1808. In the public school, an assistant teacher is provided for the first time. 1808. Digging for hidden money, near the "Rock Landing," was three times repeated by (as is said) Mr. James Francis, of Medford, and Mr. James Hall, of Charlestown. We remember seeing the three excavations. The first, on the southern brow of Rock Hill, was a hole four feet deep and four feet in diameter, and was enclosed within a small circular furrow dug in the earth. The work was done in the night. The second, in Mr. Jonathan Brooks's land, was within thirty feet of the river, and was small in circumference, and quite deep. The third was within ten feet of the river, by the bathing-rock. It disclosed a cave walled up on each side, and arched; its length about six feet, its width three, and its height three. The rocks were red, and so soft that they were ground and used in painting Captain Richardson's house. No rocks of that kind are known in this country. These diggings were at different times; but no one has ever told what success attended the explorations. Other small trials were made in the eastern part of the town. Spirits are now substituted for witch-hazel. 1808. Snowballing. At this time, the boys who lived east of the meeting-house were called maggots; and they who lived west of it were called fag-enders. Between these parties, the most furious and unbrotherly battles were fought each winter with snowballs. Snow forts were erected behind the meeting-house; and so high ran the spirit of contest, that the boys from the east procured a small cannon, which they loaded so heavily, that, on its discharge, it burst, and wounded a boy in the face. The effect of that injury continues to this day. 1809. Medford. Two representatives to the General Court elected in 1809.- The number of deaths in Medford, between 1774 and 1809, was 701. 1810. Medford had a large choir of volunteer singers, under the faithful Ephraim Bailey. On Sunday, once, the pitch-pipe set the pitch so high that the whole choir broke down. Still, Bailey tried on the second verse, and again broke down. General Brooks could not endure it any longer; and he rose in his pew, beckoned to Bailey, and said, “Hadn't you better take another pitch? " Bailey replied, "No, sir: I guess we can get through it.” 1811, May 13. "Voted to instruct the representative of Medford in the General Court to oppose the petition of Peter Tufts, praying to be set off to Charlestown." The petition was granted. 1814. The free seats near the pulpit in the meeting-house, which were formerly occupied by aged men and women, were sold, and two pews built in their place. 1815. Nahant Parties. At this time, when only a few persons resided at Nahant, it was the custom for families in Medford to join in a party to that beautiful promontory. From ten to twenty chaises would start together; and, reaching Mr. Breed's, the ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, would proceed to fishing from the rocks and boats. Each one wore the commonest clothes; and the day was passed in all sorts of sports. A fish-dinner was an agreed part of the fare; and a supper at Lynn Hotel closed the eating of the day. The party rode home by moonlight; and, by ten o'clock, were tired enough to go to bed. Dec. 10, 1816.-The town of BROOKS, in Hancock County, Maine, containing 13,744 acres, was named in honor of the go vernor. Every town rejoices in some euphonious local names. Medford has Sodom, Ram-head, Labor in Vain, No Man's Friend, Hardscrabble. A minister was asked if he would attend an evening meeting for religious worship. He answered, "No: I have no opinion of religion got by candle-light." The first time any meeting-house in Medford had been heated by a stove was Dec. 18, 1820. 1822. The delta of trees, within the triangular fence, which is in the public road, at the junction of High and Grove Streets, near the Lowell Railroad Station, in West Medford, was planted by the Hon. Peter C. Brooks in 1822; and the fence was built at his expense. 1825.- Medford has not been a resort for Jews; but it had one who is remembered with interest, — Abraham Touro, eminent for his social and generous qualities. When General Lafayette reached Massachusetts, Mr. Touro offered him his noble horse for his entrance into Boston. On the day of that triumphant entry, Mr. Touro was standing in his chaise, to catch his first sight of the illustrious visitor, when a sudden start of his horse threw him from his place, and broke his leg. The fracture was a very bad one, and the patient grew worse daily. The physicians and surgeons did all they could, and finally assured him that nothing but amputation could save his life. With a Jew's traditionary prejudice against that operation, he firmly answered thus: "No! I will never go into heaven with one leg." He left about two hundred thousand dollars; and distributed it, by will, in legacies varying from five to twenty thousand dollars. He gave much in charity. He left a large sum to keep the synagogue in Newport, R.I., in good repair. 1825.- Parties in the Woods. Within the first twenty years of this century, it was customary for select parties of girls and boys, in whortleberry-time, to go into the woods near Pine Hill, or at the Bower, and there frolic in true rustic style. A long extempore table was crowded with eatables, which had been contributed by the several members of the party. Rural dresses and schoolboy manners gave zest to the occasion; while dancing on the grass allowed all to join. The coming home in procession, or in carts, gave the last touch to the jubilant scene. May 4, 1829, the streets in Medford received their names. 1829. Voted that each owner of a dog shall pay $1.25 annually as a tax also that each dog shall wear a collar; and, if found without one, its owner shall pay $10. 1830. Voted to have the bell rung at twelve, M., and nine, P.M. 1836.—Mrs. John Fulton, who died this year, aged ninety-five, was one of those who helped to dress the wounds of the soldiers who were in the battle of Bunker Hill. Many of the wounded soldiers were brought to Medford. She was a true patriot; and General Washington honored her with a visit. At that time, they had bought a punch-bowl; and the general was the first person who drank out of it. The bowl is now owned by Mr. Frederick Bradlee, of Boston. Mr. John Fulton, of Medford, was cousin to Mr. Robert Fulton, the inventor of steamboats; and they were once prisoners together. Mrs. Fulton's mother was a Wier, who came over with the "Scotch-Irish" company. 1840. The pillars which sustained the gallery of the third meeting-house (1770) are now in use in West Medford, on the outside of the house of the late Jonathan Brooks. - Mr. Turell's Portrait. — In Church Records, vol. iii. p. 104, are the following: "1842, July. The church received, from the hand of Dudley Hall, a bequest of the late Turell Tufts, Esq.,- two pieces of plate for the communion-table; and a portrait of the Rev. Mr. Turell, one of the former pastors of this church. "Aug. 7.— At a meeting of the church this day, a letter was read by Dudley Hall, from Samuel Turell Armstrong, requesting the church to transfer to him, during his lifetime, the above-mentioned portrait of Mr. Turell. The church voted unanimously that this request be complied with; and that Dudley Hall, the treasurer, be authorized to deliver the portrait to Mr. Armstrong." It is now in the possession of Mrs. S. T. Armstrong, widow, in Boston. 1854. In the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, of October, is a biographical notice of Hon. Peter C. Brooks, written by Hon. Edward Everett, doing justice to the character of our distinguished townsman. 1854. Captain Duncan Ingraham married the widow of Dr. Simon Tufts, as his second wife, and resided in Medford. By his first wife, he had a son, named Nathaniel, who endeavored to force back into slavery Cæsar, a Malay. Nathaniel had a son, named Duncan N., who attended our public schools, and is remembered as a boy of spirit and force. He has recently rendered himself famous by his bold measure at Smyrna for the rescue of an HungaSo popular is this measure, that even the working-classes of England have united to present to him a valuable chronoIt bears the following inscription: "Presented to Captain Ingraham, of the United States navy, by some thousands of the British working-classes, for his noble conduct in rescuing Mar rian. meter. tin Koszta, the Hungarian refugee, from the Austrian authorities, April, 1854." 1855. Mr. Benjamin Noyes, son of Benjamin, was born in West Medford, and educated at the public school. He is now head engineer in constructing one hundred miles of railroad for the Emperor of the Russias. 1855. There are many stumps of large pitch-pine trees now remaining in East Medford, on land of Mr. Charles Hall. The field is called "stump-marsh." At the usual spring-tides, the saltwater covers this field from four to eight inches in depth. Could the forest of pines have lived and grown up, if thus covered with salt-water every fortnight? Is proof found here of the theory, that the land on the New-England coast is sinking? 1855. William Tufts, Esq., born in Medford, March 1, 1787, entered the State House, as clerk in the office of the adjutant-general, in 1813; and, with the exception of three years, has been employed, till this year, as confidential clerk, under the different administrations. He has been called "the oldest man of the State House." No one was so able to aid seekers after historical documents, and no one could have been more ready. 1855-1655.—What would our Medford ancestors have said if they could have anticipated this time, when speed is deified, and when haste seems to increase with the means of haste? "Tramp, tramp, across the land; LETTER. In closing the history of one of the oldest towns of Massachusetts, we are naturally led to the inquiry, How will the condition of those born here two hundred years after us compare with that of those born here two hundred years before us? Standing between these two extremes, our hearts become moved with a parental regard towards children who will live as far from us in the future as our fathers did in the past. Had we a telegraph for time, as we have one for space, we would gladly send forward our welcomes and wishes, to be in waiting for them; but the only chance we have of reaching them with our messages of love is to trust in the preservation of musty historic records in fire-proof libraries. How small the hope! A block of driftwood, in the Pacific, is said to have found its way into the Atlantic, and finally reached a shore. Presuming on this smallest of all chances, we would now cast our historic block into the deep waters of 1855; hoping, that, after it has been tossed by the waves and winds of two centuries, it may be driven on the shore of 2055. Should it have this unexpected rescue, we would, in such case, try to cheer it, amid the awkwardness of its antique dress and the sorrows of its shattered condition, by sending with it our following letter of introduction: The Inhabitants of Medford in 1855, to the Inhabitants of Medford in 2055, send greeting : CHILDREN AND TOWNSMEN, As we close this volume of history, which we have written for you, we would not send it without expressing our united and hearty good wishes for your health, prosperity, and happiness. That we have thought of you much and often, you will readily believe. We have hoped that physical training will in your day be so applied, that you can be strong like Maximinus; intellectual development so secured, that you can analyze like Bacon; moral power so advanced, that you can conquer like Paul; and true Christianity so received, that you can be one with Christ, as he is one with God. The points in which you will exceed us are of course unknown to us; but we have unbounded faith in the energies of man. Onward and upward is the law; "Excelsior" the motto. You may look back on our age, and perhaps call it an age of darkness, persecution, and bad philosophy, and call it by its right name. Looking through the glimmerings of the future, we now, therefore, rejoice with you in advance over a progress in natural science, intellectual philosophy, and moral truth, to us inconceivable. The earth and sea, the air and light, will doubtless perform for you a thousand offices of help and beauty of which we never dreamed. The law regulating the weather will by you be understood; and you may journey through the depths of ocean and the depths of air as securely as we do on the surface of the ground. The waste fields now around us will doubtless, in your day, be filled with a crowded population; and Medford, as a part of the capital, may have lost its present individuality. We here solemnly and affectionately bequeath to you all we possess; with the hope and the prayer, that, long before our wishes reach you, there may be, |