateful esteem of their fellow-citizens.

The number of men attached to each engine averages about forty-five. The salary of each officer and fireman per annum is six dollars, and poll-tax refunded. The hook-andladder apparatus has twenty-five men attached to it.

full share ; and they are sometimes general, sometimes local, and sometimes confined to parish limits. Sewing-circles, charitable associations, literary unions, religious brotherhoods, and such like, are silent yet powerful agencies for the gratification of the social instincts, for the acquisition of knowledge, the cultivation of taste, the improvement of manners, and the progress of religion ; but especially for relieving the necessitous, comforting the sick, and providing for the young. The Order of the Sons of Temperance. - Mystic Division No. 20, of Massachusetts. This branch of a widely extended and benevolent fraternity was organized Oct. 5, 185d, and already numbers over thirty members. The first office, or W. P., has a new occupant every three months, lhe gentlemen who have held it are S. D. Poole, J. M. Usher, Benjamin H. Samson, William A. Sanborn, John Brown, and Richard G. Pinkham. A public installation of officers was had in the Town Hall, April 11, 1854, when delegations from other branches were present ; and a supper afterwards made members and friends of both sexes happy. Jfidehs

Mount Hermon Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. - Last year, a few Freemasons, who were wont to attend the meetings of Hiram Lodge, West Cambridge, determined to establish a lodge in Medford, so that they might enjoy the pleasures of Masonry nearer home. Hearing of their determination, others of their brethren in Medford united with them in petitioning the Grand Lodge of the State to grant them the requisite authority for assembling as a legal lodge. A dispensation was granted; and, the proper time of probation having nearly elapsed, they will soon (in September, 1855) receive a charter, which will confirm them in the rights and privileges of a regularly constituted lodge The original petitioners were Messrs. George Hervey John T. White, E G Currell, C. E. Merrill, Cleopas B. Johnson, William Crook, "Dr. Samuel Kidder, A. H. Gardner, Elislm Stetson, James Ford, and T. R. Peck. The lodge is now in a flourishing condition, and has every prospect of further success and extended usefulness under its efficient organization, which is as follows : -

Medford Salt-marsh Corporation. - June 21, 1803 : On this day, an act of incorporation was passed by the General Court, by which the proprietors of a tract of salt marsh, in Medford, were authorized to make and maintain a dike and fence for the better security and improvement of said marsh. Its bounds are thus described : -

" Situate in the easterly part of said Medford, beginning at Maiden line, and running westerly by the land of Andrew Hall, Joseph "Wheelwright, and Simeon Holt, to the brick landing-place on Mystic River, and otherways bounded by said river, comprising all the marsh within said bounds. And the said corporation shall have power to erect and make a dike, of sufficient height and width, on the north bounds of said marsh, beginning at Maiden line, and running westward by the land of said Andrew Hall and others, so far as a dike may be found necessary."

The act contains the usual provisions for choosing officers, assessing taxes, and regulating payments.' The company was organized, and a fence built, the proprietors paying each his proportion. The town assessed taxes upon the corporation ; and, Feb. 4, 1822, the town's tax was one hundred and fiftyseven dollars and seven cents. The corporation is bound to support the fences and dike, and can compel any proprietor to pay his share.

Chapter Xv Historical Items

1630. - The fleet that brought over Governor Winthrop and the first settlers of Medford was nautically organized. The history says, " Articles of consortship were drawn between the captain and mariners : The Arbella to be the admiral ; the Talbot to be the vice-admiral ; the Ambrose, the rear-admiral." The Arbella was named in honor of Mrs. Johnson, the wife of one of the "five undertakers in London."

Aug. 23, 1 630. - " Ordered that no person shall use or take away any boat or canoe without leave from the owner thereof, on pain of fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court."

Historical Items

Aug. 23, 1630. - "It was ordered that carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, sawyers, thatchers, shall not take above 2s. a day ; nor any man shall give more, under pain of 10s. to taker and giver ; and that sawers shall not take above 4s. Qd. the hundred for boards, at six score the hundred, if they have their wood felled and squared for them ; and not above 5s. Qd. if they fell and square their wood tTipmsGlvcs*

Feb. 7, 1632. - On this day, Governor Winthrop, Mr. Nowell, and others, crossed our ford in Medford, and travelled on an exploring expedition towards the north-east, and came " to a very great pond, having in the midst an island of about one acre, and very thick with trees of pine and beech ; and the pond had divers small rocks standing up here and there in it, which they therefore called Spot Pond. They went all about it on the ice."

July 2, 1633. - " It is ordered that no person sell either wine or strong water without leave from the governor or deputy-governor ; and no man shall give any strong water to any Indian." 1638. - " Wine shall not be sold by innholders ; but they may brew the

Oct. 1, 1633. - Thanksgiving-day appointed by the General Court, - the first on record. It was as follows : " In regard to the many and extraordinary mercies which the Lord hath been pleased to vouchsafe of late to this plantation, - viz., a plentiful harvest, ships safely arrived with persons of special use and quality, &c, - it is ordered that Wednesday, 16th of this present month, shall be kept as a day of public thanksgiving through the several plantations."^

1635. - A wharf, made by large trees laid crosswise, was built on the bank of Maiden River, opposite the Wellington Farm ; and a cartway led from it to the first house built in Medford.

March 28, 1636. - Governor Winthrop, writing to his son, says, " This morning, I went to Ten Hills with your mother and your wife, to have seen Goodman Bushnell. We are all in good health ; and I praise God for it. Your wife and mother, and all of us, salute you and your good company. The Lord bless and prosper you. Farewell, my good son."

Oct. 28, 1636. - "It is ordered that the freemen of every town shall, from time to time, as occasion shall require, agree amongst themselves about the prices and rates of any town, whether workmen, laborer, or servant."

Nov. 20, 1637. - " Ordered that no person shall sell any cakes or buns, either in the markets, or victualling houses, or elsewhere, upon pain of 10s. fine ; provided that this order shall not extend to such cakes as shall be made for any burial or marriage, or such like special occasion."

Dec. 4, 1G38. - Three persons having been drowned, at Charlestown Ferry, by the careless upsetting of a canoe, the court " ordered that no canoe should be used at any ferry, upon pain of £5 ; nor should any canoe be built in our jurisdiction before the next General Court, upon pain of £10."

June 2, 1641. - " The bounds for Charlestown Village (Woburn) are to be set out by Captain Cooke, Mr. Holliocke, and Mr. John Oliver, the contents of four mile square."

Mr. Edward Collins was chosen by Cambridge a representative in the General Court ; but he did not attend. They required him to give reasons for his neglect, or pay twenty shillings.

1644. - Medford was called to mourn the death of its founder, Matthew Cradock, Esq. ; and, in 1649, lost a friend and neighbor, in the death of Governor Winthrop.

1644. - It was customary with the early settlers in Medford to attend public worship in the neighboring towns when they had no preaching within their own plantation. On a sabbath, in the year 1644, when it was a serious loss to have " the go-to-meeting-bonnet" injured, the following semi-tragic scene occurred near Mystic Bridge. We give the narrative in the words of Governor Winthi'op (" Journal," vol. ii. p. 161): "One Dalkin and his wife, dwelling near Meadford, coming from Cambridge, where they had spent their sabbath, and - being to pass over the river at a ford, the tide not being fallen enough, the husband adventured over, and, finding it too deep, persuaded his wife to stay a while ; but, it raining very sore, she would needs adventure over, and was carried away with the stream past her depth. Her husband, not daring to go help her, cried out ; and thereupon his dog, being at his house near by, came forth, and, seeing something in the water, swam to her; and she caught hold of the dog's tail : so he drew her to the shore, and saved her life." If, at this time, it was flood-tide in Medford, there can be no doubt that marital chivalry was at a very low ebb. We related this hair-breadth escape to a lady of Medford, who instantly exclaimed, " I would have thrown my inhuman husband into the river, and then married the human dog ! " court, that divers persons within this jurisdiction do usually absen themselves from church meetings upon the Lords day, power is therefore given to any two assistants to hear and censure, either by fine or imprisonment (at their discretion), all misdemeanors of that kind committed by any inhabitant within this jurisdiction, provided they exceed not the fine of five shillings for one offence.

1 645. - Something may be guessed concerning the state ot things among the early settlers, when « a man walks on snow-shoes five miles to buy a bushel of corn, carries it on his back to mill, and

1647. - The sum of fifty pounds, and, in 1649, the additional sum of fifty pounds, given, by the will of Mathew Cradock, Esq, to the poo? o'f St. Swithen's are acknowledged as having been received, and entered * the " Vellum Book,' Oct. 17, 16ol. ine.e sums were laid out in building shops against the church-wall.

CONeovSi Tl0fl647h- Medford was under the following law : Ordered that no lov'er shall seek the hand of his chosen one ti U he h asked permission of her parents. Penalty for the first offence, £5 , tor die second, £10 ; and for the third, imprisonment According to this, countg, in those days, must have been a very dangerous busi-

May 2 1649. -The General Court say " Upon the petition of Sick-side men, they are granted to be a distinct town, and the thereof to be called Mauldon.' *..*'*

1670. - Some Indian children were brought up in our English families, and afterwards became idle and intemperate. A gentleman asked the Indian father why this was so. He answered, " Tucks will be tucks, for all old hen be hatch 'em."

1673. - An author says, " At this time, there was not a house in New England which had more than twenty rooms. There were five hundred persons worth each three thousand pounds. The worst cottages were lofted."

1679. - "The court decide that it is not lawful for a man to marry his former wife's sister." There is no good reason for this ; but it Would have been wise to have forbidden first-cousins to marry each other.

Apparitions and haunted houses. The belief in them was very common for the first hundred years of our history ; and it was a faith full of efficacy to puzzle men and frighten children.

1697. - "Isaac Royal, merchant, of Boston, was married, by Benjamin Wadsworth, July 1, 1697, to Elizabeth, only child of Asaph Eliot, of Boston."

1699. - John Bradstreet, of Medford, descendant of Governor Bradstreet, son of Simon, married his cousin, Mercy Wade, of Medford, Oct. 9, 1699. Their children were Dudley, born Oct. 26, 1701, married Sarah Pierce, Aug. 18, 1724 ; Ann, born July 7, 1704; Lucy, born May 30, 1706; and Patience, born Feb. 13, 1712. Sarah married Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, who was born in Medford.

Nov. 26, 1700. - "The above town-meeting was adjourned to the sixth day of December next, to meet at the house of Stephen Willis, sen., about sun-setting."

1700. - Elders and messengers. These titles were used in letters missive, till the beginning of this century, to designate the pastors and delegates invited to assist in the ordination ot mini-

1700. - Charlestown voted " that all the waste land belonging to the town, on the north side of Mystic River should be divided and laid out equally, to every person an equal share that hath been an inhabitant of this town six years, and is and the like shareto all widows, householders, that have been six

Bishop of Bath and Wells, was killed, with his wife, by the falling of chimneys upon them while in bed in the palace at Wells. He was kinsman of the Kidders of Medford. Mrs. Samuel K.dder, now of Medford, is a descendant of Rev. John Rogers the martyr.

June 12 1717. - There was a hearing before the council concerning the question, whether Cambridge or Charlestown should be the shire-town of Middlesex County. Judge Sewall says, Mi. Auchmuty pleaded very well for Charlestown. His discourse was very well worth hearing. Mr. Remington alleged and proved for Cambridge very pertinately and fully. It was decided for Cambridge on the 13th." Then came the question of concurrence before the House of Deputies. It was a close vote. The judge says, "Could not tell by lifting up the hands: were fain to divide the house. They for Cambridge went to the north side ; they tor Charlestown, to the south. Cambridge had forty-six ; Charlestown, forty-one^ ^^ A]breej daughter of john Albree, afterwards the mother 'of John Brooks, was baptized May 4, 1718, and was taken into church Jan. 24, 1743. . .

Mav 12 1718. " Put to vote, whether persons hiring any persons, or leasing out tenements, in Medford, may be obliged to acquaint the selectmen therewith, or liable to some fine. Voted in were refused their petition by Charlestown. From the earliest times, there seems to have been a strong desire to break away from Charlestown. At first, it was the largest town in the Colony ; but town after town has been severed Irom it, till now it is the smallest territorial town in the State !

"Mercy, daughter of Seaborn Cotton, was born Nov. 3, 1666. She married Captain Peter Tufts, of Medford. Her grandfather was Rev. John Cotton, of England, a very distinguished divine." Dr. Simon Tufts, of Medford, was the youngest son of Peter and Mercy Tufts.

1727. - Mr. Thomas Seccomb left valuable records, in manuscript, containing a notice of every clergyman who preached in Medford, and all the texts preached from, between 1727 and 1774; also a record of all baptisms and all contributions.

Oct. 29, 1727. - The great earthquake occurred on this day (Sunday) ; and the selectmen of Medford appointed the next Wednesday, Nov. 2, to be observed as a day of fasting and humiliation on that account.

September, 1729. - The Yankee habit of using a jack-knife on all occasions and in all places seems to have given our town some trouble ; for at this time they resolve, by a public vote, to prosecute those persons who have cut the seats of the new meetinghouse.

Feb. 17, 1731. - Mr. Turell says in his record, " Married, standing together, William Watson and Abigail Hall." Was this the first time he had seen a couple so placed ?

1735. - Sampson, a negro slave, was sorely frightened by a wild bear and cub, which he met in the woods, near Governor Cradock's house. In a rock on the north-east border of Medford, near the corner of Melrose, is a deep excavation, called Bear's Den.

A species of very destructive worm appeared in July, 1743. They destroyed both grass and corn. Mr. Turell preached, July 3, on the event, from Lam. iii. 39, and Ezek. xviii. 25.

1744. _ A long-tailed comet, of unusual brightness, frightened some of our people more than Mr. Whitefield had ; but a wag here said, " that he thought it the most profitable itinerant preacher and friendly new-light that had yet appeared."

1745. _ Medford voted thus : Any person who allows his dog to go into the meeting-house on Sunday shall pay ten shillings (old tenor) for each offence.

1749. _ Some idea of travelling expenses may be obtained from the acts of the town relative to their farm on the Piscataqua River. They wished to sell the farm for two thousand pounds (old tenor) ; and therefore chose Lieutenant Stephen Hall, jun., and Captain Samuel Brooks, to go to Portsmouth, N.H., and settle some claims pertaining to the land ; and they voted forty pounds (old tenor) to be given them, to bear the expenses of the journey.

1750. _ The various spelling of proper names by the different town-clerks of Medford sometimes makes it difficult to determine how families spelled their own names.

Sept. 3, 1752. - The Protestants in England adopted the 1st of January as the beginning of the year, instead of the 25th of March ; and Sept. 3 was changed to Sept. 14.

Jan. 29, 1753. - " Dr. Simon Tufts, and Lucy Tufts, his wife, of Medford, gave a quitclaim deed to Thomas Dudley of all their right to the property of their honored father, William Dudley, Esq.,

In 1755, Massachusetts raised a large part of the two thousand troops who were to dislodge the French Neutrals in Nova Scotia. Medford furnished its share. These Acadians were conquered, and they and their effects scattered through the colonies. One thousand of the wretched and proscribed sufferers were distributed in Massachusetts. Eight of them were cared for in Medford. They staid a long time ; and the kindness of our people reconciled them to their lot. The family of Le Bosquet was one that remained here.

May 10, 1756. - "Voted that the money gathered on Thanksgiving-days be given to the poor by the deacons." This was the beginning of that excellent custom.

1757. - Stephen Hall gave one hundred pounds (old tenor) for the purchase of a funeral-pall which should belong to the town. Whereupon, voted that it should be free for the town ; but that " half a dollar shall be paid for its use whenever it goes out of town."

1758. - Rev. Ebenezer Turell wrote his first will, in which he gave the house he purchased of John Giles to the church in Medford, " for the use of the ministry for ever." He afterwards wrote two different wills. The bonds and mortgages owned by him in 1772 amounted to £4,860.

1759. - In recording marriages, the Rev. Mr. Turell often designated the trade or profession of the bridegroom. Jan. 4, 1759, he married a man, and called him "a ranger."

1759. - The first time of using the silver baptismal basin was Sept. 9, 1759, when Benjamin, son of Benjamin Francis, was baptized. The last baptism in the second meeting-house was of Rhoda, daughter of Moses Tufts, Feb. 4, 1770. The first in the new meeting-house was Lydia, daughter of Samuel Teel, March 18, 1770.

1760. - A certain clergyman said to an Indian, "I am sorry to see you drink rum." The Indian replied, " Yes, we Indians do drink rum ; but we do not make it."

1761. - The first record of any vote of the expense, Mr. Prince enjoyed the reputation of May 13, 1761, " thanking Mr. Thomas Brooks for his good services as treasurer."

Sept. 7, 1767. - Voted that the one hundred and three hymns written by Dr. Watts be used in .public worship, in connection with Tate and Brady's version of the Psalms.

Thomas Seccomb was town-clerk for twenty-two years, and resigned in 1767. He wrote a very legible hand, spelled his words properly, and was the only person in Medford who seemed to have any care for records, or any thought of posterity in them.

March 26, 1770. - "Last Tuesday, Henry Lloyd, Esq., set out on a journey to New York, Philadelphia, and the southern colonies ; and it was observed that the gentleman's whole apparel and hguse furniture were of American manufacture. His clothes, linen, shoes, stockings, boots, gloves, hat, even wig and wig-call, were all manufactured and made up in New England. An example truly worthy of imitation."

1772. - Medford chose bread-weighers. It would be a wise law that should re-establish, through the State, such officers, who would protect the poor against imposition in this all-important article of daily food. Such officers in Europe are deemed indispensable.

1774. - An old house, owned, and kept as a tavern, by Eben. Hills, stood in the market-place. This year, it was purchased by Mr. Jonathan Porter, and kept by him as a tavern and a store, and was a favorite resort for British and Hessian officers during the Revolution. In 1785, Mr. Porter took down the house, discontinued the tavern, and built his private residence and store on the spot where they continue to this day.

1775. - Before the battle of Bunker Hill, General Stark fixed his head-quarters at Medford, in the house built by Mr. Jonathan Wade, near the Medford House, on the east side of the street. After the battle, twenty-five of the general's men, who had been killed, were brought here, and buried in the field, about fifty or sixty rods north of Gravelly Bridge. Their bones have been discovered recently.

1775. - Our patriot fathers cut down those "white-pine trees which his majesty had reserved for the use of his royal navy," and supplied the American troops with fuel at Cambridge and Charlestown.

1775. - Major Andrew McClary, of Colonel Stark's regiment, was a brave and good man. After the battle of Bunker Hill, he rode to Medford to procure bondages for the wounded. After his return, a shot from a frigate, laying where Cragie's Bridge is, passed through his body. " He leaped a few feet from the ground, pitched forward, and fell dead on his face. He was carried to Medford, and interred with the honors of war." He lies about fifty or sixty rods north of the old burying-ground.

June 16, 1775. - Colonel Dearborn's troops, from New Hampshire, stopped in Medford through the nighf, and marched early for Winter Hill on the morning of the 17th.

February, 1776. - While the British troops held possession of Boston, an English officer, in disguise, left the town, and came to Medford to see a friend who was dangerously ill ; and, although he came under cover of the night, the Americans in Charlestown suspected him, and followed him to Medford. His apprehension and death were almost certain. What to do, or where to fly, he knew not ; but to decide speedily was imperative. He knocked at the door of Benjamin Hall, Esq., and asked to see that gentleman in his entry. The servant told him that Mr. Hall could not be disturbed, because he was engaged at a sitting of the " Vigilance Committee " ! " Good Heavens 1 " he exclaimed to himself, " here I am in the lion's mouth." Rallying from this surprise, he told the servant to " go and ask Mr. Hall to step here a moment." She went ; and soon Mr. Hall appeared, leaving behind him Joshua Symonds, Samuel Kidder, Stephen Hall, jun., and Ebenezer Hall. The stranger asked an interview alone for an instant. They went together into a side room, when he said to Mr. Hall, " I come to put myself under your protection. I am a British officer. I came to Medford to see a sick friend. I am pursued ; and shall be killed, if I am caught. I throw myself on your magnanimity." Mr. Hall replied, " You could not have appealed to any man who feels less sympathy with your cause. I go, with all my head and heart and hand, for the freedom of the Colonies ; and the ' Vigilance Committee ' of this town is this moment in session in an adjoining room ; and, if I was suspected of harboring a British officer, I should be mobbed. You must leave my house immediately." The officer replied, that he was ready to make any concessions or promises, and was ready to die ; but did not wish to be seized by an infuriated soldiery, and hung on the first tree. He therefore only asked to be shielded for a few hours. Mr. Hall now felt that protection to such an unarmed man was an act of magnanimity ; and, making the distinction between a private gentleman and a public enemy, he took a candle, and told the officer to follow him. He led him into his garret, and secreted him behind some old boxes, having made him promise to leave the house at midnight. The officer was perfectly happy, wedged in between the bags and barrels of a dusty garret ; and there he lay, in total darkness, till the promised hour, when Mr. Hall showed him the front door ; and he went in safety, thanking his generous enemy as the saviour of his life.

Jan. 4, 1779. - Our town-record reads thus: "Mr. Jonathan Patten says he will use his endeavor that Mr. Foster shall not use any more charcoal in the blacksmith-shop near the bridge ; and, if he still persists in using charcoal, that he, the said Patten, will desire Mr. Foster to quit the shop." How Mr. Blacksmith Foster could get along with his work in those days without charcoal, we do not see ; and why this municipal interdict, we do not know.

Where the town-pump now stands, in the market-place, there was a small pond, whose edges were covered with a growth of small flags ; and there are persons now living, whose fathers have told them that wild ducks were shot in that pond.

May 19, 1780. - This was the dark day. By ten o'clock, A.M., it had the appearance of night. Pomp, a negro in Medford, became frightened, and, going to his master, said, " Massa, the day of judgment has come : what shall I do ? " " Why, Pomp, you'd better wash up clean, and put on your Sunday clothes." Pomp, perceiving that his master was not frightened, began to produce proofs. " Massa, it has come ; for the hens are all going to roost." " Well, Pomp, they show their sense." " And the tide, massa, in the river, has stopped running." " Well, Pomp, it always does at high water." " But, massa, it feels cold ; and this darkness grows more and more." " So much the better, Pomp ; for the day of judgment will be all fire and light." Pomp concluded not to wash up, but wait.

1781. - "New-England money." This epithet is used in the Medford records, for the first time, in 1781, when the town voted to raise one thousand three hundred pounds, to pay interest on their debt.

1781. - "When the news of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis reached Medford, 1781, the inhabitants immediately testified their joy by a bonfire on the top of Pasture Hill. Wood and rags, covered with tar, were the imflammable materials used to express the jubilation.

The first register of deeds in Middlesex County chosen, Dec. 20, 1784. There was but one candidate, - William Winthrop, Esq., - who received seventeen votes in Medford.

1785. - "Aunt Jenny" Watts, of Medford, carried baked puddings and beans, on horseback, in market-baskets, to Cambridge College twice each week, and would retail her load only to undergraduates ! She sold the best of articles, at the lowest prices, and was almost overwhelmed with customers. She said she was the beanefactor of the college, and had no desire to make the young men mealy-mouthed or pudding-headed.

Rev. Mr. Osgood boarded many years in the family of Deacon Richard Hall, and a very close intimacy blessed both parties afterwards. On a Sunday, Mrs. Hall was taken ill in church, and her husband went out with her. After some time, the deacon returned. As soon as he had shut the door, Mr. Osgood stopped in his sermon, and said, " Mr. Hall, how is aunt now ? " " She is better," was the reply.

1789. - Thomas Brooks, Esq., acquired great popularity as one of the " marrying justices." One day, while riding on horseback to Woburn, he discovered a party of six young persons - > three male, and three female - riding on horseback towards him. He guessed their errand ; and they guessed that the cocked hat, bush-wig, and silver buckles approaching them must belong to " the squire." Both parties stopped. The bridegroom announced his wishes, and the squire replied thus*: " My young friends, we are here in the midst of this lofty forest, upon an unfrequented road, with God's clear sky over us, and his green earth under us. We shall not be disturbed. I propose to solemnize your marriage here : what say you ? " They gladly consented. He told them not to dismount, but to arrange themselves in due order, - the gentlemen on one side, and the ladies on the other. This being done, he placed his horse so as to be directly in front of the bride and bridegroom. Then, taking off his hat, he began his prayer ; and report says that he was " gifted in prayer," and that, on this occasion, " he prayed like an angel."

The introductory service concluded, the plight of vows was made, the union declared, and the benediction pronounced ; and then the whole party journeyed back together, rejoicing in the poetry appended to the great event.

Medford was represented in the General Court by a conscientious and trustworthy man, who had fallen into the habit of sleeping after dinner. Sleep he must, and sleep he would. Medford had petitioned the Legislature for a grant of certain rights touching the fishery in Mystic River. This gentleman had presented the petition ; and the day was fixed for its consideration by the house. That day had arrived ; and the Medford representative was all alive to the question, and had prepared his speech for the decisive moment, in defence of the petition. Two sessions were held that day ; and the Medford fisheries were to come up immediately after dinner ! How, then, could our representative get his nap? He went to his seat in the house at a very early moment ; and soon his next neighbor came and sat beside him. It now occurred to him that he might safely secure a short nap, by asking his neighbor to wake him when the subject of Medford fisheries was called up. His friendly neighbor promised to do so : therefore Medford went to sleep. The house soon came to order ; and it was then proposed to pass another bill first, because no debate would be needed upon it. The bill was for the suppression of houses of ill-fame. It was not debated ; and the vote upon it was about to be taken, when our representative's next neighbor thought that his friend would like to vote on the occasion, and therefore awoke him suddenly. He had hardly got his eyes and wits fairly open before the speaker cried out, in the usual phrase, " Is the house ready for the question ? " Medford sprang upon his feet in an instant, exclaiming, " Mr. Speaker ! I must ask the attention of the house for a few moments to some remarks on this important and interesting question ; because, Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents get their living by this very business." A roar of laughter burst from every quarter of the house. The Medford representative stood aghast in raw wonder. As soon as quiet could be restored, the speaker said to him, " Do ^ou know what the question before the house is?" " Why, yes: it's fishing in Mystic River, ain't it ? " Another peal of laughter convulsed the assembly.

Jan. 1, 1794. - Voted that the selectmen purchase a new cushion for the pulpit. They accordingly purchased " the green velvet one," which some of us, who preached our first sermon from it, remember with all the distinctness that people remember the time when they had " that great fever."

Historical Items

May 12 1794. - A new pew in Medford meeting-house sold at auction, 'at twenty-four pounds. In the same year, good oak wood sold at one pound per cord. -

1794. _Joseph Kidder, son of Deacon Samuel Kidder, strayed from home into the woods back of Pasture Hill. He was three years old ; and, being weary, he fell asleep under an apple-tree, and there slept till the next day. It was in July, and the weather very clear. The disappearance of the child created great alarm; and many inhabitants spent the night in traversing the woods, searching the clay-pits, and dredging the river. During the forenoon, he was found near where he slept, "his head filled with dew, and his locks with drops of the night." . -

1800'. - About this time, the " Ohio fever " prevailed ; and some from Medford emigrated to that western land of promise. They have prospered greatly. A member of the United States Senate, and a member of the United States House of Representatives, at the present time, are Ohio children from the oldest Medford

^Several years ago, two Medford gentlemen were speaking of a young man, who was acting the sorry part of spendthrift and fibertlne. One of the gentlemen said, « Oh ! he is sowing his w, d oats." "Yes," replied the other; « and the fool do" t know they 11

1804. - During the first part of Rev. Dr. Osgood s ministry, the number of children baptized, in each year was about fifteen ; which number steadily increased till it reached its maximum, of

1805 - The Medford omnibus, named " Governor Brooks,' was .aid to be the first vehicle of the kind built in New England It was made by Mr. Osgood Bradley, of Worcester, Mass. ; and first rppe'ed on its route, Oct. 18, 1836. It cost $650. Eighteen persons could be seated inside, and six outside. It was owned and driven by Mr. Joseph Wyman, of Medford, who began his new business, Feb. 16, 1805 ; *nd, for thirty years, drove daily a pub he coach between Medford and Boston, without overturning it. I he fare was thirty-seven and a half cents for many years ; but competition reduced it to twenty-five.

1808. - Digging for hidden money, near the " Rock Landing," was three times repeated by (as is said) Mr. James Francis, of Medford, and Mr. James Hall, of Charlestown. We remember seeing the three excavations. The first, on the southern brow of Rock Hill, was a hole four feet deep and four feet in diameter, and was enclosed within a small circular furrow dug in the earth. The work was done in the night. The second, in Mr. Jonathan Brooks's land, was within thirty feet of the river, and was small in circumference, and quite deep. The third was within ten feet of the river, by the bathing -rock. It disclosed a cave walled up on each side, and arched ; its length about six feet, its width three, and its height three. The rocks were red, and so soft that they were ground and used in painting Captain Richardson's house. No rocks of that kind are known in this country. These diggings were at dhTerent times ; but no one has ever told what success attended the explorations. Other small trials were made in the eastern part of the town. Spirits are now substituted for witch-hazel.

1808. - Snowballing. At this time, the boys who lived east of the meeting-house were called maggots ; and they who lived west of it were called fag-enders. Between these parties, the most furious and unbrotherly battles were fought each winter with snowballs. Snow forts were erected behind the meeting-house ; and so high ran the spirit of contest, that the boys from the east procured a small cannon, whWi they loaded so heavily, that, on its discharge, it burst, and wounded a, boy in the face. The effect of that injury continues to this day.

1810. - Medford had a large choir of volunteer singers, under the faithful Ephraim Bailey. On Sunday, once, the pitch-pipe set the pitch so high that the whole choir broke down. Still, Bailey tried on the second verse, and again broke down. General Brooks could not endure it any longer; and he rose in his pew, beckoned to Bailey, and said, " Hadn't you better take another'pitch ? " Bailey replied, " No, sir : I guess we can get through it."

1811, May 13. - "Voted to instruct the representative of Medford in the General Court to oppose the petition of Peter Tufts praying to be set off to Charlestown." The petition was granted.

1814. - The free seats near the pulpit in the meeting-house, which were formerly occupied by aged men and women, were sold, and two pews built in their place.

1815. - Nahant Parties. At this time, when only a few persons resided at Nahant, it was the custom for families in Medford to join in a party to that beautiful promontory. From ten to twenty chaises would start together ; and, reaching Mr. Breed s, the ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, would proceed to fishing from the rocks and boats. Each one wore the commonest clothes ; and the day was passed in all sorts of sports. A fish-dinner was an agreed part of the fare ; and a supper at Lynn Hotel closed the eating of the day. The party rode home by moonlight ; and, by ten o clock, were tired enough to go to bed.

1822. - The delta of trees, within the triangular fence, which is in the public road, at the junction of High and Grove Streets, near the Lowell Railroad Station, in West Medford, was planted by the Hon. Peter C. Brooks in 1822 ; and the fence was built at who is remembered with interest, - Abraham Touro, eminent for his social and generous qualities. When General Lafayette reached Massachusetts, Mr. Touro offered him his noble horse for his entrance into Boston. On the day of that triumphant entry, Mr. Touro was standing in his chaise, to catch his first sight of the illustrious visitor, when a sudden start of his horse threw him from his place, and broke his leg. The fracture was a very bad one, and the patient grew worse daily. The physicians and surgeons did all they could, and finally assured him that nothing but amputation could save his life. With a Jew's traditionary prejudice against that operation, he firmly answered thus : "No ! I will never go into heaven with one leg."

He left about two hundred thousand dollars ; and distributed it, by will, in legacies varying from five to twenty thousand dollars. He gave much in charity. He left a large sum to keep the synagogue in Newport, R.I., in good repair. m ' 1825. - Parties in the Woods. Within the first twenty years of this century, it was customary for select parties of girls and boys, in whortleberry-time, to go into the woods near Pine Hill, or at the Bower, and there frolic in true rustic style. - A long extempore table was crowded with eatables, which had been contributed by the several members of the party. Rural dresses and schoolboy manners gave zest to the occasion ; while dancing on the grass allowed all to°join. The coming home in procession, or in carts, gave the last touch to the jubilant scene.

1829. - Voted that each owner of a dog shall pay $1.25 annually as a tax : also that each dog shall wear a collar ; and, if found without one, its owner shall pay $10.

was one of those who helped to dress the wounds of the soldiers who were in the battle of Bunker Hill. Many of the wounded soldiers were brought to Medford. She was a true patriot ; and General Washington honored her with a visit. At that time, they had bought a punch-bowl ; and the general was the first person who drank out of it. The bowl is now owned by Mr. Frederick Bradlee, of Boston. Mr. John Fulton, of Medford, was cousin to Mr. Robert Fulton, the inventor of steamboats ; and they were once prisoners together. Mrs. Fulton's mother was a Wier, who came over with the u Scotch-Irish " company.

1840. - The pillars which sustained the gallery of the third meeting-house (1770) are now in use in West Medford, on the outside of the house of the late Jonathan Brooks.

Mr. TureU's Portrait. - In Church Records, vol. iii. p. 104, are the following : " 1842, July. - The church received, from the hand of Dudley Hall, a bequest of the late Turell Tufts, Esq., - two pieces of plate for the communion-table ; and a portrait of the Rev. Mr. Turell, one of the former pastors of this church.

" Aug. 7. - At a meeting of the church this day, a letter was read by Dudley Hall, from Samuel Turell Armstrong, requesting the church to transfer to him, during his lifetime, the above-mentioned portrait of Mr. Turell. The church voted unanimously that this request be complied with ; and that Dudley Hall, the treasurer, be authorized to deliver the portrait to Mr. Armstrong."

1854. - In the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, of October, is a biographical notice of Hon. Peter C. Brooks, written by Hon. Edward Everett, doing justice to the character of our distinguished townsman.

1854. - Captain Duncan Ingraham married the widow of Dr. Simon Tufts, as his second wife, and resided in Medford. By his first wife, lie had a son, named Nathaniel, who endeavored to force back into slavery Caesar, a Malay. Nathaniel had a son, named Duncan N., who attended our public schools, and is remembered as a boy of spirit and force. He has recently rendered himself famous by his bold measure at Smyrna for the rescue of an Hungarian. So popular is this measure, that even the working-classes of England have united to present to him a valuable chronometer. It bears the following inscription : " Presented to Captain Ingraham, of the United States navy, by some thousands of the British working-classes, for his noble conduct in rescuing Mar-

Letter

1855. - Mr. Benjamin Noyes, son of Benjamin, was born in West Medford, and educated at the public school. He is now head engineer in constructing one hundred miles of railroad for the Emperor of the Russias.

1855. - There are many stumps of large pitch-pine trees now remaining in East Medford, on land of Mr. Charles Hall. The field is called " stump-marsh." At the usual spring-tides, the saltwater covers this field from four to eight inches in depth. Could the forest of pines have lived and grown up, if thus covered with salt-water every fortnight ? Is proof found here of the theory, that the land on the New-England coast is sinking?

1855. - William Tufts, Esq., born in Medford, March 1, 1787, entered the State House, as clerk in the office of the adjutant-general, in 1813; and, with the exception of three years, has been employed, till this year, as confidential clerk, under the different administrations. He has been called " the oldest man of the State House." No one was so able to aid seekers after historical documents, and no one could have been more ready.

1855 - 1655. - What would our Medford ancestors have said if they could have anticipated this time, when speed is deified, and when haste seems to increase with the means of haste ?

In closing the history of one of the oldest towns of Massachusetts, we are naturally led to the inquiry, How will the condition of those born here two hundred years after us compare with that of those born here two hundred years before us ? Standing between these two extremes, our hearts become moved with a parental regard towards children who will live as far from us in the future as our fathers did in the past. 'Had we a telegraph for time, as we have one for space, we would gladly send forward our welcomes and wishes, to be in waiting for them ; but the only chance we have of reaching them with our messages of love is to trust in the preservation of musty historic records in fire-proof libraries. How small the hope! A block of driftwood, in the Pacific, is said to have found its way into the Atlantic, and finally reached a shore. Presuming on this smallest of all chances, we would now cast our historic block into the deep waters of 1855 ; hoping, that, after it has been tossed by the waves and winds of two centuries, it may be driven on the shore of 2055. Should it have this unexpected rescue, we would, in such case, try to cheer it, amid the awkwardness of its antique dress and the sorrows of its shattered condition, by sending with it our following letter of introduction : -

Children and Townsmen, - As we close this volume of history, which we have written for you, we would not send it without expressing our united and hearty good wishes for your health, prosperity, and happiness. That we have thought of you much and often, you will readily believe. We have hoped that physical training will in your day be so applied, that you can be strong like Maximinus ; intellectual development so secured, that you can analyze like Bacon ; moral power so advanced, that you can conquer like Paul ; and true Christianity so received, that you can be one with Christ, as he is one with God.

The points in which you will exceed us are of course unknown to us ; but we have unbounded faith in the energies of man. Onward and upward is the law ; " Excelsior " the motto. You may look back on our age, and perhaps call it an age of darkness, persecution, and bad philosophy, and call it by its right name. Looking through the glimmerings of the future, we now, therefore, rejoice with you in advance over a progress in natural science, intellectual philosophy, and moral truth, to us inconceivable. The earth and sea, the air and light, will doubtless perform for you a thousand offices of help and beauty of which we never dreamed. The law regulating the weather will by you be understood; and you may journey through the depths of ocean and the depths of air as securely as we do on the surface of the ground. The waste fields now around us will doubtless, in your day, be filled with a crowded population ; and Medford, as a part of the capital, may have lost its present individuality. We here solemnly and affectionately bequeath to you all we possess ; with the hope and the prayer, that, long before our wishes reach you, there may be, as far as there can be, an end to the blasting power of ignorance and the damning power of sin ; that the fires of intemperance, and the injustice of slavery, and the crime of war, may be no more seen ; that all superstition, polytheism, and idolatry, all violations of the eternal right, and all the bitterness of sectarian zeal, may have passed to their graves for ever. In one word, we hope and pray, that, as your turn shall come to act and suffer the allotments of humanity, there may not be on earth one rational being who does not cheerfully acknowledge the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

To you, we must seem among the ancients ; and you may wonder how we looked, felt, and acted. The laws of Nature do not change : and your organs will obey them as do ours. You look at the light blue of the sky, or the dark blue of the ocean ; at the green grass of summer, or the yellow leaf of autumn ; at the brightness of Orion, or the mountains of the moon ; at the changing hues of sunset, or the bursting splendors of the aurora; on the innocent gambols of a child, or the sweet smile of a parent ; on the deep sorrow of misfortune, or the marble face of death. You look at these ; and, let us tell you, they all appeared to us exactly as they do to you.

In the woods, you hear their feathered minstrelsy ; and, in the bower, the advertising cricket. At Niagara, you hear the heavy tones of its pouring ; and, on the rocky Atlantic shore, the thunder of the sea. In the angry debate, you hear the sharp voice of passion ; and, in the family circle, the sweet song of love. And, be assured, these sounds, so well known to you, were as well known to us. To you, the fragrance of the rose and the miasma of the fen, the sweet of honey and the bitter of wormwood, the touch of fire and the feeling of ice, are probably the very same which we have experienced. Each of our senses has carried its report to the brain by that faithful electricity of the nerves in which you now rejoice.

Your minds, too, though enriched by superior cultivation, have attributes in common with ours. You delight to read the poems of Homer and Virgil, and repeat the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero ; you sometimes tire amid the sublimities of Milton, and love to see man and Nature lay their treasures at Shakspeare's feet. And here let us say, that your classic approbation and noble fire do not probably differ much from ours.

In the sweep of centuries, the heart changes less than the head. You feel indignant at the abnse of power and the triumph of wrong, at the sight of ingratitude and the thirst for revenge ; while your whole soul melts with sympathy at the sight of suffering, and leaps with thanksgiving to perform the office of the good Samaritan. Your love of country is as strong' as it is noble ; and your patriotic hearts beat with generous exultation at the name of our Washington and yours, of our Franklin and yours. Your love of home is stronger yet. In you, the delicate tendrils of domestic affection intwine themselves life-long around the dear objects of your fire-sides ; and for them you are ready to labor, and, if need be, you are willing to die. Above all, your minds are illumined by a Christian faith, your hearts sanctified by divine grace, and your souls made living temples of the living God. How far we resemble you in these riches of the heart, we dare not say. It has been our endeavor to cherish them all.

Standing, as we now do, mid-way in time between our first ancestors and you, we turn reverently towards them to render our homage of gratitude, and turn cheerfully towards you to express our fulness of hope ; and, with the orator of our century, we would say, -

" Advance, then, ye future generations ! "We would hail you, as you rise, in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence, where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the Fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic life, - to the happiness of kindred and parents and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting truth."

" Remember the days of old ; consider the years of many generations : ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." - Deut. xxxii. 7.

* Wherever two numbers are connected by a hyphen, the first is the number of the parent; and the se cond, of the child. Therefore, in every family, the grandfather, father, and child have their numbers in the same paragraph. Thus in the Albree family : Joseph m. Judith Reeves. The 1-2 against his name refers to the previous paragraph, where 1 is his father"s number, and 2 his own. In the 2-6, 7, 8, &c,. these latter are his children's numbers, in the regular succession of descendants of the first John Albree. »

We can trace this Medford family to Nassau, in the Island of New Providence, the capital of the Bahamas. In 1672, the English government sent Mr. Collingworth to superintend the settlement of that island and its chief city by Englishmen. The attempt succeeded but imperfectly ; because the coa9ts were infested with pirates, and the Spanish were moved by jealousy to check English power. Mr. Collingworth, after a few years, resigned his office in despair; and the government appointed Mr. Clark governor of the island, and gave him means for sustaining himself. The early English settlers were selected for their energy and enterprise ; and they fixed on Nassau as their central port. The place grew and flourished ; but its Spanish enemies were numerous and bloodthirsty. They made a suohlen and warlike descent upon it, and captured the brave Clark; and, in order to show their future intentions, they " roasted the English governor alive." In one of these barbaric assaults, in 1699, the unoffending inhabitants were put to the sword; and two little children were that day made orphans. One was a boy, named John Albree, who was born in 1686 ; and the other was his sister, Elizabeth, who was three years younger. The brother fled with his sister to seek protection in a Boston vessel, which was there for cargo. The captain knew that the tragic story of the children was true; and, with the characteristic warmth of a sailor's heart, he took the weeping orphans to his arms, and offered to bring them to Boston and provide for them. They accepted, but wished to get something from their father's house. The captain went to the house ; but could find nothing worth taking away, save an old English onc-daA) cluck, which the plunderers had spared. That he took ; and that clock is now in possession of Misses Elizabeth and Lucy Ann Brooks, in Medford, and will keep time well, although two hundred years old.

Early in the year 1700. .John Albree and Elizabeth Albree arrived in Boston, and were tenderly cared for by the family of the captain who brought them. They were put to school, and taught to labor; and, when John was fourteen years old, he was indented as an apprentice, for seven years, to a weaver in Maiden. His master found him a silent and thoughtful boy, and made him a good weaver. His sister, at her own request, became an inmate of his master's family. These children annually received, from an unknown hand in New Providence, generous gifts of raw cotton and fruits This cotton had seeds in it; and a gin was sent with which to clear out the seeds. After they became of age, these benefactions ceased. Their father was probably a cotton-planter ; hence the son's preference for the trade of cotton-weaver. When he became of age, he moved to Medford. and soon afterwards purchased a small house, which stood on the spot now occupied by the house of Mr. Thatcher M.igoun, jun. His sister became his housekeeper. In May, 1711, he married a near relative of Governor Belcher, - Miss Elizabeth Greene, of Boston. When his first child was born, he wished to have it baptized, and named Joseph in honor of its grandfather: but not knowing whether he himself had been baptized, either in England or New Providence, he resolved to ask baptism for himself; and on Sunday, Sept. 6, 1713, he received the rite, and then offered his son. After a few years, he sold his house and garden, and bought a farm of twenty-two acres; which, by three subsequent purchases, was enlarged to one hundred acres. It was much of the farm now occupied by Mr. Peter C. Hall. There was a gristmill upon it, on the west side of Purchase Street, contiguous to the land of Mr. B. L. Swan. He enlarged the mill by an addition of a weaver's shop. Here he worked, and grew comparatively rich. His grandson told us, that, in 1785, the stream that fed the mill failed ; and that he then " removed the mill and shop, and filled up the flume." The house of John, the first settler, was about ten rods north-east of his mill. He was a retired man, with many thoughts and few words: he was a great questioner, and remarkable for his high sense of honor. With the English slowness to adopt, he united the English tenacity in holding fast what he had chosen. He was an active friend of the poor, especially of orphans. He tenderly cherished his sister in his family while she lived. She died unmarried. He had four children, - Joseph, Elizabeth, Ruth, and Susanna. Joseph was the father of Mrs. Jonathan Brooks ; Ruth was the mother of Governor Brooks ; and Susanna, the mother of Captain John Pratt. The grandsons were called John, in honor of their grandfather, John Albree. Of the first settler's descendants, the only ones who remained in Medford were Mrs. Jonathan Brooks and Governor Brooks; and, through life, they were drawn towards each other bv the tendcrest ties.

Register Of Families

1- 5 Susanna m. Mr. Goldthwait, who d. six months after, without children. She m., 2d, John Pratt, of Chelsea, Dec. 6. 1753, and had - Thomas, b. m. Anne Cheever ; has son Thomas.

* Susan, hy first marriage. Children of John and Mary (Tewksbury) - Pratt are John, Mary, George, Eliza, Sarah Tewksbury, Caroline, Eleanor, James, Charlotte Albree, and William Touro.

Concerning the above, I can only add the following extracts of wills on file at East Cambridge : Thomas Blanchard, of Charlestown, will dated 16, 3 mo., 1654, mentions wife Mary, sons Nathaniel, Samuel, and George, and his son Joseph.

John Blanchard, of Dunstable, March 13, 1693, mentions wife Hannah, sons Benjamin, Joseph, James, Thomas, and Nathaniel; and daughters Hannah Reed, Hannah Parish, Sarah, and Mary.

came, it is supposed, from Suffolk, England, and settled in Watertown, where he had a lot assigned him, on the main road, in 1631. He was made a freeman in 1636; and, two years afterwards, his name, \\ hich had disapi eared from the Watertown records, is to be seen on those of Concord, whet e he was constable in 1638. He settled in this latter town, and owned larue estates there; in consequence, he was appointed to the various town-offices. In 1660, he, with his son-in-law, Timothy Wheeler, bought lour hundred acres of land in Medford, for four hundred and tour pounds sterling, which he owned at the time of his death. His farm in Medford was bought of Edward Collins, and thus probably a part of the great Cradock estate. He sold his farm in Concord, Oct.- 22, 1664; and he died there, May 21, the two daus. of Thomas Atkinson; viz., Susannah, Apr. 10, 1660; 2d, Hannah. He removed to Medford, where he inherited some land lying east from the Wear Bridge. His house was situated about mid- way between the bridge and the Lowell Railroad, immediately in front of the Woburn Road. It was torn down, in 1779, by his great-grandson, Samuel. He died July 29, 1696, aged 64 ; and his second wife, Hannah, died Mar. 10, 1702, aged about 70. His children were, by his first wife, - 3- 6 Susannah, b. Dec. 27, 1661; d. unni., Dec. 23, 1686.

Captain Caleb Brooks, so called, m., 1st, Mary Wyer, and had by her five sons and five daughters. His homestead was w hat is now called the Bosquet House. He d. Nov. 21, 1766.

with her a large landed property in that town. His house is still standing, about thirty rods above his father's. His will proves him to have been one of the few slaveholders in the town. He d. July 5, 1768. His wife d. May 25, 1772, aged 74. Their children were -

21-31 Edward Brooks m Abigail, dau. of Rev. John Brown, of Haverhill. He grad. H. C, 1 7 o 7 , where he was librarian lor a short time. He was chaplain on board the frigate " Hancock " in 1777 ; but, returning to Medford, died there, May 6, 1781. His wife died Nov. 29, 1800, aged 69. She was, through her mother, a lineal descendant of the famous Puritan divine, John Cotton. Their children were - 31-51 Cotton Brown, b. July 20, 1765 ; d. May, 12, 1834..

Mary, Nov 27, 1637. It is my belief that these children all d. young, not being mentioned in his will. There was a George Cradock, of Boston, who is said by Huchinson to have been a grandson of the governor. However. ;is the historian seems to be in error in the same paragraph in confusing the brother and nephew of .Mathew, I prefer the authority of the English heralds, who mention no descendants of the governor. Samuel, the brother of Mathew, had Samuel, Mathew, and Zachary ; of whom Samuel was rector of North Cadbury, and d. Oct. 7, 1706, aged 86. On the death of his father's cousin, he succeeded to the estate at Wickham Brook, which remained in the possession of bis descendants. lie published a work called " Knowledge and Practice; or a Plain Discourse of the Chief Things necessary to be known, believed, and practised iu order to Salvation. Useful for private families.'' I have a copy of the third edition, printed in London, 1673. It is a very curious and learned collection of texts and comments. There is also a funeral sermon extant, preached on his death by Samuel Bury, printed in 1707. There were several other families of this name : one settled at Cradock Hall, in Richmond, co. York ; another at Husband's Bosworth ; another at Glanmorganshire (descended from Caradoc ap Ynir ap Ivor, lord of Dyfed); and a fourth is recorded in Burke's "Commoners." The name is a very ancient one, and occurs in the ballads concerning King Arthur. [See Percy's " Reliques."

CURTIS, THOMAS (1), came from York with his three brothers, Richard, John, and William, to Scituate, before 1648. {Vide Deane's "History of Scituate.") He had a son, Samuel, b. 1659, who had a son, Benjamin (2), b. 1699, who m. Rebecca House, 1723, and had several children. Of these, Elijah (3), b. 1740, m. Abigail Sole, 1756, and lived on Curtis's Hill, in Scituate. By his second wife, Zeporah Randall, he had two sons, Nehemiah and James (4).

where he served an apprenticeship with Thatcher Magoun, Esq., and has since been engaged in ship-building. He m. Adeline Wait in 1826, and had -

Register Of Families

She was mother-in-law of Deacon John Whitmore ; and her husband was probably a near relative of the apostle to the Indians. My reasons for this surmise are : 1. That one of the brothers of Rev. John Eliot mentions in his will that he had property in the hands of this Francis, at Braintree. 2. Edmund Ilobart was father of Joshua and of Thomas Hobart. Caleb, son of this Thomas, m. Mary, dau. of Francis Eliot. His cousin Peter m. Susanna, dau. of Jacob Eliot, and niece of the apostle. Such a coincidence can hardly have resulted without a connection between these families of Eliots.

He appears to have m. Eliz. Frost, Sept. 13, 1705; and, in fact, it is possible that all these children, after Nathaniel, - that is, from and including No. 13, - may be the offspring of a different John and Lydia. This, however, is but a surmise ; and, from the wills, I judge a very improbable one.

4-11 Stephen Francis, blacksmith, is mentioned in his brother Ebenezer's will (18). Stephen F. is apparently the one who m. Love, widow of Josiah Wyman, of Woburn, July 14, 1740. He had children - 11-19 Stephen, b. Mar. 7, 1741 ; d. June 26, 1749.

the dates, may have been a son of John No. 4, born about 1694 ; but all these sons of this John seem, if rightly traced, to have married comparatively late in life ; and the unusual length of the generations seems to call for another generation to be inserted.

FULTON, JOHN, was born in Boston, 1736, and moved to Medford in 1772, where he owned land bounded by the street which now bears his name. His father is said to have emigrated from Ireland, to enjoy liberty of conscience, and was one of the proprietors of the Federal-street Church. He m. the oldest daughter of Samuel Bradlee, of Boston, whom he left a widow, with ten children. She died, aged 95. One of her daughters m. Nathan Wait, of Maiden, who was b. 1763, and d. 1840, in Medford ; in which town one of his daughters now lives, the wife of Jonathan Perkins, Esq.

He was probably a descendant of Edmund Greenleaf, 0f Newbury 16d8, and brother of Enoch 2*, mentioned below . [ Fide » History of Newbury." ] 2* Enoch Greenleaf m. Hannah Bradshaw, Feb. 17, 1726, and

Jane Cargil. He embarked for America in 1718 ; and, landing at Cape Elizabeth, spent the winter there. He was afterwards one of the sixteen first settlers of Londonderry. He had - William.

HALL, WIDOW MARY, of Cambridge, had lands given her by that town, 1662, when she united with the church. Her children were all adults then. She had -

Green, of Camb., dau. of Percival and Ellen Green. John was of Camb., 1667 to 1675. He bought lands at Medford, June 27, 1675, of Caleb Hobart, which he mortgaged to him the same day as security, and redeemed May 2, 1881, for two hundred and sixty pounds. His children were - 2- 9 Elizabeth, b. 18, 7 mo., 1658; m. John Oldham.

Jane Willis. He was one of the founders of the church at Medford ; was one of the original proprietors of Sutton ; was representative to the Provincial Congress ; and deacon. He died Dec. 25, 1752. Children: - 14-45 Percival, b. Nov. 13, 1698; m. Lydia Bounds; d. *./>.

educated for the ministry, but never settled Hem. Mary Holt, widow of Moses Holt, jun., and settled m Portland, where his wife died, July 27, 1808, aged 54. Children : - wnerems armorer at Harper's Ferry, and

Willard (205) has been Secretary of State in Delaware, 1811-1814; Representative to Congress, 1816-1820; District Judge U. S. Ct., May 6, 1823, to date ; besides taking a conspicuous part on State questions.

47-112 Percival Hall was a physician and surgeon in the revolutionary war ; and d. at Boston, Sept., 1825. He m. Margaret Ware, of Wrentham, who d. aged 81. Children : - 112-212 Jairus.*

Fowle, the first printer in N.H. He published, in 1768, the "Essex Gazette," at Salem, whence he removed, in 1775, to Cambridge, where he published the " N. E. Chronicle." He moved this latter to Boston the next year. He published the " Salem Gazette" again, in 1781 ; and, in 1785, the " Massachusetts Gazette." In 1789, he opened a book-store in Boston, which he sold to Lincoln and Edmands in 1805, to whom Gould and Lincoln are the successors. He died Oct. 10, 1807.

He m., 1st, Sarah Davis, 1776, by whom he had three sons ; 2d, Margaret Cotton, in 1787, - issue, one daughter ; and, 3d, Sarah Simpson, 1789, - issue, one son and three daughters.

KENRICK, EDWARD, was a descendant of George K., of Scituate, freeman, 1635.. He had two sons by his first wife, - Thomas and Solomon ; and one by his second, - Jonathan. This last d. aged 38, leaving three sons, - Samuel, Anson, and Jonathan. Anson had a son, David, who had David, jun. This last, David, jun., was the father of Coleman C. Kenrick, for the past six years a resident of Medford.

The KIDDER family was settled, for several centuries, at Maresfield, in the county of Sussex, some seventy miles from London. It is believed that the only persons now living of that name can he traced back to this common stock. In England, the most distinguished bearer of this name was Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He was born in 1633, at East Grinstead, the birthplace of the American emigrant, whose kinsman he was. He was Rector of St. Martin's, London; Prebend of Norwich, 1681 ; Dean of Peterborough, 1689; and Bishop of Bath, 1691. He was killed, during the great gale of Nov. 27, 1703, by the fall of a chimney on the bishop's palace at Wells, which crushed him and his wife while at prayers. His daughter, Ann, died unmarried; and her only sister, Susanna, married Sir Richard Everard, one of the early governors of South Carolina, and has numerous descendants alive in that State.

The pedigree of the American branch, in the direct line, is: Richard Kidder (1) was living at Maresfield, 1492; his son, Richard (2), d. 1549, leaving eldest son, Richard (3), who d. 1563; third, m. Margaret Norman, of Little Horsted, and d. 1599, leaving two sons and several daughters. John (5), oldest son of the last, baptized 1561, m. Joan Beorge, and died in 1616, leaving four sons. James (6), the youngest of these, b. 1595, was the father of James (7), b., 1626, at East Grinstead, who moved to New England, and married Anna Moore, of Cainb., N.E., in 1649. This foregoing pedigree is condensed from one in the History of New Ipswich, prepared by Frederick Kidder, a co-editor of that work.

and Menotomy River, Avhence he removed to Shawshine, now Billerica. He had twelve children, of whom Samuel (8) was the youngest, who left children. He was b. Jan. 7, 1666 ; m. Sarah Griggs, Dec. 23, 1689, and lived near Porter's Hotel, in Camb., where the names of Kidder's Swamp and Kidder's Lane still preserve his memory. He was deacon of the church ; and the inventory of his estate was £1,138. He had six children; the oldest was -