The first book kept by the Treasurer is lost. From the second, which begins in 1729, and others of later date, the following items of expenses are taken. The modern modes of book-keeping were not known to our fathers. There were sometimes two or three rates made in a year, varying from £20 to £200. The money collected by the Constable was paid into the treasury; but the accounts of the Treasurer were not examined until a new Treasurer was chosen. Then a Committee was appointed to examine the accounts, and transfer the books. A natural consequence of such bookkeeping was, that the accounts of one year ran into those of the next; and, thus mixed up, the items of several years were summed up in one footing. After 1775, more regularity obtained. Another fact should be noticed in the following accounts, the bewildering depreciation in the value of For fluctuations in the currency, see the tables.

money.

Samuel Brooks, Treasurer from 1729 to 1732.
Amount paid for town-expenses, 3 years
Ebenezer Brooks, Treasurer from 1735 to 1743.
Amount paid for town-expenses, 8 years
Benjamin Parker, Treasurer from 1743 to 1749.
Amount paid for town-expenses, 6 years

Aaron Hall, Treasurer from 1761 to 1767.
Amount paid for town-expenses

James Wyman, Treasurer from 1767 to 1771.
Amount paid for town-expenses, 4 years

Lawful Money. $674 19 7

2,162 12 2

In these four years are included the expenses of building the meeting-house, in 1769. The pews paid the greater

Extra expenses on account of the war

1780. Raised by tax

Borrowed

(Depreciated money)

1786. March, to March, 1787

1790. Expenses of town for one year

2,850 0

0

5,311 18

6

8,814 0 0

8,635 4 4

$3,188.11

4,317.16

5,348.78

5,608.93

15,300.15

17,314.21

20,004.26

15,186.18

Since the year 1820, all the public buildings have been erected, such as town-house, school-houses, and enginehouses. The establishment of a fire-department and the opening of new streets have swelled the recent expenses.

When the government of the United States distributed their surplus revenue among the people, the amount that came to Medford was three thousand eight hundred and seventyeight dollars fifty-nine cents. The inhabitants voted, April 3, 1837, to receive it according to the terms of the grant, and to use it in paying the debts and expenses of the town.

It may be interesting to compare the expenses of 1818 and 1855. They are as follows. For 1818:

150.00

141.00

50.00

119.56

Town-officers

Collecting taxes

Expenses for opposing a new road

Interest on town-debt

For injury of horse on drawbridge

Sexton, $25.00; Miscellaneous expenses, $94.56

$4,353.12

The expenses from Feb. 15, 1854, to Feb. 15, 1855, were

Mr. Frothingham, in his excellent History of Charlestown, 1846 (p. 92), says: "Medford was not a town: it was rather a manor, owned by one of the leading inhabitants of Charlestown."

We shall very good-naturedly dissent from this statement, and show cause.

We have every reason to suppose that the town-officers in Medford were like those in the adjoining plantations. Our first records speak of Selectmen, sometimes called "Sevenmen," because these seven inen acted as governors of the town, assessors, and referees. They were also called "Towns

men," because they represented the whole town, and acted for the inhabitants. There was a Town-clerk, who recorded the doings of the Selectmen and the town, and also granted attachments in civil actions. There were Surveyors of highways, whose duty it was not only to direct the laborers, but to see that every one did his share. There was the Constable, who warned public meetings, and collected the taxes.

In the town-meetings, which were always opened with prayer by a deacon or some aged member of the church, a moderator presided. Fines were imposed for non-attendance. Each one had an equal right to speak. The Court ordered, in 1641, that "every man, whether inhabitant or foreigner, free or not free, shall have liberty to prefer a petition, bring forward a motion, or make a complaint, so it be done in convenient time, due order, and respectful manner."

The voting related mainly to making of fences, laying out of roads, regulating the pasturage of cattle, ringing the swine, killing of wolves, bears, and foxes, and assessing rates. All these acts of the assembled inhabitants imply the possession of legal, civil, and political rights; just the rights which constitute a regularly organized body-politic.

When Deputy-Governor Dudley, and those with him, came to this neighborhood, they visited several places: they named one Boston, another Charlestown, another Meadford, another Roxbury, another Watertown, and another Dorchester. On Wood's map of 1635, Medford is designated by the same mark as all other towns. Each of these places above named became towns; and each in the same way, by becoming settlements; and each claimed, and each as a town possessed, the same legal, civil, political, and municipal rights. In proof that each of them was a town, separate and distinct, and was so considered and so treated by the General Court, each one of them was taxed by the General Court as early as September 28, 1630, and each one continued to be so taxed. The Court put each one of them on the list of towns, and passed separate laws relating to each. If this does not constitute legal township, we know not what can. In these several towns, there must have been municipal laws and regulations for levying and gathering the amounts assessed. If either of these towns had been only an appendage to its neighbor, it would have been so considered by its inhabitants, so organized in its municipal government, and so treated by the General Court. But this was not the case

with either of them. At this early period, not a foot of land in Medford was owned by any inhabitant of Charlestown. We have elsewhere shown who were the several purchasers after the death of Mr. Cradock. There is, therefore, no just warrant for considering Medford as "a manor," any more than Roxbury or Watertown. The early owners in these towns were few. Medford was never called "a manor " till 1846. In all the old histories it is called a "town," in precisely the same way as Boston and Dorchester. If it was not a town after the passing of the "act" of the General Court, it is not a town now; for it has never been incorporated since. And if it was not a town then, Boston, Roxbury, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Watertown are not towns now; for they have never been incorporated since.

It was called a "plantation," as other places were, because this was a common name adopted by the Company in London, and very naturally transferred here. The name expressed the actual condition and incipient history of each town. It was sometimes, in the books, called Mistick, after the name of its river. It was sometimes called "Mr. Cradock's Farm," because that gentleman had introduced farmers to cultivate its lands, had impaled a park, had erected houses, built ships, and carried on an extensive fishery. He owned so large a part of the tract, and was so rich and distinguished, that it would have been strange if his name had not attached to it. We have wondered why it has not always been called by his name.

The celebrated Rev. James Noyes" became the pastor and teacher of the inhabitants of Medford in 1634. If having a Christian minister, resident and laboring in a town, completed the idea of township in those days, then Medford surely had every thing required in the definition.

Let us now look at the earliest records of Medford, and see what they prove. The first twenty-five or thirty pages of the first book of records are unfortunately lost, probably from carelessness about loose and decayed sheets. The next thirty pages are broken out of their places, and may be soon lost. We find the first records, which are preserved, noting down methodically, after the manner of those days, the usual doings of a legal town-meeting. No one can examine the old book, and not see that there was uniformity in the Townclerk's records. It is most clear that the earliest records which are preserved are the regular continuation of the