This vote will receive its explanation from the reply of the selectmen, which was as follows: "In answer to the desire and request of some of our inhabitants, that our town-meeting may be regulated according to law, we, the subscribers, have openly declared, at said meeting, that those of our inhabitants, and only those, that are worth or have in possession to the value of £20, ratable estate, may vote at said meeting." 1718 The new names found in the lists are as follows: Francis Laithe, Joseph Serjant, John Chadson, John Goold, William Manson, Peter Edes, Joseph Ballard, John Choub, Aaron Cleveland, William Wicker, Jonathan Tompson, Mr. Semer, John Watson, Thomas Sanders, Luke Blashfield, Nath. Laurans, Samuel Haeson, Abram Cumins, Nath. Locke, John Winship, John Whiten. May 12, 1718: Medford voted "to petition the General Court for some out-lands for the further benefit of the town." 1721 The General Court gave the town £160, on their application for aid; and the town voted to loan it out to the inhabitants in sums not exceeding £10, nor less than £5, to any one person; interest, five per cent. April 25, 1728: "Voted that the town of Medford will take out of the County Treasury their part of the sixty thousand pounds granted by the Great and General Court." Oct. 27, 1727: The number of voters present at a townmeeting was forty-five; a fair average. They vote not to send a representative this year. The love of office was cold in the hearts of our fathers, compared with the burning desire for it in our day. It was so common to refuse even the highest offices, that penalty for refusing became necessary, and our records are full of such notices as the following: 1728: "Mr. Peter Tufts, refusing to take the office of Constable, paid in his money, as the law directs, to the town-treasury." At a later period (1751), the town voted, that if any one refused to take the office to which he had been elected, he should pay into the treasury £1. 6s. 8d., lawful money. In 1632, the people of Plymouth enact, "that whoever refuses the office of Governor shall pay £20, unless he was chose two years going." Feb. 9, 1729: The inhabitants of Medford took a deep interest in supporting the rights secured by the Charter; and readily paid their share in supporting agents. On this day they voted to carry round a subscription-paper to see how each one will subscribe "for the support of our agents in England." They gave some of the earliest expressions of enlightened patriotism, and presented some of the firmest resistance to the encroachments of royal authority. On the 31st of January, 1732, voted that "it was declared by the inhabitants that it was their desire that their representative should at all times act with the greatest caution, and stand for the defence of the privileges granted us by his Majesty in the royal Charter." 1726: The town presented a petition to the inhabitants of Charlestown, praying that the lands on the north side of Mystic River might be set off to Medford. This was emphatically refused. 1738: Another petition, of the same import as that above, received the same reply. June 19, 1734: Voted that "the town petition the Great and General Court for a tract of the unappropriated lands of this Province, to enable the said town of Medford the better to support the ministry and the school in said town." A record of the reply is as follows: "At a Great and General Court or Assembly for his Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, begun and held at Boston, upon Wednesday, the 28th of May, 1735, and continued by several adjournments to Wednesday, the 19th of November following: "20 May, 1735: A petition of the inhabitants of the town of Medford, showing that the said town is of the smallest extent of any in the Province, and yet their town-charges extremely high, so that the maintenance of ministry and school is very chargeable to them, and therefore praying for a grant of some of the waste lands of the Province to be appropriated for the support of the ministry and schoolmaster in said town: "In the House of Representatives, read and ordered that the prayer of the petition be so far granted as that the town of Medford is hereby allowed and empowered, by a surveyor and chairman on oath, to survey and lay out one thousand acres of the unappropriated lands of the Province, and return a plat thereof to this Court, within twelve months, for confirmation for the uses within mentioned. "In Council, read and concurred. · Dec. 29th: Consented to, "A true copy, examined, "J. BELCHER. "THADE. MASON, This grant was accepted; and Mr. Wm. Willis and Capt. John Hall were chosen to carry the whole matter through. The consequence was a selection of one thousand acres on the Piscataqua River, near the Merrimac. This tract was called the "Town's Farm; "but it was not of great value. Dec. 3, 1737: Here we find the first record of the drawing of jurymen in the town. John Albree and Benjamin Tufts are drawn for the Supreme Court. Few jurymen were needed; but Medford undoubtedly furnished its share from the beginning. It may be interesting to many to see another record of a town-meeting. Familiar names will be found to recur; but offices have increased: "At a town-meeting, legally convened at Medford, March 7, 1748, Mr. Andrew Hall was chosen Moderator. Joseph Tufts, A Committee to manage the affair of obtaining some part of the lands now belonging to Charlestown, with the inhabitants thereon. A Committee to audit the Town-treasurer's accounts Lieut. Stephen Hall, jun., for the year past, 1747, and the town's accounts like Thomas Brooks, wise." Nov. 28, 1748: Voted to sell the "Town's Farm" at auction. This vote was reconsidered; and, May 15, 1749, "Andrew Hall, Capt. Samuel Brooks, and Richard Sprague, were chosen a Committee to manage the affairs for selling the town's farm." It was sold soon after. The right of admitting inhabitants to the town was a jealously guarded right. It was the custom to warn every new comer out of town. A strange hospitality! This notification legally prevented such new comer from gaining "townhabitancy." The notification was also sent to the Court of Sessions, and there recorded under the name of Caution. This habit continued till the time of the Revolution. Paupers were kept out by the most stringent prohibitions. The town. voted that if any person, male or female, omitted to comply with the law respecting admission, such person should be fined forty shillings. 1750: Premium paid to the "collector of the town-taxes" was sixpence on the pound. 1753: We give here a specimen of the petitions offered by Medford to the government for grants of land: "To his Excellency William Shirley, Esq., Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, to the Honorable His Majesty's Council, and to the Honorable House of Representatives. "The petition of the inhabitants of the town of Medford, in the County of Middlesex, humbly showeth that there are certain tracts of land lying on the southerly and northerly sides of said Medford, which are bounded as follows, viz.: The southerly tract, lying in Charlestown, is bounded northerly with Mistic or Medford River, westerly with the westerly bounds of Mr. Smith's farm, southerly with the southerly bounds of Mr. Smith's, Mr. James Tufts's, and Mr. Jonathan Tufts's farms, and then running from the south-easterly corner of said Jonathan Tufts's farm eastward straight to the westerly side of Colonel Royal's farm, again westerly with the westerly bounds of Colonel Royal's farm, again southerly with its southerly bounds, and then running from the south-easterly corner thereof eastward straight to Medford River. "The northerly tract, lying also in Charlestown, is bounded southerly with said Medford's northerly line and the southerly bounds of Mr. Symmes's farm, westerly with the line that divides Mr. Symmes's from Mr. Gardner's farm, northerly with Woburn and Stoneham lines, easterly on Malden line. "Which lands, with their inhabitants, we pray may be added to the contracted limits of the said town of Medford, together with a proportionable part of the said town of Charlestown's rights and privileges, according to the quantity and circumstances of said lands; at least, those pieces of land, and the privileges which are within the lands hereby petitioned for. "And inasmuch as the said town of Charlestown has conveyed the land called the gravel-pit, with the marsh adjoining, containing about half an acre, that they used for getting gravel, laying timber, &c., for the southerly half of the bridge commonly called Mistic bridge, and the Causey' thereto adjoining, to Capt. Aaron Cleaveland and Mr. Samuel Kendal; for which consideration, they have covenanted and agreed with the said town of Charlestown to keep the half of the bridge and the 'Causey' aforesaid in good condition for ever. "We pray that, in case the before-described lands are laid to said Medford, it may not be subjected to any cost or charges on account of the before-mentioned part of said bridge and the Causey adjoining. "Which petition we humbly conceive will appear reasonable by what follows: "First, The contents of the said town of Medford are exceedingly small, amounting to but about two thousand acres, the inhabitants very few, and consequently its charges very great compared with other towns. Besides, as to brick-making, upon which our trading and a great part of our other business depends, it very much fails. "Secondly, The said town of Charlestown almost encompasses the town of Medford, and therefore (notwithstanding the great necessity) it cannot receive large addition from any other town. 66 Thirdly, Those that now dwell on the said tracts of land, and those who heretofore dwelt on them, have, from time to time, enjoyed the liberty of attending the public worship in Medford without paying any thing to the taxes there. Neither is there any probability that any of the inhabitants of said lands, or any other persons that may settle on them, can, with any conveniency, attend the public worship in any other town. Moreover, the inhabitants of the said southerly tract are within about half a mile of said Medford meeting-house, the greatest part of them, and the rest within a mile. "And the inhabitants of the northerly tract before mentioned are, the farthest of them, but about two miles from said meetinghouse. And great part of the lands, in both the said tracts, are now owned and possessed by those who are with us in this petition, and some of the inhabitants of said Medford. "Besides, we apprehend it to be a very great hardship for the inhabitants of said tracts of land to be obliged to go, almost all of them, more than four miles, and others more than seven miles, to town-meetings, trainings, &c. "Furthermore, we would humbly move that some of the honor |