CHAPTER XX.

TRADE AND MANUFACTURES.

MEDFORD having for its friend the richest merchant belonging to the "Company" of the Massachusetts Plantation, its trade was at first considerable.

Oct. 16, 1629: The General Court ordered "that the company's joint stock shall have the trade of beaver and all other furs in those parts, solely, for the term of seven years from this day."

May 18, 1631: "It is ordered that every plantation. within the limits of this patent shall, before the last day of June next, provide common weights and measures, which shall be made by some which the governor hath already sealed, and by which also all others that will have weights and measures of their own are to be made."

1635 Voted that beaver-skins shall pass for ten shillings per pound.

Sept. 6, 1638: Mr. Cradock's accounts were audited in Boston.

Mr. Cradock's large outlay here, for all the accommodations requisite in. building schooners and carrying on an extensive fishing-business, made this region a tradingcentre. This first state of things continued till the withdrawal of Mr. Cradock's property, a few years after his death. The fishing-business had been unsuccessful, and no one would continue it. The second period of trade in Medford reached (to speak in round numbers) from 1650 to 1750, during which time the manufacture of bricks was the most important and lucrative business pursued in the town. Other branches gradually increased.

1650 to 1700, there were no newspapers, no scientific lectures, no bank, no insurance companies, no post-office, no stage-coaches, no good roads. Must not trade have been small?

The third period extended from 1750 to 1805. It began

to be understood that Medford could furnish the staple articles of iron, steel, lead, salt, molasses, sugar, tea, codfish, chocolate, guns, powder, rum, etc., to country traders at a less price than they could get them at Boston. The distilling business and the manufacture of bricks required many lighters to go loaded to Boston: returning, they could bring back iron, steel, etc., at small cost. Medford, therefore, by its river, became quite a centre of supply to country traders from New Hampshire and Vermont. Supply begets market, as market begets supply. Traders here could purchase ivory-handled knives, spring-locks, brass-ware, tin, and pewter; of groceries, every thing but good tea and coffee; of dry goods, Kent linen, cotton, Irish stockings, Turkey mohair, red serge, broadcloth, muffs, ribbons, lace, silks, combs, napkins, yellow taffety, threadlace, gloves, etc. Barter was the most common form of trade; and the exchanges were made with less care and exactitude than marks business transactions at the present date.

Pitch, tar, and turpentine were brought from the interior at an early date; but, in 1755, it became an active business. Casks for them were made in Medford; and the vote of the town required that each cask should be examined by a committee, and, if well made, then marked with a double M. Coopering now became an extensive and profitable branch of business. It was begun, before the Revolution, by the agency of Mr. Benjamin Hall. Charles Henley of Boston was his foreman, and superintended it till 1802. Andrew Blanchard, Joseph Pierce, and James Kidder were apprentices in Mr. Hall's establishment.

Mr. Benjamin Hall was among the first and the most active of the Medford merchants. He not only carried on the distilling business, but had a large store for wholesale barter. It was not uncommon for him to receive a hundred barrels of pearlashes per day, and five hundred tierces of flax-seed per year. He also carried on the "beef business," having seven hundred head of cattle slaughtered each year. Mr. Ebenezer Hall had an equal number slaughtered, and they made all their tallow into candles. The drovers were glad to take their pay in sugar, molasses, iron, tea, rum, etc.

How different this from the course of trade in England, where a man was forbidden by law to carry on two mechanic trades or different pursuits! A tanner could not

be a shoemaker. These monopolies and legal restrictions had no place in New England, and their absence was a prime cause of our great prosperity. It made every free man a free trader. The British Parliament tried to put on the handcuffs of restriction, but the colonists would not wear them. Gallatin says, "No cause has contributed more to the prosperity of this country than the absence. of those systems of internal restriction and monopoly which continue to disfigure other countries."

Mr. Jonathan Porter came to Medford in 1773. He opened a store of English goods previous to the Revolution, and gradually enlarged his business till he sold all the heavier articles of inland commerce. There are those now living who remember when from twenty to thirty "country pungs" were gathered about the doors of these Medford traders, discharging and taking in their loads. These pungs were drawn by two horses each, and started as far north as Montpelier, Vt., and Lancaster, N.H. With three large distilleries in full action, and many sloops and schooners navigating the river, Medford became one of the most active and thriving towns in the Commonwealth. Distillation was esteemed not only lawful and right, but a highly respectable business. With rapid strides, Medford rose in wealth and increased in numbers; and in 1805 there were many stores opened, where the necessaries and conveniences and even the ornaments and luxuries of life could be obtained at as cheap a rate as in Boston.

The increase of business, and the gathering of traders in the market-place, became so great at the beginning of the century, that it was deemed advisable to appoint a clerk of the market. The first clerk was elected March 2, 1801.

The fourth period of trade in Medford extends from 1805 to the present time. The ship-building, the introduction of steam, the Middlesex Canal, the immigration of Bostonians to this place, these all helped to open new avenues to wealth, and increase the facilities of supply. Within this period, more than three-fourths the present number of houses have been built; and there are now five public highways where there was one fifty years ago. The whole course of trade has changed from barter to cash payments or credits; and one trader now can do as much in a year as three could at the beginning of this century. The

number of gentlemen who reside here, and do business. in Boston, is very large, and they are multiplying every month; and their family supplies are of course largely purchased from the traders of the town.

During the embargo, in 1808, an old black schooner came up Mystic River with a deck-load of wood and bark. A custom-house officer from Boston took possession of her as a suspected smuggler. The captain invited the officer to take supper with him in the cabin. They sat and ate together, and the captain asked to be excused a moment while he gave an order to his men. No sooner had he arrived on deck than he turned, and fastened the cabin door. Extempore Indians were ready to unload the hold of the schooner, which was full of English goods, wire, etc., from Halifax. During half the night, horsewagons were passing to Boston from the old wharf, owned by Francis Shed, below the shipyard. Some teams went to Malden, and some to West Cambridge. The amounts were very large, and the goods of the costliest kinds. The planting of that night produced a rich harvest. goods were never discovered, but the vessel was condemned and confiscated. How soundly the officer slept, is not known.

Of manufacturing establishments, Medford has never had many, in the modern acceptation of the term. Among the first settlers, every house was, in one sense, a factory; for almost every one had a spinning-wheel and loom. For the early ship-building, there must have been extensive iron-works; and much weaving of cotton and wool must have been necessary to supply the large numbers of fishermen and brickmakers. Much wool was cleaned, carded, and rolled at the mill of Mr. John Albree, who was a manufacturer of starch and pomatum. Leaving out brickmaking, ship-building, and distilling, we have little to record. Wooden heels were made by Mr. Samuel Reeves, 1750; and specimens of his work are yet among his greatgrandchildren in Medford. Candles and hogsheads were extensively made, about the same time, by Messrs. Benjamin and Ebenezer Hall. Saltpetre was made in considerable quantities by Mr. Isaac Brooks. Wheelwrights carried on their business to a large extent. Mr. James Tufts and Son carried on for many years the pottery business. Tanning was vigorously pursued, with a great outlay of capital, by Mr. Ebenezer Hall, on land nearly

opposite the High-school building; and by Mr. Jonathan Brooks, on land near Marble Brook. The first tanyard in Medford was on the corner north of High Street, near High-street Court. It was bounded on the east by the brook, on the west by Canal Street, and on the north by High Street. It was last owned by Mr. Nathan Tufts and Mr. Jonathan Brooks, in company. When they sold it, Mr. Tufts moved to Charlestown, and became the most extensive manufacturer of leather in the State.

There was another tanyard owned by Mr. Wade, and carried on as a tannery as late as 1825, on the south side of High Street, on grounds now used by Mr. James Bean, florist.

In Baconville, now a part of Winchester, a good deal of business was carried on, the spinning of yarn for broadcloth, the making of wood-screws, etc. In 1824 Robert Bacon set up a manufactory of hat-bodies, feltings, etc. This business he continued until 1848, when he resigned it to his son. Baconville was set off from Medford in 1850, and, as has been said, became a part of the new town of Winchester.

The making of linseed-oil was carried on by Mr. George L. Stearns, on land about fifty rods south of Mystic Bridge. He imported his seed from Calcutta. A convention of manufacturers of this oil was held at New York in 1841; and they agreed to send a committee to Washington, to induce Congress to shape the tariff of 1842 so as to protect them. The committee succeeded, and Mr. Stearns was one of them. The effect was the opposite of what they expected: it induced so many new men to begin the business, that it ruined it. From 1835, the manufactory in Medford continued in operation to 1845, when it suspended activity. It resumed work for a year; but the building was burned in 1847, and the enterprise was abandoned.

Quite an extensive business in the manufacture of doors, blinds, and window-sashes, was carried on by Messrs. Waterman & Litchfield, from 1850 to 1860, on Curtis's Wharf, near the entrance of Mystic Avenue. Their works were operated by steam. The business was finally transferred to Charlestown.