As a specimen of the town expenses and tax for one year,

let us take 1747. They are as follows (old tenor):

Balance due the town from last account

Whole town-tax for 1747.

£41 5 3

490 14 4

£531 19 7

Treasurer paid, during the year 1747, by orders from

. £431 15 11 100 38

June 5, 1753, the General Court laid a tax on coaches, chariots, chaises, calashes, and riding-chairs. Medford, in 1754, had 1 chariot, 7 chaises, and 31 chairs. Cambridge, during the same time, had 9 chaises and 36 chairs. Woburn had 2 chaises and 9 chairs. Malden had 2 chaises and 20 chairs.

During the revolutionary struggle, debts were accumulated to vast amounts; and, on the 26th February, 1781, the Legislature stated, that £950,000, specie value, were needed to meet the annual current expenditures, £320,000 of which were to be discharged by taxes. At such a time, when parsimony would have been crime, as timidity would have been treason, our patriotic ancestors marched nobly forward, as their prompt payment of the following taxes testify. In 1781, Medford paid £1,177. 10s. ; in 1786, £1,016. 5s.; in 1791, £88. 6s. 11d. Ratable polls in Medford (1784) were 223.

List of occupiers of houses, in 1798, who are taxed for more than $100:

Samuel Albree.
Asa Adams.

Benjamin Hovey.
Benjamin Teal.
Caleb Brooks.

John Bishop.

Abigail Bishop.

Samuel Swan.

Ebenezer Thompson.
Nathan Wait.

Thomas Bradshaw, jun.

Nathaniel Mead.

Zachariah Shed.

Leonard Bucknam.

Spencer Bucknam.
John Bacon.

Abigail Brooks and Rufus Frost.

John Brooks and Mary Patten.
John Brooks.

Jethro Townsend.

Caleb Brooks, jun.

Thomas Brooks.

S. Buel and Augustus Hunt.
Thomas Bradshaw.

Andrew Blanchard.

Timothy Newell.

Hezekiah Blanchard, jun.

Ruth Benford.

Jonathan Brooks.

William Bradbury.

Francis Burns.

Marah Billings.

Hezekiah Blanchard.

David Bucknam.

John Chadwick.

John Cutter.
Miles S. Wilson.
Jonathan Dunham.
Aaron Crowell.
William Earl.

Deborah Francis.

Sarah Fulton.

The inhabitants occupied one hundred and thirty-six houses, which were valued at $74,032.80; making an average value of $544 each. The town valuation of all other property was $160,116.60. Taxes were assessed on 4,603 acres of

land.

We may close these tables of taxes by inserting the State valuation tables for seven decades, from 1790 to 1850 inclusive. Medford stands thus: In 1790, its State valuation was $9,441.68; in 1800, $15,036,08; in 1810, $26,311.19; in 1820, $30,507.84; in 1830, $931,050; in 1840, $1,095,195.31; in 1850, real estate, $1,212,551.50; personal, $915,919. In these same years, Cambridge stands thus: In 1790, $25,291.63; in 1800, $32,329.67; in 1810, $30,477.35; in 1820, $61,828.88; in 1830, $1,732,048; in 1840, $4,479,501.43. Woburn, in 1790: $11,070.32; in 1800, $11,698.27; in 1810, $13,172.63; in 1820, $16,490.54; in 1830, $455,030; in 1840, $687,388.09. Malden, in 1790: $7,486.81; in 1800, $11,932; in 1810, $15,858.34; in 1820, $19,622; in 1830, $360,878; in 1840, $586,136.15.

These tables of taxes prove how Medford, from small beginnings, gradually increased in numbers and wealth. There was never any sudden development of its resources, but a steadily increasing use of its natural advantages. Its march became more and more rapid as we approach the nineteenth century, when its increase and prosperity were equal to any town in the State.

As the records of the first forty years of the town are lost, we have hunted in every crevice and corner to find representative facts belonging to that period; and, after availing of each fragmentary tradition, we have fixed on the taxes assessed by the General Court and county, as indicating with most precision the ability and condition of the earliest settlers; and, having discovered their ability and condition, it is not difficult to imagine their labors, habits, and advancement. We have thus taken the taxes as our lighthouse, to guide us along the unmapped coast of our new settlement.

In the record of taxes, one occasionally finds strange facts. Here is one: "June 27, 1695. As an unusual requisition, females who earned a livelihood were taxed each two shil

lings, being half what the males were assessed a head, in the tax of this date."

In our town-records we find the following notices side by side: "May 5, 1750: Voted to abate Thomas Brooks, jun.'s rates (£4. 13s. 4d., old tenor), he being not of age." "Voted to abate Lieutenant Stephen Hall's rates for his head (£3. 5s., old tenor), he being very old." In our earliest history, when the inhabitants had raised a certain sum in advance, two men, Nathan Lyon and Roger Scott, who had contributed their share, soon after moved out of town. At the next town-meeting, it was unanimously voted to refund to these men what they had paid.

MAP.

Oct. 13, 1853: The town voted to authorize the selectmen to treat with Mr. Henry F. Walling, of Boston, concerning a complete map of Medford. This skilful engineer engaged to furnish one for $750. It is now just finished; and must give entire satisfaction, both as to its accuracy and beauty. Its size is thirty by thirty-seven inches, and its scale eight inches to a mile. It shows the entire town at one glance; while it gives correctly the topography, the hills, woods, streams, ponds, streets, mills, stores, dwellings, churches, &c.; it gives the names of each householder in the place of his residence; it represents all the real estate of the town, and shows the number of square feet in each lot. This last fact will enable the assessors to apportion the tax more justly than they otherwise could, and will guide commissioners in laying out roads. The map is accompanied by eleven other maps or sections, on a scale of two hundred feet. to an inch, on sheets of twenty-six to thirty-nine inches, and are bound together in an atlas. Should a copy of this map be preserved through two hundred years, it would then probably show that not even one lot of land would be possessed by any descendants of its present owner.

POST-OFFICE.

By examination of the books rescued from the fire of 1836 at Washington, it appears that the first office esta