Medway Town

Town Officers

. Edward Eaton. Assessors. - Wales Kimball, Willard P. Clark, Edward Clark. Overseers of Poor. - David Daniels, George E. Drake, Charles A. Bigelow. Auditor. - S. J. Axtell. Collector of Taxes. - Edward Clark.

School Committee

Deacon Paul Daniels, born in Medway July 7, 1789, died February 15th, aged 86 years, 7 months. He was for many years prominent in towii and church affairs, and represented the town in the General Court in 18;'3, '34, '35 and '40.

Rev. Sewall Hahding, a native of Medway, and for many years pastor of the church in the East parish, died in Auburndale, April 12, aged 83 years. He was a graduate of Union College in ISIS.

Hon. Warren Lovering, died August 21, aged 80 years. Mr. Lovering was born in Framingham, but early removed to Medway, where he passed his life. He was graduated at Brown University in 1817, and soon commenced the practice of law in Medway Village. He was for several years Chairman of the School Committee, and represented the town in the General Court in 1826, '27, '29, '30, '31, '32, '36, '47. He was a member of the Executive Council of Governor Everett in 1836, '37 and '38. He was appointed Bank Commissioner by Governor Everett in 1839, and held the office until it was abolished. The latter years of his life were passed in retirement.

Rev. Harrison G. Park, died June 26, aged 69 years, 11 months. Mr. Park was son of Rev. Dr. Calvin Park, of Stoughton, and brother of Prof. Edwards A. Park, of Andover. He was a graduate of Brown University in 1824, and for many years was a preacher of the Trinitarian faith. The latter years of his life were devoted to the temperance cause.

Hon. Joseph Day died of apoplexy, September 26th. Mr. Day was a native of Walpole, but removed to South Dedbam at an early age, where for many years he carried on the currying business, in which he amassed a handsome property. He took an active interest in town affairs, and was a representative to the General Court in 1S45 and '46. He represented the Second Norfolk District in the State Senate in 1801 and '62. lie was elected a Director of the Dedhain Bank in 1S55 and continued in the office until his death. He was 69 years of age.

Iva\n\ < '. Ai>\ms, aged 2 years and 8 months, died April 11th, and JOHN Q. ADAMS, Jr., aged 14 years, died April 12th. They were children of John Quincy and Fanny C. Adams, and died of diphtheria.

Hon. JAMES MAGOIRE, a native of South Carolina, but, for many years a prominent boot manufacturer In Randolph, died of paralysis, Kel>. is, aged 09 years, 3 months, 27 days. Mr. Magaire was a Senator for Norfolk County in 1S46 and '47.

ATHEBTON WAXES died April 20, aged 69 years, 4 months, 8 days. Mr. Wales was President of the Randolph Savings Bank from April 1,1858, until his death.

WILLIAM ll. WARREN, died August S, aged 48 years, 7 months, 27 days. For Uie past eleven years he was a I )eput V Sheriff for the County of Norfolk.

ITox. George Frost, died March 23d, aged 53 years and 3 months. He was born in Dorchester, Dec. 11th, 1819, and for many years had been the proprietor of a large bakery in Roxbury. In 1S59 and '6 > he was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Roxbury, and in 1864 and 'Oo a Senator for Norfolk County. He was for eight years a Trustee of Forest Hills < !emetery, and long a prominent member of the Universalist denomination. He die I, after a lingeri ig ilhe s, of consumption, lie enjoyed in a marked degree the respect and confidence of the community.

Source changes here: from History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, by Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Ed, published 1884; 11,658 words in this source stream.

Medway Town

were his pupils, and it may be mentioned as an evidence of the esteem in which he was held in Hingham and vicinity that John Quincy Adams, who was his steadfast friend, on going abroad as minister to Russia, placed his two sons, George Washington and John, under his care.

In order to qualify himself more fully for ministerial work, Mr. Kimball was ordained as an evangelist, while at Hingham, by the Plymouth Association, Dec. 17, 1817.

In the spring of 1826, Mr. Kimball purchased a farm in Needham, then a very retired country town, and opened a boarding- and day-school for youth of both sexes. His oldest son, Daniel, fitted for college, but died before entering. Both the others entered and graduated at Harvard, having been fitted for college by their father. His daughters assisted both in the school and the cares of the household.

man of the board most of that time, and wrote valuable and suggestive reports. He also assisted in the formation of the American Institute of Instruction, years one of its vice-presidents. He was often appointed on committees in town-matters, and in 1846 represented the town'in the State Legislature.

sufficient degree of physical energy to enjoy that period which by many is anticipated with dread, and he retained his calmness and cheerfulness to the last. He died at Needham Jan. 17, 1862, aged eighty-three years and six months.

Chapter Xqliyv

MeEpway is not one of the very ancient towns of Its municipal history reaches _back only one hundred and seventy years. It was | constituted of that part of Medfield which was located

The early Indian history, the laying out of farms, the building of roads, and the first settlement of the territory now embraced in the town of Medway are identified with the history of Medfield. The larger | part of Medway, along the west bank of the river

Charles, is country which the Indians called Boggastow, the western section lying southward of Win- _nekenning (the smile of the Great Spirit) Lake, now Winthrop Pond, the Indians named Mucksquirtt. | The eastern and southern boundaries of Medway are the river which Capt. John Smith in 1614 named the Massachusetts, but soon after called the Charles, in honor of Charles I. of England.

All the region west of the Charles River was once under the dominion of the Nipmuck Indians, but some _ years prior to King Philip's war the Nipmucks became divided into several smaller independent tribes, and Boggastow fell to the possession of a smail_tribe known as the Naticks, whose chief was John Awashamog.

The patent granted to John Endicott in 1628, who, with his company of immigrants, settled Salem, embraced within its extreme southern boundary the

| town of Medway. This appears in the description given in the grant, as follows: "That part of New England lying between three miles to the north of the | Merrimack and three miles to the south of the Charles River, and every part thereof in the Massachusetts | Bay and in length between the described breadth from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea." For some years after this Patent was issued all the zation was about to lay her hand upon the vast wilderness ov the west side of the river Charles was given in 1643, when the General Court of Massachusetts Bay granted to the Rey. John Allyne, the first minister of Dedham, in consideration of some public service rendered, two hundred acres of wild land lying in the forest beyond the west bounds of that town.

In 1649 Capt. Robert Kayne received a Grant of one thousand and seventy-four acres, bounded south by Rev. Mr. Allyne's grant, and in 1652 other grants were made to Nicholas Wood, Thomas Holbrook, Hopestill Layland, and his son, Henry Layland, all of Dorchester, Mass. Their lands lying adjacent and near to that granted to Rev. Mr. Allyne.

called, largely embraced in the present town of Sher- The single grant made to Rev. Mr. Allyne is easily identified as located in the extreme northeast born. part of the present town of Medway, land lying beof the town of Sherborn. It was on this tract of land that the earliest settlement within the limits of Medway was made. Here the first white man appeared on the scene, and became an actual settler in 1657. Meanwhile the town of Medfield had been established by an act of the Generai Court, and a considerable settlement made on the wide plain to the eastward from the river Charles.

The incorporation of Medfield came about in this wise: certain citizens of Dedham conceived the idea of having a new township established which should embrace the western portion of Dedham, and an adside of Charles River.

Accordingly, on the request of petitioners the town of Dedham made a grant of "so much land within the west end of the bounds of Dedham, next Bog- 'gastow, as is or may be contained within the extent of three miles east and west, and four miles north and south." This territory constitutes the present town

"Whereas, there was a graunt made by the Generall Court at a session of the 8th month of 1649 unto the inhabitants of Dedham in answer to petition of theires for enlargement of the village theire, as by the said graunt may more fully appeare, this graunt so made was laid out by Captaine Robert Keaine and Mr. Edward Jackson, who have subscribed it with theire hands in manner and forme followinge, vizt: beginninge at a small hill or iland in the meddow on the west side of Charles river, and runninge from thence about full west three miles, and then turninge a South line, ended at Charles river at three miles anda quarter. This line beinge then shorter than by the graunt it was allowed to be, but accepted by the grauntees. The said river is appointed to be the bounds from that place to the place where This Court doth approve of this returne of the psons above mentioned concerninge the bound of the said

It appears from these records that the survey was made to the satisfaction of all parties, and that under date of May 22, 1650, the General Court established the new township and ordered it to be called '' Mead-

The grant thus made on the west side of the river Charles, when Medfield became incorporated afterwards, constituted a considerable part of Medway, and was known as the " Old Grant." This territory is embraced in East Medway, Rockville, and Medway Village. The first thirteen house-lots in Medfield were laid out June 19, 1650, on the plain east of the river, and the following year the grantees erected houses and removed from Dedham, making the date of the actual Dedham surrendered its jurisdiction Jan. 11, 1651, and the May following the town of Medfield was recognized by the

"There beinge a Town lately erected beyond Dedham in the County of Suffolke upon Charles river called by the name of Meadfield, upon their request made to this General Court, this General Court hath graunted them all the power and privileges which other towns doe injoy according to law."

"Tn answer to a petition of the inhabitants of Dedham for a parcell of upland and meadow adjoining to their line, to make a village of, in quantity four miles south and north, and three miles east and west, because they are straightened at their doores by other towns and rocky lands, &e. Their request is graunted, so as they erect a distinct village thereupon within one year

The first survey of lands west of the river Charles was that of the ''broad meadows," in 1652-53, consisting of twenty-two grants or about uinety acres in all. In 1653 grants were made to Abraham Harding

1657. Mr. Fairbanks was not connected with the settlement of Medfield Plain, but purchased the tract of land which had been granted in 1643 to Rev. Mr. Allyne, by the General Court. While Mr. Fairbanks lived within the limits of Medfield, and enjoyed relig-

In the Colonial Record for May, 1659, appears the following: 'In answer to petition of inhabitants of Medfield, the court judgeth it meete to graunt unto them as an addition to their former bounds and at the west end thereof two miles east and west and four miles north and south, provideth it entrench not upon of the inhabitants at "The Farms," so called. His immediate neighbors, as recorded in 1660, were "nicholas woods, Daniel Morse, Henry Lealand, thomas Holbrooke, and thomas Bas."

"On the Longe plain to begin next to Boggastow River on that end." bounds By charles river to Begine next the town." "Tn pine valley to begin at north end and go throf it." 'At the end of pine valley on a persell of land that the path goeth throfe." had, perhaps, been a few grants made to individuals prior to this, - to John Fussell, eight acres, to Benjamin Abby, and probably to others. But, in 1659, there were laid out fifteen lots, in all one hundred and seventy-three acres, on land owned and taken by the following persons, viz.: Benjamin Abby, heirs of Joseph Morse, Thomas Wight, Sr., John Thurston, Samuel Bullen, Peter Adams, Nicholas Rockwood, Thomas Wight, Jr., John Frairy, Sr., Robert Hinsdell, Joshua Fisher, Thomas Thurston, Thomas Ellis, Mr. Wilson, James Allen.

It is said to be " quite certain that none of the men who drew these lots settled on the west side of the river," although the sons of some of them did years afterwards.

Various highways were projected by which these grants of land were made accessible to the owners living in Medfield. It was in the year 1659, that was sought and obtained from the General Court another grant of land to the westward, known as

The New Grant. - The following entry is found in the town records of Medfield: '' The Eleventh of May one Thousand six hundred fifty-nine, in Answer to petition of the town of Medfield presented to the General Court was granted by the court to the town of Meadfield an addition of land at the west end of their former grant, as the Record of the Courte will make Appeare."

Fisher are hereby appointed to lay it out." This accession of territory westward is embraced in the present West Parish of Medway. At the next annual town-meeting of Medfield, held Feb. 6, 1660,

"Tt is ordered that the new graunt mad to the town this year by the Courte shall Be Divided By way of Devidend to all the inhabitance of the town that are proprietors in the town and that it shal be Divided by the common rules of Division by number of persons and estates." another meeting, April 20, 1660, two highways were ordered through this new grant, one at a distance of half a mile north of the Charles River from east to west, the other through "the midst of the tract of land from the way that runs west to a line to the north end of the same."

These highways divided the new grant into three sections, known as the River, East, and West Sections. The River Section was divided into twelve lots, em- The West Section was divided into nineteen lots, embracing ten hundred and ninety-six acres, and the Hast Section into sixteen lots, embracing sixteen hundred and fiftyeight acres, leaving some two hundred acres undivided at the northeast corner of the grant, near Winthrop Pond.

Mason, Francis Hamant, John Partridge, John | Warfield, Thomas Ellis, John Bowers, Thomas Thurston, John Thurston, Peter Adams, George Barber. | The first white child born within the territory of | the present town of Medway was Jonathan Fairbanks, | son and sixth child of George Fairbanks, the first | He was born May 1, 1662. Jonathan | He was drowned in settler. Fairbanks became a physician. crossing Boggastow Pond on the ice as he was returning from a visit to a patient in Medfield, on the night of Dec. 18, 1719. The establishment of a new town on the west side of the river Charles must have been agitated forty years before it became a fact, for we find that at a session of the General Court held in Boston, in May, 1662, it was voted: '"'in answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Boggastow, it is ordered that Mr. Ed- | ward Jackson, Mr. Ephraim Child, Mr. William Parks, and Ensigne Fisher, or any three of them, shall and are hereby impowered as a committee to e "Old Grant," and Joseph Daniell, an accepted townsman of Medfield, in October of that year, drew | lands in this new survey, and became soon after the second actual settler of Medway. His house, | built prior to 1665, stood west of 'Island Woods," | and the farm he owned is still owned and tilled by | his descendants. Mr. Daniell married, Nov. 16, 1665, Mary Fairbanks, the eldest daughter of George Fairbanks, the first settler. ceremony within the territory, now Medway. Soon

In 1672 the settlement of Indian | claims came tO" treat and conclud with John of Boggastow, we mene John a Wasameg of natick, for and right in claim in the lands within our Towne Bownes | on the west sid of Charlles River. Thomas Wight, Sr., John Frairy, Sr., John Elice, John Medeallfe, conclude with John Awashamog as above said." "Shortly after Indian troubles arose, and, Feb. 21, 1676, about half the houses in the village of Medfield massacred. At this date, so far as is ascertained, there were resident on - of Medway, the following householders: ' George Fairbanks, Sr., George Fairbanks, Jr., Joseph Daniell, Jonathan Adams, William Allen, and Peter Collyr," perhaps John Fussell: in all thirty persons. Of | these, Joseph Daniell, Jonathan Adams, William Allen, and probably Peter Collyr had their houses burned. As a protection against the attacks of the Indians, there had been built by the residents of "The Farms," some years before, a "stone house" near Boggastow Pond, a place of refuge and defense. To this Rev. Mr. Wilson refers in his letter written to the Governor of the Colony on the evening of that disastrous day, Feb. 21, 1676. He says, '" We hope George Fairbanks's mallteatie 3 is safe."

On the 6th of the following May this garrison house was savagely attacked by the Indians, but they met with a " notorious repulse.' The 2d of the next July, the men of Medfield in turn attacked the Indians, in the woods near the "stone house," and drove them to such a distance from the town that they never again appeared in those parts. From this time the settlements on the west side increased. In 1677, Josiah Rockwood settled on the farm which soon came into the possession of the Lovell family, and was owned by them for the next one hundred years. This, with the Wheeler place, is now known as the Oak Grove Farm,

Stretching out over a large area, and almost dividing from north to south the present town of Medway, was the Black Swamp, so called from the dark shading its thick, heavy pines gave to the landscape. The laying out of Black Swamp was ordered under date of March, 1702.

'" Voted, that the Black Swamp shall be laid out with such necks of upland and Ilands as_ shall make it formable by our former Rules of laying out lands." The list of proprietors contains one hundred and twenty-three names. Of these, twentyseven were residents of the west side of the river, Viz. :

The next succeeding ten years there was considerable growth to the population on the west side of the river, and there prevailed a general desire to have religious privileges nearer at hand, which found expression in a petition to the town, May 7, 1712, for building a meeting-house on the west side of the river. This matter was pressed upon the town unsuccessfully, but at length it was made the subject of a petition to colonial favor, and the General Court " recommended to the town of Medfield to raise money towards the building another meeting-house on the west side of Charles River." This was opposed by a vote of the town, and March 9, 1713, " voted that the town shall petition the General Court, declaring their inability to build another meeting-house in the town, and to bare the charge attending it.'"' The town voted money to pay 'necessary charges that may arise for the printing of said petition, and the town paid to " Mr. Paul Dudley to manage the town case three pounds."

The General Court at length sent a committee to look over the ground with reference to the establishment of a new town west of theriver Charles. This committee reported favorably. states that on Oct. 24,1713, he "' helped the selectmen prepare the bill for Medway, the new town on the west of Charles River." . The act was passed the next day, Oct. 25,1713. This Act of Incorpo-

""Whereas the Lands of the Township of Medfield within the County of Suffolk lye situate on Charles River, to wit on both sides of the said River being divided by the same: and house for the Public Worship of God, being seated on the Hast side for accommodation of the first and Ancient Inhabitants, who are now much increased, many Issued forth and settled on

Town of themselves, and labor under many hardships and Difiiculties by reason of Separation by the River to Enjoy Equal benefit and town privileges with others of their fellow Townsmen and neighbors, and have therefore made application to the town as also addressed this Court to be made a distinct Town. Committees appointed by this Court having been upon the

"That all those Lands Lying on the West side of Charles River, now part of the Township of Medfield, be Erected and made into a Distinct and Separate Town by the name of Medway, the River to be the Bound betwixt the Two Towns. And that the Inhabitants of Medway haye, use and Exercise and Enjoy all such power and privileges which other Towns have, So by Law use, exercise & enjoy. So that they procure and Settle a Learned, Orthodox Minister of good Conversation among 'em and make provision for an Hone support & maintainance for him, and that in Order thereto, they be Discharged from further payment to the Ministry in Medfield from and after the last day of February next.

'Provided also that all Province and Town Taxes that are already Levied, or Granted, be Collected and paid, and all town Rights and Common undivided Lands remain to be divided among the interested as if no separation had been made.

"And Mr. George Fairbanks, a principal Inhabitant of the said Town of Medway, is hereby Directed and Impowered to Notify and Summon the Inhabitants duly Qualified for Voters to Assemble and meet together for the Choosing of Town Officers to stand until the next Annual Election according to Law.

In the order of incorporations Medway was the sixty-ninth town in the Massachusetts Colony. Tradition says it derived its name from the locality, being situated meadway or midway, @e., by the way Or midway, it being the half-way stopping-place on the old Post road from Dedham to Mendon. Some have derived the name from Medway River, in England.

Topographical. - Medway is bounded on the north by Holliston and Sherborn, on the east by Medfield and Norfolk, on the south by Franklin and Bellingham, and on the west by Milford and Holliston. The Charles River separates it from Medfield, Norfolk, and Franklin, almost entirely on its eastern and southern boundaries. It embraces only about fifteen square miles, although its extreme length south and west is six miles and its extreme breadth northwest and southwest is four miles. sand acres, about one-half being unimproved or pasture land, one-quarter under cultivation, and one-quarter The valuation of land being

There are nearly ten thouwood and sprout land. about three hundred thousand dollars. traversed by nearly a hundred miles of highways, and by railway from east to west in direct connection with Boston. Its topography is peculiar by reason of the meadow-lands, which extend for miles along its eastern border, and traverse midway almost its entire breadth from north to south. These meadows along the river Charles are productive of grass. the western border of the Old Grant are known as

Boggastow Brook crossing the northern and easterly corner of the town, flows into Boggastow Pond, which has its outlet into the Charles River; Chicken is partly in Medway and partly in Holliston. These waters furnish but limited mill power and at but a The surface of the uplands of the town few points. is level with few hills in the easterly section. and hilly. The most elevated land is a range of hills west of Black Swamp. the town is excellent for agriculture.

picking. Medway is well furnished with highways. From east to west the "' Old Mendon Road," laid out in 1670, called the "County road," along which command of the American army in 1775. said that Washington, in making this passage through the town, dined at Richardson's Hotel in the Kast Parish, at the house now standing and the residence

By an act of incorporation, passed March 9, 1804, the Hartford and Dedham Turnpike Corporation came into existence. And there was constructed a turnpike through the town from east to west, called the Hartford Turnpike. This road was opened to travel in 1807, and a toll-gate established near the '"' Hammond Place." This point is now marked by the railroadcrossing in Hast Medway.

Tolls were collected for nearly twenty years. The Medford Turnpike was laid out and established as a public highway June 4, 1838, and received the name of Main Street. It is the longest highway in the town, extending from Medfield to Bellingham. The old county road, which is the oldest highway in town, and nearly as long as Main Street, running in the same direction nearer the river, is called Village Street.

Medway. In this meeting were Artemas Brown, M.D., Luther Metcalf, Esq., Hon. Warren Lovering, Lyman Adams, and others of Medway. This movement for a long period was a contest and a struggle.

until January, 1853, was the puff of an engine and the rumble of a railroad train heard within the precinct of Medway. The first railroad opened to the public was the Medway Branch of the Norfolk County Railroad, January, 1853, having its terminus in Medway Village. This was discontinued in 1864, and the rails removed in the night. The New York and Boston Railroad, which was an extension of the Charles River Railroad, from Dedham to Woonsocket, was completed and opened to Medway in 1861, and to Woonsocket in 1863, and merged into the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad. Financially this railroad has been a failure ; it is now the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New England Railroad.

There are four principal villages in Medway, viz., Kast, West, Rockville, and Medway Villages. The New York and New England Railroad passes immediately through three of these so as to furnish easy transportation to Boston, to Providence, and Worcester. Rockville has coach connection with England Railroad at Norfolk Station, so that all parts of the town are well accommodated.

The amount of freight and passenger business to and from the three stations in Medway on the New York and New England Railroad for the year ending Jan. 31, 1883, was $41,843.23.

date of its incorporation is not stated. The number | of householders and voters was 48, which would indicate a population of some 250 or 300 people. | By the first census taken and published in 1765 there were 123 houses, 138 families, - males 380, females 388; and 17 negroes; making a total of 785 inhabitants. In 1776 there were 912, in 1790 there were 1035, and in 1800 there were 1050. As reported in the State census of 1875 there were 4242 inhabitants, - males 2066, females 2176; natives of the town 1567; natives of Massachusetts 2931; natives of United States 3421; foreign-born | 742 ; and unknown nationality 79. The number of polls were 1038. The population of the town has hardly increased during the last ten years. The business of the town is largely manufacturing. There are some 500 boot-makers, 150 straw-bonnet makers, | 200 farmers, 50 merchants and traders, 12 blacksmiths, 54 carpenters, 5 physicians, 2 lawyers, and 10 clergymen.

In the population of Medway by census of 1875 there were 204 persons who were illiterates ; 31 of | these were natives, and 173 foreign-born. 80 of the number could read, but 124 could neither read nor write. About five per cent. of the population is illiterate.

Municipal. - tThe first town-meeting of Medway was held '"' November ye 23d, 1713 . . . to choose town officers to stand untill the next annuall ellection are chosen, which will be in March 1714."

"June 4, 1715. The select men met at the house of Nathaniel Wight to lay out high wais for the benefit of this Town, and for the Conveniency of travelers to pass from town to town as followeth: begun in the country Rhode that leds to mendon near twenty rods east from Nat Wight's upon a straight line across part of the plain known by the name of Stony Plain, and cross a swamp place comonly called paradise island, and by the south east side of Ebenezer Thompson's field on to bare hill along at the south west end of the meeting house to the laid out highway through the plain comonly known by the name of hills."

For the first thirteen years of their municipal history the town was not represented in the Provincial Court. They adhered to their vote taken Dee. 3, 1713, "To send none, accounting ourselves not obliged to send any," until 1726, when they chose as

" Voted, That Abraham Harding, Sen', John Partridge, and Theophilus Clark to procure and carry in a petition to the town clerk of Medfield in order to the procuring of acecommodations for the setting of the metting hous upon the place commonly called bare hills, and some conven't acomodations for the ministry near ther abouts."

" March ye 22 Anno Dom. 1748-9, Received of Dea. John Barber, town treasurer, the sum of four hundred pounds old Term Bills in full satisfaction of my salary the past year, and I do hereby acquit and discharge the said Town of Medway for all debts, dues or demands whatsoever on the account of my yearly salary from the time of my first settling with them in the work of the ministry to the first day of this instant, March, as witness my hand

In all forty-eight persons, many of whom were reelected, and several serving a number of years. Warren Lovering, Esq., served seven, Jonathan Adams Stull others from two to five years.

The present town clerk, O. A. Mason, has served twelve; S. N. B. Fuller, served fourteen; Edward Clark, eighteen; Joseph L. Richardson, nineteen ; Joseph Lovell, twenty; and Elijah Clark, twentyfour years. Still others served from two to ten years. The number of different persons who have filled this office in the one hundred and seventy years is twenty- 'five.

The whole number who have served in the office of selectman is one hundred and eighty-eight persons. Some have served by re-election from two to twenty | years.

"Paid Mr. Salter, of Borston, for half barrel of powder, £10; for one hundred weight of bulits & one hund. flints, £5 15s. To Edward Clark, for bringing ammunition, £5. To Timothy Clark, for bringing _ powder and bulits, 3s. 6d." Making a total of £16 3s. 6d. Whereas all other expenditures of the town for that year, exclusive of the minister's salary, but in- - cluding £2 which was paid for schools and £7 for the | building of a pound, were £12 2s. 13d.

In 1730 bears were troublesome in the vicinity of Winthrop Pond. In 1737, Seth Harding was paid one pound for " killing a wild catt." In 1742, nineteen pounds, eleven shillings, and six pence were ordered by the town to be paid for killing eight hundred and seventeen squirrels and six hundred and eighty-four blackbirds. The last deer killed in the | region was in 1747, and the last panther made his - appearance in 1790. /

"The incorporation of the West Precinct by the General Court, Dec. 29, 1748," prepared the way for the organization of the Second Church of Christ in Medway. 'The first town-meeting held in the West Precinct was in March, 1753.

restrain themselves from the use of it, upon which | there is a duty laid by the Parliament of Great Brit-_ ain, and also that they will forbear the purchasing of | any goods knowingly, directly or indirectly of any importer . . . until the revenue acts shall be repealed." And a committee was chosen, who recommended to | the town 'to frown upon all who may endeavor to frustrate the good designs of the above vote, and | to deem all who may at any time counteract it no better than enemies to our constitution and banes to | the Commonwealth." '" unanimously" adopted.

In December of 1775 the selectmen were instructed to withhold their approbation from " inn-holdersand retailers of strong liquors in this town from all such persons that shall buy, use, and consume any tea in their | homes while subject to duties." In 1774 there were - added to the town stock of ammunition " 100 pounds of powder, 200 pounds of bullets, and 200 flints." In September of 1774 the town voted to purchase "two | iron field-pieces, for better security and defence." | Medway was thoroughly patriotic, as seen in various | votes adopted at this period.

Elijah Clark was representative to the General Court of 1776, and instructed as follows: "If the Honorable | Continental Congress shall for the safety of the colo- | nies declare them independent of Great Britain, then | we will support them in the measure with our lives

In 1780 the expenditures of the town were £92,909 10s. 3d. in the currency of that period, and in 1781 the town voted to pay those " who marched and served in the late alarm in Rhode Island" the sum of twentyfive pounds per day for service.

The tax-list of 1783 fills fourteen manuscript pages on paper eight inches square, contains two hundred and sixteen residents and ninety-eight non-residents ; poll-tax, 2s. 6d. The largest real estate tax-payers were Asa P. Richardson, £1 2s. 9d.; Capt. Joseph Lovell, £1 3s. 8d.; and Nathaniel Lovell, £1 8d.

The warrant for 1794 defines the qualifications for voting for State officers to be, a residence within the State one year, age twenty-one years, and an estate of sixty pounds, or an estate yielding an annual income of three pounds; and for town officers the payment of a tax, besides a poll-tax, equal to two-thirds of the poll-tax.

In 1795 Federal money came into use, and the town expenditures recorded in dollars, cents, and mills for the first time. This year the town ordered guide-posts to be set up. The Hartford Turnpike was built and opened for public travel in 1807, but became a public way June 4, 1838, after a corporate existence of thirty years. In 1805, Ezekiel Plympton petitioned the town to grant liberty to owners of land to set out and cultivate various kinds of trees send a representaof the town being at great expense for building Meeting-houses, and also an additional number of poor thrown upon the town."

'"" Whereas, The profanation of the Lord's Day-by many inconsiderate persons has become notorious, and is incompatible with a due regard to the Christian . it being the ardent wish of this town that the tithingmen should use their vigilant exertions in order to put a stop to all unnecessary traveling on the Sabbath, and in all things cause the laws for the due observance of the Lord's Day to be duly executed according to the tenor and intent of their solemn oath."

Tithingmen ceased to be chosen in 1845, Samuel Force and Anson F. White being the last incumbents In 1818 voted to hold town-meetings two out of every three years in East Parish, and one year in West Parish. In 1823 voted to alternate in the Village, which plan is still followed. In 1831 the day of State election was changed to November. In 1867 the town gave names to its public streets.

Medfield of which they were a part. fifty years their ecclesiastical connections were with the old First Church of Christ in Medfield, of which Rev. John Wilson, Jr., was pastor from 1651 to 1691. As the population increased on the west side of the river Charles, in consideration of the long distance to public worship, there was awakened a strong and second meeting-house, and of the support of the Gospel on the west side of the Charles River led the inhabitants of that part of the town to determine on

Gospel privileges" that the new town of Medway was incorporated, Oct. 25,1713. For a period of the first forty years much of the business transacted in townmeetings had to do with the matters of the church and the ministry.

The first meeting-house was erected on Bare Hill, and probably dedicated Nov. 20, 1715, the day that Rev. David Deming was ordained the first pastor.

The Third Congregational Church was organized Dec. 7, 18536. The pastor was Rev. Luther Bailey, who, after several years of ministration, retired, and the organization became at length entirely extinct.

The Evangelical Congregational Church, of Medway Village, was organized Sept. 7, 1838. The pastors have been Rev. David Sanford, 1838-71 . Rev. R. K. Harlow, 1872, the present pastor.

The Saint Clement's Church was established June, 1865, in the East Parish. The rectors have been Rev. Benjamin F. Cooley, 1865-69; Rev. Charles Kelly, 1870-71. Their church building was burned Feb. 5, 1871, and was not rebuilt. A new church edifice of stone was erected in 1874-80 in Medway Village, called Christ's Church. It was opened for divine service on Christmas evening, 1881, by Rev. John 8S. Beers, Missionary-at-large in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Jan. 8, 1882, Rev. Samuel Edwards became officiating missionary under the Diocesan Board of Missions, which position he still filled in 1884.

Rockville Chapel was erected in 1876. For many years the First Church of Medway had mains tained a Sabbath-school in the village of Rockville, and in 1876 a convenient chapel was erected at the In this chapel

The town of Medway is abundantly provided with - churches and religious institutions, which are well | | Neck, New Grant, North New Grant: and in 1769 a gave one shilling and one bushel of Indian corn and Joseph Daniell gave two shillings sixpence and two bushels of corn as a contribution towards the " new college in Cambridge." This was the first expression of interest in "higher education" made in the town of Medway.

Until 1805 the selectmen had the supervision of the schools, but that year the limits of the different districts were fixed, and the first school committee chosen, who were Abijah Richardson, M.D., John Ellis, the following entry upon the record of Medfield, May 4, 1699: "The selectmen agreed with Sergt. Joseph Daniell to take care for the schooling children on the west side of Charles River."

The first school-room was ordered Sept. 13, 1704, when the town of Medfield voted, '' The inhabitants of the west side to provide a convenient room for a school this year for such time as shall be needfull."

The first payments made to teachers as recorded were: Feb. 21, 1700, " payd unto peter adams for his wive's Keeping school on that side of the River, it being the full of his Du, 2 - 9-11." at this time the mother of seven children. March 19, 1700, " payd to Sergt. Joseph Daniel for Keep-

Upon the records of Medway under date of May 13, 1717, it is found that the town " granted four pounds of money to be raised as and put into the minister's rate for to build a pound and keep a scool." for a writing school, and ten shillings for a school at '"y* bent of y® river." Ruth Harding received nine shillings and eight pence, and widow Partridge six shillings and four pence for teaching. In 1726 the town appropriated ten pounds to be divided for the support of the schools in different parts of the town.

J. Warren Clark. Waldo B. Hixon. Charles F. Daniels. Charles A. Bigelow. Edmund A. Clark. E. A. Daniels, M.D. Rev. E. N. Hidden. Frederic Swarman. George E. Sanderson.

The earliest record of a district-school meeting is that of No.1 District, Feb. 11,1801. The appropriation of money by the town for schools that year was four hundred dollars. At this district-school meeting it was voted "to have one month's man school" and "to have four months' woman school."

The text-books used in school at the beginning of the century were Pike's Arithmetic, Morse's Geography (with maps), and the American Preceptor. Pen-_ manship received much attention, and the art of making and mending a quill pen was a great accomplishment and a necessary qualification for teaching. In 1816 the village District, No. 7, was formed and a school-house built. In 1873 school-house No. 9 was erected.

This school was successful and popular for several terms, but was superseded by select and private schools taught at intervals and in different parts of the town. Among the teachers were George P. Smith, afterwards a clergyman in Worcester, and Samuel J. Spaulding, afterwards Rev. Dr. Spaulding, of Newburyport, Mass. Dedham, taught a similar school in the West Parish, Mr. Daniel J. Poor 1838. academic studies were pursued in these schools.

In 1851 the town conformed to the law of the State and established a high school, which has been maintained ever since at the expense of the town. In 1869 the district system was abolished and the school committee increased to nine members. high school, from 1851 to 1855, was rotary: one term yearly at each of the three villages; then from 1855 to 1879 it was distributed high and grammar schools, one in each village, but in 1879 the Medway High School became _permanently located in Medway Village, pupils being transported at the expense of the town. This school for two years has been under the charge of George H.

There is a large attendance, and the school takes high rank for the facilities it affords for pursuing Higher English and Classical studies. In 1883 a class of thirteen graduated, some of whom entered the best New England colleges without condition.

St. Clement's school was established, in 1868, in connection with the St. Clement's Church in the East Parish. This school was for the education of boys. It had a history of a few terms of marked prosperity, but in 1870, the buildings being burned, it was discontinued.

The town of Medway has advanced in its appropriations for schools from four pounds, "for building a pound and teaching a scool," or two pounds for schooling the children in 1717, to some nine thousand dollars for schools and school incidentals in 1883. Instead of one school and one teacher, there are eighteen schools, with twenty teachers, including a High School not surpassed in this region, and graded The town provides liberally : books, supplies, and everything to equip and run her public schools with success. In 1883 the town adopted the plan of providing school-books free of expense to all the pupils except those in the High School. The school board consists of nine members, the superintendence, employment of teachers, and genschools of a high order.

The educational facilities of the town are suppletwo public libraries: the Hast Medway Circulating Library and the Dean Public Library. The Dean Library Association was incorporated March 3, 1860. By the munificence of the late Dr. Dean they have a capital of about five thousand dollars, the income of which goes to support the Dean Publie Library, which has some twenty-five hundred volumes. This library is accommodated with a convenient room in Sanford Hall.

Sanford Hall was erected, 1872, at a cost of about sixteen thousand dollars, in Medway Village. It was dedicated Dee. 31, 1872, by appropriate services, and named for the largest donor to its building fund, Milton A. Sanford, Esq., of New York, but a native of Medway.

Theodore W. Fisher, M.D., of Boston, son of Hon. M. M. Fisher, of Medway, gave an historical address on the occasion, and Rey. R. K. Harlow made the address of dedication. The lower story of the building is occupied by stores and the Dean Public Library. The second story is devoted to a public hall, with convenient anterooms, devoted to several smaller halls used for various purposes.

The small water-power within the limits of the town has been utilized, and in later years supplemented with steam. A variety of manufactures have been produced. Hardly had a settlement on the west side of the river Charles been commenced, when we find the town of Medfield making a grant in 1659 to Robert Hinsdell of "forty-six acres lying on the other side of Boggastow Brook," in payment for "the bell" with which he had provided the town for their church. And very soon, 1663, Boggastow mill-dam is mentioned, and in 1665, Robert Hinsdell's mill was a fact. This first mill was doubtless for Mr. Hinsdell sold it in 1669 to Peter Woodward, and it was burned by the Indians sometime prior to 1676, but probably rebuilt, as Hinsdell's mill is mentioned in 1677. In 1680, Medfield voted to grant fifty acres of land to encourage the building of a mill on Charles River, and to exempt the mill from taxes for seven years. This proposal was accepted, and the first mill at the Bent, now Rockville, was built by the following owners :

Morse, Edward Adams, Joseph Allen, John Metcalf, Jr., Nathaniel Allen, George Barber, Ephraim Wight, Samuel Barber, John Plympton, and Benjamin Wheelock. This mill was burned prior to 1685, and " Gamaliel Hinsdell was appointed by the selectmen to prosecute John Sunchamaug, an Indian, upon suspicion of firing the new mill." How soon this mill was rebuilt is not known. But Feb. 7, 1687, the town granted to Joseph Daniell " the stream of Boggastow Brook, so far as it shall be needful to the advantage of his mill, and not damage the proprietors on said brook, provided he maintains a good mill on said stream, for the supply of the town." The folthe common land on the brook," and "to flow the common land so far as shall be convenient for a mill at all times forever." Joseph Daniell had become the proprietor of the old mill site, "' the place where Peter Woodward's stood," for he gave it to his son in by the Indians. In later times it was known as Bullard's mill, afterwards as Fisher's mill, then as Partridge's mill, and was at Jast purchased by M. H. Collins, Esq., and removed to make way for straightening the highway, so that the road now passes over the spot first selected for the erection of a mill by Robert Hinsdell, on the west side of the Charles. At just what date the mill further up the Boggestow Brook, known as Daniell's mill, was built is not known. But Joseph Daniell, Jr., built a saw-mill there, and the property was held in the Daniel's name until recent date, although no mill has been there for some years, the last Daniels proprietor being Cyrus Daniels, whose grandfather, Moses Daniels, was drowned in 1800 in the flume while shutting the gate. The mills on the Charles River were as follows: one near where the mill of George Barber and others was built, known as the Richardson and Ellis' mill, not far from the site of the present factories in Rockville; Whiting's mill, near Medway Village not far from the New Sanford There were Cutler's mill on Chicken Brook, on the road to Holliston, and another mill on the same stream near its junction with the Charles River, a site occupied in later times by Campbell's paper-factory. Among the earliest cotton-mills in the State was the "« Medway Cotton Manufactory," located upon the site of the old saw- and grist-mill, erected by Nathaniel Whiting on the Charles River, at a point near Medway Village.

It appears that Luther Metcalf, Sr., Philo Sanford, Abijah Richardson, William Felt, Comfort Walker, Nathaniel Miller, and John Blackburn entered into a formal agreement, May 14, 1805, as associates " for the purpose of carding and spinning and manufac- John Blackburn was a practical manufacturer, having been in the employ of Samuel Slater, who was the founder of The first mill erected It was cotton-mills in this country. was sixty by thirty feet, two stories high. completed and went into operation in March, 1807, with machinery to operate eight hundred and twenty The exact date of the introduction of These

Tiffany to their number, and were incorporated by the General Court as the Medway Cotton Manufactory, by a special charter approved March 4, 1809. On Sunday, Oct. 20, 1811, this mill was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and running by the close of that year. The new mill erected stood for seventy years. The corporation had for its agent and treasurer Lyman Tiffany from 1809 to 1819, when Dr. Oliver Dean Dr.

the position thirty-eight years, until the corporation dissolved, which occurred after the sale of the property in 1864. Soon after it was purchased by William A. Jenckes, of Woonsocket, and for fifteen years operated in the manufacture of flax, under the name of Medway Flax Company. Aug. 10,1881, the property was conveyed by Mr. Jenckes to the Sanford Mill Corporation for fifteen thousand dollars. The old mill was sold at auction Aug. 17, 1881, for one dollar and fifty cents, to be removed in ten days. now occupied by a substantial brick building for the manufacture of fine woolen fabrics. It is called the Sanford New Mill.

In 1837 there were running two thousand four hundred spindles, and the production of cotton goods was nearly a half-million of yards, valued at about fifty 'thousand dollars. The production of woolen goods was some seventy-six thousand yards, valued at seventy-two thousand dollars. There were at that date also manufactured cotton wadding and cotton batting to some extent.

uated many of the men who were to lay the foundations of Lowell, Manchester, and other manufacturing places, and build for themselves colossal fortunes." The manufacture of boots and shoes has been for more than fifty years the prominent business of the forty thousand pairs of boots and about a hundred thousand pairs of shoes, valued at nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The manufacture of boots has largely superseded that of shoes, and the business now gives employment to four hundred persons, and stores for goods. In 1830 the weaving of imported straw was introduced. In 1840, Hon. M. M. Fisher established straw goods manufacturing, which has continued in operation and

The value of straw goods manufactured in 1874 was nearly two hundred thousand dollars. There have been and are various other industrial interests in the town. One of the oldest churchbell foundries in the country was established in Hast _ Medway in 1815, by Maj. George Holbrook, and for many years Holbrook's bells from thousands of church steeples from Maine to Texas have summoned the | people to worship. In the same part of Medway, clocks, church organs, and organ pipes have been manufactured for some years. Messrs. Ware, organpipe manufacturers, made the pipes for the great organ in the Colliseum building, Boston, at the time of the Jubilee. E. L. Holbrook, Hsq., still carries on the manufacture of church organs of a very superior quality, being himself a practical musician of rare gifts. There are several corn-canning establishments; one of the largest is that of the late James La Croix, Esq.

Military. - The Revolutionary Period. - The town of Medway as early as 1765 expressed anxiety and the spirit of patriotic resistance of British oppression by giving instructions to her representative, Elisha Adams, of that year, and by various acts in the next ten ensuing years declarative of her full sympathy with the colonists in their opposition to the encroachments on the liberties of the people. In _ January, 1775, the town voted thirty pounds " to encourage the enlisting of a number of able-bodied "men to the number of one-quarter of the military _ soldiers to complete and hold themselves in readiness | to march at the shortest notice.'' These were called | " minute-men." The following names appear as those who had en- _dured sufferings and hardships in the Continental but she did her full share in creating a patriotic sentiment, in fighting the battles, and in enduring the hardships of the Revolutionary period.

The War of the Union. - In the late war the record of Medway will compare favorably with that of any town in tke old Bay State, both in furnishing men, money, and in works of beneficence to relieve the sufferings of sick and disabled soldiers. The town took action as early as 1862 to have prepared a careful record of her soldiers. This action antedated by nearly a year that of the Commonwealth, and it may have been the first action of the kind taken within the State. a brief biographical sketch of all her Union soldiers. The whole number of soldiers sent into the field under the various calls of the President was three hundred and eighty-four. The whole number of different |

Julius A. Fitts. Thomas Flaherty. James Blake Flaherty. Charles F. Fuller. Amos L. Fuller. George A. Fuller. Michael Fitzgerald. James Fitzgerald. George Edmund Fuller. James A. Gale, M.D. James M. Grant. Frank 8. Grant. Edwin A. Grant. Harrison G. O. Grant. xeorge O. Grant. John Gormly.

Miscellaneous. - There are four Post-offices in The first Post-office was established in Capt. William Felt was appointed the first Postmaster. His in West Medway. The first Postmaster in this office _was Olney Foristall, and the office was kept in the house, then a hotel, but now the residence of James Coombs, Esq. Mr. Foristall has been succeeded by Simeon Fuller, Deacon Daniel Wiley, Levi P. Colburn, Stephen Partridge, Jason Smith, Gilbert Nourse, John Cushing, Lewis Clark, J. N. Tourtellotte, Mrs. Mary A. Tourtellotte, and Vincent Moses, the present incumbent.

The fourth post-office in Medway was established | Feb. 23, 1838, in Rockville. Deacon Timothy | Walker was appointed the first Postmaster. His successors have been Eliab B. Blake, John S. Walker, Erastus H. Tyler, and Frederic Swarman, | the present incumbent.

The following persons have received appointment to the office of Justice of the Peace by the Governor and Council, in the order in which their names occur. The first received appointment in 1736: i first quarterly return was made July 1, 1803, Gideon Granger being Postmaster-General. The office was kept in Capt. Felt's store, which stood near the present residence of Mrs. Hathon. The mail was carried ter, according to the distance carried. there were less than thirteen hundred post-offices in The successors of Capt. William Felt, as postmasters in this office, have been Warren Lovering, Esq., Sewall Sanford, James B. Wilson, Clark Partridge, Samuel W. Metealf, Collins Hathon,

The second post-office was established in Kast Medway March 17, 1819. was appointed the first Postmaster, and the office was kept in the house of Adam Bullard, late residence of James La Croix, Esq.

The successors of Timothy Hammond, Esq., have been Nathan Jones, George Holbrook, Deacon Milton Daniels, Mrs. Mariam Daniels, and George B. Fisher, who was appointed in 1877, and is the present incumbent. The office has been in Partridge Hall since 1876.

Joseph L. Richardson and Luther Metcalf, Jr., were Justices of the Quorum; Warren Lovering and Milton M. Fisher were Justices of the Peace and - Quorum for the whole State; Asa M. B. Fuller and | Charles H. Deans were Trial Justices; and Milton M. | Fisher was Notary Public. | Joseph Ware was appointed Coroner in 1794. His any of the Town commons there." pear that this ground was laid out until Medway was incorporated, but burials were made in the Medfield burying-ground and in that of the south part of Sherborn. We find, however, that at a meeting of the legal voters of the town of Medway, held Oct. 29, 1714, at the house of Peter Adams, of which Theophilus Clark was the moderator, it was " voted, that the burying place should be upon Bare Hill, sum

Biographical Sketches Milton Holbrook Sanford

He inherited eminent ancestral respectability from both parents, his father being a grandson of the eloquent and well-known divine, the Rev. David Sanford, for thirty-seven years pastor of the Second Congregational Church, Medway, and his mother a descendant of the sixth generation from Thomas Holbrooke, of Broudway, England, who sailed from Wey-

The second cemetery laid out was in the West Precinct, probably about the time of the erection of the first church in 1750. It was located near the church, as was customary in those days, and has been greatly enlarged and improved.

and one hundred other emigrants, bound for New England. He settled in Weymouth, Mass., from whence his worthy posterity have gone out into all the land.

The boy Milton early exhibited traits that were prophetic of his future. He was self-reliant, courageous, generous, and frank, a champion in all athletic sports and contests. His education, beyond that afforded by the schools of his native village, was obtained at a military school (taught by Capt. Alden Partridge) in Middletown, Conn., and subsequently at a service held June 20, 1865. The Scriptures were read by Rev. David Sanford, the prayer was offered by Rev. Jacob Lee, D.D., and an address made by Rey. Jacob Roberts.

When seventeen years of age his school-life was terminated by the death of his father, the management of whose extensive and varied business was intrusted to him, a trust that he very successfully discharged, as the agent of the estate, until experience made him competent to assume the business as principal.

After a successful career in Medway, he disposed of his business there and removed to Boston, where he opened an office for the sale of Southern products. This enterprise gave him acquaintance at the South,

1865, at the age of one hundred and two years, five months, and ten days. At a little distance from Oakland Cemetery in 1876 was laid out the Catholic Cemetery.

Many quaint inscriptions are to be found on the | older gravestones in the East and West Parish cemeteries. On the gravestone of one, Phineas Allen, is found the following inscription : tions which he subsequently carried on in that section. Leasing a mill in Canton, Mass., he commenced the manufacture of a strong cotton fabric, much in use on the plantations of the South. After working this mill for ten years, his need of better facilities induced him to buy a mill property in Southborough, Mass., where he erected a substantial and adequate factory. His success in this enterprise was exceptional. By a process of which he held the monopoly he utilized

His business at Cordaville was very profitable, and during the ten years preceding the civil war the bulk of his large wealth was accumulated.

On the election of Mr. Lincoln as President, the defiant attitude of the South convinced Mr. Sanford that war was inevitable, and in spite of the incredulity of his contemporaries, he protected himself by turning the paper of his Southern customers, of which he held a large amount, into cotton. He thus escaped heavy losses, and was enabled to continue running his mill long after similar factories had suspended.

Subsequently his mill lay idle for two years, during which period, with characteristic generosity, he supported the families of his operatives. He then changed his machinery, and commenced the manufacture of blankets for the United States army.

At the close of the war Mr. Sanford sold out his mill property, and, having an independent fortune, decided to gratify a taste that he always had for blooded horses. American horse that would compete, in endurance He accordingly purchased a tract of land near Paterson, N. J., and established there the Preakness stud, which has become famous for its breeding record.

lng over Mr. Santord's heart. In 1846 he married Liss Cordelia Riddle, of Boston, who still (1884) survives him. The welfare of his native village was always a matter of interest to him, and he has given many man, he was active in the formation of the parish associated with the Third Evangelical Congregational Church, and in the erection of its house of worship. This church and parish, over which his uncle, the pastor, received frequent tokens of his continued interest. Its organ was his gift. He was the largest contributor to the expense of remodeling its house of worship in 1874. Six years later he paid the entire cost of inclosing its grounds with a granite curb, surmounted by a substantial wrought-iron fence.

Water-pipes, connecting with pumps at the mills, were laid at his expense through the most exposed portion of the village street, as a protection from fire, and for the irrigation of the church grounds. He also paid for inclosing the lawn fronting the Catholic Church with a substantial granite curbing.

Two years previous to his death he responded to a memorial from leading citizens, who were desirous of increasing the business of the town, by subscribing forty thousand dollars for the incorporation of a stock company for the manufacture of cassimeres, a project which he had the pleasure of seeing realized in a substantial and thoroughly equipped brick mill, in suc- Thus he has set up his memorial, not only in the adornment of his native village, but in its increased business activity and well-being.

It was not by reason of his eminent business ¢apacity and energy, his skill and success in conducting the various enterprises he originated, or his large wealth that Mr. Sanford impressed his personality and friends, but rather by the nobility of his nature, the quick response of his sympathies, the hearty liberality of his ministrations, the steadfast loyalty of his embrace beneficiaries of numerous and diverse needs. Among them are the aged servants of God, whose years of waiting were blessed with many comforts through his thoughtfulness; the homeless unfortunate, for whom he provided a home; the widow and - the fatherless, to whom he was as a defense; the | earnest student, anxious and troubled by the question how his school expenses are to be met, for whom he solved the problem by a signature, - his helpful aid

Even on his dying bed this " law of kindness that was in his heart" laid on him still its sweet constraint, so that to strangers, who were fellow-sufferers on beds of pain, he sent delicacies that he had enjoyed, in token of his sympathy and desire to help.

"Tis worth a wise man's best of life, *Tis worth a thousand years of strife, If thou canst lessen but by one The countless ills beneath the sun."

During the last years of his life he suffered from physical infirmities, which increased until they conquered even his resolute will, and after weeks of much pain and weakness he quietly passed away, in

His body was brought to his boyhood home, and after a simple service in the village church, was laid to rest in the family burial lot, beneath the shadow of the stately monument which he had erected in honor of his ancestors, whose dust shares the same resting-place.

England. The line descends from him to his son Anthony, born 1591, who, with his wife and five children, came to America in the Great Puritan Immigration, and settled in Dedham in 1637; and, re- |

Cornelius, Jr., born February, 1660; thence to Benjamin, born March 6, 1701; thence to Joseph, born Oct. 6, 1741, and to Willis, born July 20, 1783. His grandfather, Joseph, married Susa Fisher, daughter of Hon. Jabez Fisher, who traced his lineage to Thomas Fisher, who immigrated from Winston, in England, a town near Syleham, with his wife and three children, and settled first in Cambridge in 1634, but removed to Dedham on the arrival of Anthony and others, in 1637, and died in 1638, having contracted to build the first meeting-house in Dedham. This line comes next to Samuel, born in England,

_ Thomas to that of Anthony, - coming to Willis, father | of Milton. On the side of his mother, Caroline Fairbanks, his descent is traced from Jonathan Fairbanks, of Somerby, West Riding, Yorkshire, England, who with his wife and six children came to America and settled in Dedham previous to 1664 ; thence the line is through John, first, second, and third, to Asa first, and second, to Caroline, who married Willis Fisher, and inherited and lived upon a part of the large landed estate acquired by the third John, and now The ancestors of Mr. Fisher both in this country and in

The Fisher coat of arms used in this country by Joshua Fisher, Sr., of Medfield, and Capt. Ebenezer Fisher, of Dedham, is the same as described in the history of Norfolk County in England, with notices of Richard and Edward Fisher, '' Gentlemen ;" Richard Fisher, chaplain, 1442; John Fyshere, 1449, burgess of Thetford; Rev. William Fisher, "a Public Benefactor; and of Mrs. Maiy Fisher, '"' who died and went to Heaven in a hurricane." The arms are a common shield bearing upon its face a fish (in Engthe crest of an eagle, and without any known motto. A "crown" rested on the face of the shield over and above the dolphin, and an eagle on top of the shield as the "crest." These arms are known to be identiparent to the throne. These arms originally were those of the Count of Dauphiny, a French province, borne Fisher, one of the Norman French generals of William the Conqueror in 1066, who, after the conquest, received from William, for distinguished services, lands in Bedfordshire, where is now a hamlet called "Fisher," visited some years since by Col. Horace N. Fisher, of Brookline.

It is evident that the Fisher arms are of French origin. The name being derived from a common occupation and found in several languages, may have been a family name in England before the Norman conquest.

Among the many bearing the name in Norfolk County, descendants of the original seventeen and honored by their fellow-citizens, none attained a greater distinction or more justly than the Hon. Jabez Fisher, of Franklin, who, between 1766 and 1799, was in public life, was member of the General Court seven years, senator five, councilor eleven, and one of a committee to exercise executive power in place of the Tory Governor Gage; member of the Provincial Congress during its whole existence, and elected to the Committee of Safety with Gen. Joseph Warren and others for colonial defense in 1775. He was also a delegate to convention to adopt the Constitution of the United States. (See Emmons' Sermons, vol. ii., and Judge Theron Metcalf's article in the Boston Monthly Magazine, June, 1826.)

The subject of this notice was educated at a classical school in Medway, taught by Rev. Abijah Baker, D.D., and at Day's Academy, Wrentham, Isaac Perkins preceptor. He entered Amherst College in 1832, in class with Governor Bullock and the Hon. and Rev. Edmund Down, but health failing, he left the next year, devoting some time to travel in the States and Canada.

Randolph in 1832, he prepared in part twenty youths for college, some of whom have been and still are prominent in public life. He began business as a trader upon a small borrowed capital in Franklin in 1835, removed to Westboro' next year, and married Eleanor, the eldest daughter of Hon. Luther Metealf, of Medway, Aug. 22, 1836. pointed postmaster in that town, after much opposi-

Retiring from this business in 1863, he established the Medway Insurance Agency, representing a large insurance capital in some thirty companies, his son, Frederick L., being associated with him since 1878.

In 1840 he was elected a deacon of the village church in Medway, giving him a title by which he has been more familiarly known to the public ever since. Being an original pupil in the Franklin Sabbath-school, in 1819, he has been either pupil, teacher, or superintendent in some Sunday-school to the present time. Upon his motion in the Massachusetts Senate in 1859, the first State aid of three thousand dollars was given to the Washingtonian Home in Boston, of which institution he has been a director for many years, and is officially connected with several State and national benevolent organizations.

He has held various municipal offices and public trusts by judicial and executive appointments, such as justice of the peace, quorum and for all the counties notary public, commissioner in railroad matters, and for the division of towns of Danvers and Peabody.

In 1848 was delegate from Norfolk County with Hon. Charles Francis Adams to the Free-Soil National Convention, and in 1850 candidate with him and Judge Wilkinson for senator of the county.

After a protracted and expensive illness of four years he was elected senator (Republican) for Norfolk, West District, in 1859 and 1860, with two sessions in each year. In both terms he resisted successfully by vote and voice the annexation of Roxbury to Boston, and the measure was delayed eight years, much to the benefit of the treasury of Norfolk County. In 1863, perhaps as some recognition for services rendered, he was elected county commissioner, and served till 1872, and for three years as chairman of the board. Two of his returns upon important highways were sharply contested in the Supreme Court, and although a layman they were sustained as legal in every point, and notably in the case from Brookline, in which the returns provided a reservation to Norfolk County of ten thousand dollars, if Brookline were annexed to the county of Suffolk before the highway improvement was completed. A "wise provision," said Judge Gray. He was contemporary with the earliest modern efforts in the temperance and anti-slavery cause, and met with much opposition. While in college, in 1833, he was the first to break silence in the chapel upon the tabooed question of slavery. Reproved by the professor, he was sustained by the faculty, and the dis-

Though failing to graduate from ill health, the trustees in due time conferred upon him the honorary | degree of Master of Arts. first anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery So- | ciety in 1833; was chairman of committee which | perfected the organization of the old Liberty party in | the county, visiting all the towns till the ballot-box in | all spoke for the party. He addressed many meetings, and wrote many articles for the press upon temperance, slavery, and other topics, and has continued so

Wood made a characteristic report, unsatisfactory to anti-slavery Christians, which led, soon after, to the | formation of the American Missionary Association, About this time he assumed and paid a liberal share of the debt of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, and in the late war paid more than enough to procure a sub- | stitute. As to local enterprises, in 1846, he settled a difficulty, and so obtained land for a church park, and inclosed it ; introduced the question of a high school, consummated in 1851; was first chief engineer of fire department in 1854; one of a committee to appear before the Legislature for railroad, secured after a great struggle and delay, and opened in 1862 ; obtained charter for the Dean Library in 1860, and is He laid out the | Oakland Cemetery, of which he is sole proprietor.

In 1871 he projected the Medway Savings Bank, and has always been its president, and in the same > year co-operated in the erection of Sanford Hall building. In 1881 he initiated, at his own cost, measures which secured the successful co-operation and liberal aid of Mr. M. H. Sanford and others in building the Sanford Mills. In the same year he suggested and obtained an appropriation from the town for the publication of a town history, to which he has contributed much material, and is chairman of the committee of publication.

His seventieth anniversary was observed by his fellow-citizens Jan. 31, 1881, in Sanford Hall, and conducted by a committee consisting of William H. Cary, Clark Partridge, A. S. Harding, O. A. Mason, | The tables were beautifully furnished, and letters received from personal friends, -

Safford, J. White Belcher, Sheriff Thomas, Charles Endicott, Dr. Mortimer Blake, and others. Addresses were made by Rev. Dr. Spaulding, KE. O. Jameson, R. K. Harlow, and others, all complimentary to the personal character and services of the guest of the occasion.

Mr. Safford says, " My acquaintance with him dates back to more than half these ' threescore years and ten,' and during a protracted term of official service I have witnessed his unswerving devotion to the conscientious discharge of his duty as a citizen, his earnest and vigorous thought, his firm yet cautious