History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

IGO HISTOHV OF MIDDLESEX COUXTY.
"The governourj Mr. Xowell, Mr. Eliot, and
others, went over Mistick River at Medford, and
going N. and by E. among the rocks about two or
three miles, they came to a very great pond, hav-
ing in the midst an island of about one acre, and
very thick with trees of pine and beech ; and the
pond liad divers small rocks, standing up here and
tiiere in it, which they therefore called Spot Pond.
They went all about it upon the ice. From thence
(towards the N. W. about half a mile,) they came
to the top of a very high rock, beneath which,
(towards the N.) lies a goodly plain, part open
land, and part woody, from whence there is a fair
Captain Jenner's; yet with the Cyder and such
other Entertainment as the House aff'orded (to-
getiier with my Landlord and my Landlady's good
Company), I made a very pretty thing on't."
" By this time, the rain was over, tho' it still
remain'd Cloudy ; and tiierefore I thought it was
best taking Time by the Fore-lock, and go back
to Boston while it held up, there being nothing
remarkable to be seen at Medford, which is but a
small Village, consisting of a few Houses."
Captain Francis Goelet was here in 1750. In
his journal^ he writes: "Passed through Mis-
tick, which is a small town of about a hundred
houses, pleasantly situated ; near to which is a fine
country seat belonging to Mr. Isaac Royall, being
one of the grandest in North America."
The fact that llie references are so few is a proof
that Medford was an exceptionally ([uict ])lace, with
few attractions to travellers. On this ])(iint a most
competent critic^ writes as follows :
—
" Of so flourishing a town as Medford, the set-
tlement of which had been made as early as (hat
of any other, except Charlestowii, in the bay, it is
remarkable that the early iiistory is very meagre.
From several statements of its projidrlimi of the
1 Leltcrs from New Enr/laiul, pp. 154, 1.55.
' Printed in Ncio England Ilislorical and Geneahr/irnI Rn/is.
ter. Vol. X.KIV. p. 58.
3 Savn-c, Wuitkioita.Inuntah II. 195.
public charges in the colony rates, it must be con-
cluded that it was, within the first eight years,
superior in wealth at different times to Newbury,
Ipswich. Hingham, Weymouth, all ancient towns,
furnished with regular ministers. Yet the number
of people was certainly small ; and the weight of
the tax was probably borne by the property of
Governor Cradock, there invested for fishing and
other purposes. When that establishment was with-
drawn, I suppose the town languished many years.
Simon Bradstreet and James Noyes preached. The
consequences of their subsequent destitution of the
best means of religion were very unlia])py. The
prospect, but it being then close and rainy, they town was poorly inhabited, the people much divided,
could see but a small distance. This place they
called Cheese Rock, because, when they went to
occasionally prosecuted for their deficiencies, aiul
long in a miserable condition. A long period
eat somewhat, they had only cheese, (the govern- of happiness at last arrived in the times of Turell
our's man forgetting, for haste, to put up some and Osgood ; and, for more than a century, Med-
bread)."
ford has appeared one of the most thriving villages
John Dunton visited Medford in 1686, and writes in the vicinity of Boston."
a trifle about it.^ He says he " took Sanctuary The families connected with the town during the
in a Publick, where there was extra-ordinary good first century from its foundation were those of
Cyder, and tho' I had n't such a Noble Treat as at Wade, Hall, Willis, Brooks, Whitmore, Tufts,
Francis, Bradshaw, Symmcs, Royall, Blanchard, and
Seccomb. Descendants of most of these still remain
in the town or its vicinity. Boston having
in this case, as in many others, drawn largely from
its rural neiglibors.
hidian lll.sliir/j. — The renowned Sachem of the
Pawtuckets was Nanepashemit, who removed from
Lynn, in 1615, and took up his abode on Mystic
River, where he was killed in 1619. During his
short and eventful residence in Medford his house
was placed on Rock Hill, where he could best
watch canoes in the river.
The histories represent him as living in Medford,
not far from the river or from the pond, and on
the tops of iiills.^ This eminent Grand Sachem was
the father of Sagamore John of Mystic, Sagamore
1 In lonncction nitli recent discoveries of Indian remains in
Medford, it is iiitcrcstins; to refer to wliat Mr. Brooks savs in his
liemiiants of tlic Indian tribes were common till the bcgiii-
iiiiij; of the present century. In Medford they lived in Turkey
Swamp. So late even as our day farmers in Medford have
ploughed up stone arrow-heads, stone drills, and other Iinlian
weapons and tools. No Indian necropolis has yit been discov-
ered, though one probably exists on the borders of our pond."
The following, coniniunicated by Professor Mai-shall of Tufts
College, curiously corroborates Biooks' conjecture. — Ed.
"CoLLEOF. Hill, Nov, 3, 1870.
" Some years ago Mr. Simms, the present superinlcmlent of the
Mysti