History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1630 to 1855.

Preface

The announcement on the titlepage of this vohime is a sufificient statement of the fact that it is based on the earher work of Mr. Brooks ; and, indeed, no complete history of Medford can be written which does not largely embody the material collected by him. Medford had no early annalist. The sources from which the account of its settlement must be made up are scanty and obscure ; and such imperfect information as exists must be collected from widely scattered records. Mr. Brooks had devoted many years of his life to the task of compiling his materials. He was, moreover, an enthusiastic and painstaking antiquarian, who had inherited from his ancestors, among the first settlers of the town, a fund of traditional lore. If, then, the present volume throws litde new light upon the early history of the town, it is because his research was so thorough and exhaustive that he left but a barren field of labor to his successors.

But the labors of Mr. Brooks as an historian ended with the publication of his volume, thirty-one years ago. Much has happened since that date, which deserves a permanent record ; and much of the detail of our later municipal life will be lost, if diose who have lived through it "die, and make no sign."

It so happened that I was the publisher of the original History ; and, as a native and resident of Medford, I felt more than a publisher's interest in that work. It has long been my wish to see the annals of the town brought down to current date. In despair of seeing the work taken up by more competent hands, I have, for several years, devoted the time I could spare from other labors to the collection of facts and information touching the later history of the town, with a view to supplementing Mr. Brooks's work.

In the performance of my task, and in the effort to fuse my materials with those of Mr. Brooks, I have found it necessary to make some changes in the arrangement of the contents of the original volume ; to suppress some of its more unimportant details ; and, for one reason or another, to make occasional alterations in the text. It has been my aim, however, as far as possible, to preserve Mr. Brooks's text, — especially to respect that sometimes quaint, and often racy, phraseology, characteristic of the writer.

4 PREFACE.

In collecting the facts of contemporaneous history, the compiler has consU\ntly to be on his guard against the intrusion of matter of merely ephemeral interest ; and, in the abundance of more deserving topics, there is a call for selection and condensation, which holds the ambitious chronicler under a somewhat painful constraint. I cannot hope that I have always coped suc-^ cessfully with these difficulties, and can only say that I have done^ my best. Many subjects which had been carefully written out have been omitted from the volume, and this effort to keep down its size has been attended with some sacrifice.

An apology is due to subscribers for the , delay w-hich has occurred in the publication of this volume. I have to plead in excuse, that I have found it necessary to deal with a greater variety of topics than had entered into my original design, and that consetiuently the work has been continually growing upon my hands. The collection and verification of facts is at best a tedious process : and, in the effort to bring the history '* up to present date," I have had to fight against time ; for, even while I have been compiling, events of local interest were occurring, which not only called for record, but frequently for the recasting of pages already written. The lapse of time necessarily makes history. It is hoped, however, that the delay due to these and other causes, has inured to the advantage of the work : it has certainly entailed upon the editor much additional labor and expense.

I have reason to be grateful for the encouragement I have received during the prosecution of my task. My applications for information have always been courteously responded to, — in many cases by strangers, on w^hom I had no claim. My warmest thanks are due to friends for their assistance and counsel ; and I am especially indebted to Mr. Charles Cummmgs, Thomas S. Harlow, Esq., and Parker R. Litchfield, Esq., who have greatly aided me in my work, and to Mrs. George L. Stearns for a sketch of her husband's life. I wish also to make my acknowledgments to the Library Committee for their kindness and courtesy. There is one other friend who has followed me carefully through my labors, and to whom 1 am under the greatest obligations for suggestions and practical help ; but I respect his wishes in making no mention of his name.

To the town of Medford, in its corporate capacity, I return my heartfelt thanks for the substantial aid it has given to my undertaking. Loving Medford as I do, I shall be proud and happy if it shall be tleemed that I have, in my declining years, done any thing to convey to the coming generations of her children a better knowledge of an important and honorable period of her municipal life.

JAMES .M. USHER.

Preface To The Original History

In writing this History, it has been my wish to secure Mcdford such territory in time as its acres are territory in space. The gathering of these annals has been too long delayed. Time, moth, and rust have done their fatal work on many valuable materials ; and some gentlemen, who felt a deep interest in their native town, have died without leaving any manuscript testimonies. When the history of New England shall be written, the true data will be drawn from the records of its towns. Now, therefore, in humble imitation of those States in our Union which have contributed each its block of granite, marble, or copper to the National Monument at Washington, I ask leave to offer Medford's historical contribution to the undecaying pyramidic monument which justice and genius will hereafter raise to the character and institutions of New England.

The records of the first forty years are lost. I have reproduced them, as far as I could, from documents in the General Court relating to our earliest history; from several monuments of the first settlers, which are yet standing among us; from authentic traditions which were early recorded; and from collateral histories of the neighboring towns. To find the lost, and remember the forgotten, seems to be the province of the local annalist. From the moment I reached the first town-records of Medford {1674), I implicitly followed those exceyent guides. Where I could save space by abbreviations, without altering the sense, I have occasionally done so in my quotations, and have used our modern orthography. The spirit of antiquarian research, now beginning to show itself, will lead to the discovery of many facts concerning the early history of Medford which are beyond my reach. These may soon render necessary a new history of the town ; and I hope it may be undertaken by a person whose ability and leisure will enable him to do far greater justice to the subject than has been within my power.

There are no foot-notes in this volume. My reason for incorporating such matter with the te.xt is this : whenever notes are printed at the bottom of a page, it is expected they will be read in at the place where the asterisk in the text directs. If the note is put there to be read in there, why not put it into the text at that place, and thus save the eye the trouble of wandering down to the bottom of the page to hunt up the note, and then wandering back again to find the spot whence it started on its search? If the new mode I have adopted should prove inconvenient to readers, they must so declare against it that no writer will follow the example.

I have received great help from the Massachusetts Colony Records; and

S

6 PRE FACE.

Dr. N. P. Siiurti.f.fk's beautiful edition of them is a noble monument to a faithful student and i)ublic benefactor. I have also gathered much from the Historical Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, — from Winthrop, Hutchinson, Wood, and other early writers; and especially from the registries of Deeds and Probate. Mr. Frothi.ngham's " History of Charlestown" is invaluable. I have obtained less information from old manuscripts in Mcdford than I expected. Many such important papers, long since collected here, have been irrevocably scattered. I have received aid from C.\LKB Swan, Esq., of New York; from Mr. Joseph P. Hall, the accurate town-clerk; from Rev. Samuel Sewall, Mr. W. B. Shedd, and several other friends. To each and all I would here offer my sincere thanks. To Messrs. \Villl\m Tufts, of Boston, George VV. Porter and Peter C. Hall, of Medford, I owe special acknowledgments for their examination of my proof-sheets. The Register of Families has been prepared by my young friend, Mr. William H. Whitmore, of Boston. With the patience that belongs to older scholars, with an accuracy that belongs to a true lover of genealogical inquiry, and with a generosity that issues from a Christian heart, he has devoted himself to these researches; and every family mentioned in the Register owes him a debt of gratitude. Collegisse jitvat.

By means of printed circulars and public addresses in 1853, '54, and '55, I gave very urgent invitations to all the living descendants of our ancestors, and to all the present inhabitants of Medford, to furnish me with genealogical registers of their families, promising to insert all they might send. Many have complied with these requests, and many have not. I regret exceedingly that families, who alone possess the requisite information, should have withheld it. It is a serious loss to our history, and may hereafter be regretted by themselves. In this respect, the history of a town is apt to disappoint everybody. These registers of early families in New England will contain the only authentic records of the true Anglo-Saxon blood existing among us ; for, if foreign immigration should pour in upon us for the next fifty years as it has for the last thirty, it will become difficult for any man to prove that he has descended from the Plymouth Pilgrims.

I have introduced much collateral history, as illustrative of local laws, ideas, and customs. The true history of a town is nearly an epitome of that of the State. It is not a single portrait, but a full-length figure amidst a group, having the closest relations to all contemporary life, and to all surrounding objects. To neglect these accessory circumstances and illustrations, is to leave all life out of historic details, and convert history into a wide, silent field of graves, ruins, and darkness. I have spared no jjains or expense in collecting materials for this work; but my chief solicitude has been concerning its accuracy. In no case have I recorded a fact, or drawn an inference, without having satisfactory historical evidence of its truth. If my labors shall help to fix Medford in the elevated rank it now holds in the State, and shall stimulate future generations to deserve and attain a higher, my proudest hopes will be realized. That peace may for ever be loithin its liialh, and prosperity within its palaces, is the fervent prayer of its humble friend,

CHARLES BROOKS,

Contents

[For Alphabetical Index of N^ames and Topics, see End of the Volume^

Chapter I. Pages

Name and Location. — Boundaries. — Ponds. — Mystic River.

— Brooks. — Hills. — Climate. — Soil and Productions.

— Natural History 13-38

CHAPTER n.

Medford Records. — First Settlement. — Mathew Cradock.

— Land and Landowners. — Ancient Landmarks and Monuments 39-63

CHAPTER IH.

Roads. — Railroads. — Bridges. — Indians 64-99

CHAPTER IV.

Civil History. — Territorial Grants. — Municipal Organization. — Enlargement of Territory. — Town Meetings. — Medford a Town from the Time of its Settlement. — Causes of New-England Prosperity. — Lists of Town Officers. — Gov. John Brooks. — Col. Isaac Royal . . 100-154

CHAPTER V.

Political History. — Patriotic Stand taken during the Revolution. — Action on State Constitution. — Votes in First State Elections 155-172

CHAPTER VL

Military History. — Early Military Organization. — Medford Officers in the Revolution. — War of 1812. — Militia. — [Old] Medford Light Infantry. — Brooks Phalanx. — Lawrence Light Guard 173-198

8 COA'/ViX/'S.

CHATTER vrr.

r.\c;ns Military History, continuf.d. — Medfokd Licht Infantry. —

MeDFDRD VOLUNTEliRS IN VARIOUS OkC.AN IZATIONS DURING

THE Civil War. — Prison and Hospital Experiences.— Home Work of the War. — Death Record of Medford Soldiers. — Lawrence Rifles 199-212

CHAPTER Vni.

Roll of Medford Men \vho served in the Union Army during THE Rebellion 213-219

CHAPTER IX.

Ecclesiastical History. — Early Ministers. — Rev. Aaron

Porter. — Rev. Ebenezer Turell. — Rev. David Osgood, 220-246

CHAPTER X.

Ecclesiastical IIistory, continued. — First Parish. — Second Congregational Society. — Mystic Church. — Universalist Society. — Methodist-Episcopal Church. — First Baptist Church. — Grace (Episcopal) Church. — Congregational Church, West Medford. — Trinity Methodist-Episcopal Society of West Medford. — Catholic Church . . . 247-279

* CHAPTER XI.

Education. — Public Schools. — List of Teachers. — List of

School Com.mittees. — Academies. — College Graduates, 2S0-301

CHAPTER XIL Public Libraries 302-308

CHAPTER XIII.

Tufts College 309-318

CHAPTER XIV.

Charities. — Physicians. — Lawyers. — Authors. — Public

Characters ^19-326

CHAPTER XV.

Fire-department. — Board of Health. — Water-supply. — Burving-grounds. — Great Tornado. — Fires. — Pounds. Local Diseases 327--" 48

COXTEA'TS. 9

CHAPTER XVT.

PAGES

CHAPTER XVn.

Taxes. — Lists of Early Tax-payers. — Currency .... 363-381

CHAPTER XVHI.

Middlesex Canal. — Lightering. — Mills. — Taverns . . . 3S2-390

CPIAPTER XIX.

Public P>uiLniNGS. — First, Second, and Third Meeting-houses. — SCHOOLHOUSES. — ToWN HaLL 39I-408

CHAPTER XX.

Trade and Manufactures. — Fisheries. — .Ship-huilding. — Brick-making. — Distilleries. — Other Industries. — Stage-coaches. — Newspapers. — Medford Savings Bank, 409-441

CHAPTER XXIL Biographical Notices 44S-48S

CHAPTER XXIII.

Historical and Local Items. — Middlesex Fells. — Governors of Massachusetts 4S9-512

CHAPTER XXIV.

Post-offices. — Population. — Tahles of Annual Expenditures

and Valuations 513-518

REGISTER OF FAMILIES 519-587

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Medford Square

Charles Brooks

Cradock House

Garrison House on Pasture Hill Lane

Summer House, Royal Farm

Boston and Lowell Railroad Station, 1851 . Boston and Lowell Railroad Station, 1SS5 . Boston and Maine Railroad Station, 1S47 . Boston and Maine Railroad Station, 1SS6 .

Cradock Bridge

Residence of Thatcher Magoun, 2D

Residence of George L. Stearns

Old Swan House, High Street

judah loring

Gov. John Brooks

Gov. Brooks's Birthplace

Residence of Gov. Brooks

Royal House

Old Tufts House, Public Square. (Removed in 1S67) .

Facsimile of Tax-bill, 1772

Facsimile of Receipt for Money paid for Service in

Continental Army

Facsimile of Oath of Allegiance, 177S . . . . Residence of Capt. Joshua T. Foster . . . .

Soldiers' Monument

Rev. Ebenezer Turell

Rev. David Osgood

Unitarian Church

Mystic Church

Universalist Church, 1850

Methodist-Episcopal Church

Baptist Church

Grace Church

PAGE

Frontispiece.

Facing 39 60 62 63 70

Facinj^

7- 74 76 86 89 90

ICO

IJST OF ILLUSTRATIOXS.

MedI'

Tufts C

Catholic CiruRcn .

Trinity Methodist-Ei'iscopal Church, W

Charles Cummings

Public Lihrary

Thatcher Magoun, 2V>

TriTs College, 1855

IIoSEA BaLLOU, 2D, D.D

'1"homas a. C.oddard

The Barnum Museum of Natural History

GoDDARD Chapel, Tufts College

Dudley Hall .

Maria Gowen Brooks

Engine-House .

Stocks and Pillory

Lydia Maria Child

Facsimile of Tax-bill, 1796 .

Facsimile of Continental Money

Fountain House

Medford House, 1S25

First Church .

Second Church

Third Church

Old Brick Schoolhouse

High-school House

Brooks Schoolhouse

Residence of J. Henry Norcross

Ocean Express

Thatcher Magoun, ist

Launch on the Mystic

Withington's ]!akery

Residence of Henry H

Charles Brooks

P'acsimile of Chaplain's Warrant, 1777

Facsimile of Certificate

Peter C. Brooks, 2d

George L. Stearns

John T. White

Joshua T. Foster .

Facsimile of an Acknowledgment of Purchase of

Slaves ....

Facsimile of Receipt Gen. John Brooks Jonathan Brooks's Homestead

PAGE

'I 3IS

322 3-6

Facing 357

" 378

391 395 400

Facing 414 421

4:^3 427

" 436

451 451

" 453 459 477

" 488

Facing 49S

" 5"

HISTORY OF MEDFORD.

CHAPTER I.

LOCATION AND NAME.

Medford, a town in Middlesex County, is about five miles north-north-west from Boston, and four miles north-west by north from Bunker-Hill Monument. Its adjoining towns at this date (1884) ^re Somerville, Arlington, Winchester, Stoneham, Melrose, Maiden, and Everett.

In June, 1630, some adventurers, who landed at Salem in the month of May, arrived here, and began a settlement on the north-west side of the river now known as the Mystic. The richness and extent of the marshes, resembling vast meads or meadows, must have invited their special attention ; and many have supposed that the name Meadford, first given to the place, was suggested by its resemblance to open fields, or great meadows, in their native land.

However that may have been, records of the Massachusetts Colony, made as early as 1641, show that the place was called Meadford in certain legal documents, also Meadfourd, and Metford. Since 171 5 it has uniformly been called Medford ; not as a nev/ christening, but as a corruption of the original name, caused, possibly, by the bad spelling from which it suffered, or by our general tendency to shorten words. The names of many towns in Massachusetts were changed in that way, and some of them much more radically than in this instance.

During the first ten years after its settlement this town was surrounded by territory that belonged to Charlestown, and its boundaries were changed and greatly enlarged dur-

J3 ing its next ten decades, as the ancient town and colonial records show. The following items from such records will enable the reader to obtain a tolerably correct idea of the township as it was at first, and of the changes which determined its present boundaries.

At a court held in Boston April i, 1634, this record was made : —

"There is two Inindrecl acres of land granted to Mr. Increase NowcU, lyincc and bcinj; on tlie west side of North River, called Three-mile Brook [Maiden River]. There is two hundred acres of land granted to Mr. John Wilson, pastor of the church in Boston, lying next to the lantl granted to Mr. Nowell, on the south, and next to Meadlord on tlie north."

Here the original bound of Medford on the north-cast is shown with sufficient accuracy ; and by this record we learn that the town-line at first did not come down to the Maiden River, as it now does.

The north and north-western bounds were the " Rocks," that range of granite hills of which Pine Hill forms a part. The line ran north of Symmes's Corner, and struck Symmes's River. The Pond and Mystic River formed the southern and western boundaries.

The farm of Mr. Cradock formed a portion of the eastern part of Medford, and was very large, as the following record shows : —

" General Court, holden at Newtown, March 4, 1634: All the grounds, as well upland as meadow, lying and being betwixt the land of Mr. Nowell and Mr. Wilson on the east (and the partition betwixt Mvstick bounds on the west), bounded with Mistick River on the south, and the Rocks on the north, is granted to Mr. Mathew Cradock, merchant, to enjoy to him and his heirs forever."

The next year the General Court "ordered" that this land of Mr. Cradock should "extend a mile into the country from the riverside, in all places." As Medford was in the midst of territory which at first belonged to Charlestown, there was for some years some confusion in regard to boundary lines ; and from time to time the General Court made orders in regard to it, among which were the following: —

"General Court, July 2, 1633: It is ordered that the ground Iving betwixt tlie North River and the Creek on the north side of 'Mr. Maverick's, and so up into the country, shall belong to the inhabitants of Charleslown."

"General Court, March 3, 1636: Ordered, That Charlestown bounds shall run eight miles into the country from their meeting-house, if no other bounds intercept, reserving the propriety of farms granted to John Winthrop, Esq., Mr. Nowell. Mr. Cradock, and Mr. Wilson, to the owners thereof, as also free ingress and egress for the servants and cattle of the said gentlemen, and common for their cattle on the back side of Mr. Cradock's farm."

"General Court, Oct. 7, 1640: Mr. Tynge, Mr. Samuel Sheephard, and Goodman Edward Converse, are to set out the bounds between Charlestown and Mr. Cradock's farm on the north side of Mistick River."

But, while these orders were made with reference to certain parts of the boundary Hnes, other parts had not been marked with sufficient accuracy, and, in 1687, the inhabitants of Medford appointed three gentlemen, who, in conjunction with three appointed by Charlestown, were directed to fix the boundaries between the two towns.

They performed the work in due time, and the reader will" be greatly amused at their report, which shows how rudely their work was done, and how soon the metes and bounds which they fixed must have been undistinguishable. Their report, as shown by the Town Records, is as follows : —

" We have settled and marked both stakes and lots as followeth : From the creek in the salt-marsh by a ditch below Wilson's farm and Medford farm to a stake and heap of stones out of the swamp, then turning to a savin-tree and to three stakes more to heaps of stones withinGeorge Blanchard's field with two stakes more and heaps of stones standing all on the upland, and so round from stake to stake as the swamp run"neth, and then straight to a stake on the south side of the house of Joseph Blanchard's half, turning then to another oak, an old marked tree, thence to a maple-tree, old marks, thence unto two young maples, new marked, and thence to three stakes to a creekhead, thence straight to the corner line on the south side of the country road leading to [Maiden]."

As might have been expected, the stakes driven by the committee soon decayed or were removed, the heaps of stones and the marked trees soon ceased to be prominent and reliable landmarks, and disputes arose in regard to town-boundaries.

In 1735, another joint committee was chosen to settle the bounds of Medford on the north-west ; and the town, May»i4, 1744, voted to choose a committee to settle with Charlestown the bounds between the two towns "near the place called Mystic Pond."

In 1 771, several changes in boundary lines had been made by the acquisition of new territory ; and a committee was chosen by the inhabitants of Medford "to run the lines anew between Charlestown and Medford, and set up some monuments between the towns." A joint committee met, and set up twenty-two posts as metes. The townlines thus indicated are shown upon a map in the town archives, called " Walling's Map." The enlargement of the town was accomplished chiefly between the years 1748 and 1754, and the action of the citizens in regard to it at different times is set down in the ancient records as follows : —

"Oct. 23, 1702: Medford voted to petition the General Court to have a tract of land lying in the south of Andover (two miles square) set off to it."

"May 24, 1734: Medford voted, 'That the town will petition for a tract of land beginning at the southerly end of Medford line, on the easterly side of said town, running there eastward on Charlestown to the mouth of Maiden River, there running nearly northward on the said Maiden River to the mouth of Creek Head Creek, there running with said creek to Medford easterly line. Also a piece of land on the northerly side of said Medford, bounded easterly on Maiden line, northerly on Stoneham and Woburn line, westerly on the line betwixt Mr. Symmes"s and Gardner's farm, running there northward to Mystic Pond, with the inhaliitants thereof.' "

" March 7, 1 748 : Put to vote to know the mind of the town, whether they will choose a committee to use their best endeavors to have the lands with their inhabitants, now belonging to Charlestown, added to this town, which now are on the southerly and northerly sides of this town.*'

This was not successful; but, May 14, 1753, the effort was renewed ; the town asked for twenty-eight hundred acres, and their prayer was granted.

The bounds mentioned in the petition to the General Court were as follows : —

" On the southerly side, those that the town petitioned for in the year 1738; and those on the northerly side, bounded northerly on Stoneham, on the town of Woburn, and by the northerly bounds of Mr. William Symmes's farm, and easterly on Maiden."

The bounds designated in the petition of March 6, 1738, are as follows : —

"The southerly tract lying in Charlestown, bounded northerlvwith the (river) . . . westerly with the westerlv bounds of Mr. Smith's, Mr. Joseph Tufts's and Mr. Jonathan Tufts's farms, and then running from '.he southerly corner of Mr. Jonathan Tufts's farm, eastward straight to the westerly corner of Col. Royal's farm, again westerly

HISTORY OF MED FORD. \y

with the westerly bounds of Col. Royal's farm, again southerly with its southerly bounds, and then running from the south-easterly corner thereof eastward straight to Medford River.''

The action of the Legislature is thus recorded : —

"April i8, 1754: John Quincy, Esq., brought down the petition of the town of Aledford, as entered the 17th December last, with a report of a committee of both Houses. Signed — Jos. Pynchon."

"Passed in Council: viz., In Council, April 17, 1754. Read and accepted, with the amendment at A : and Ordered, That the lands within mentioned, together with the inhabitants theregn, be and hereby are set off from the town of Charlestown to the town of Medford accordingly. Sent down for concurrence. Read and concurred."

Thus on the 17th of April, 1754, Medford was enlarged by all its territory now lying on the south side of the river.

Ponds and Streams. — Medford Poi\d, known now as Mystic Pond, is a charming sheet of water, and, though cousin-german to the sea, is as quiet, and retired from the ocean, as if it never felt its tidal waves. It is about three miles in circumference, half a mile in width, and nowhere more than eighty feet in depth. It is divided into nearly equal parts by a shoal called the Partings, where was once a road used by several persons, some of whom are yet living. The lands on each side are slightly elevated. Several elegant residences have been erected there. In 1861. the city of Charlestown, by permission of the Legislature, built a stone dam at the Partings, thus forever excluding the tide from the upper pond. From this pond Charlestown is supplied with water.

A brook rising in Lexington, and flowing through Arlington, enters this pond south of the Partings, at the western side ; and another stream of much larger dimensions, flowing through Baconville, and called Abajona River, enters it at the north. These are fresh-water streams, and are the only tributaries of this pond. The Mystic River has its source in this pond, and every twelve hours the water in the lower pond is raised from two to six inches by the inflowing tide, through this stream. The shore of this pond was a favorite resort of the Indian tribes ; and, for many years after the white man enjoyed its beauties, an Indian chief continued to reside there. In the early years of the township this was a famous place for fishing ; and shad and alewives were taken in abundance in these waters.

Spot Pond. — In 1632, the Governor, with Messrs. Nowcll, Eliot, and others, went over Mystic River at Medford ; and, going north-and-by-east among the rocks about two or three miles, they came to a very great pond, having in the midst an island of about one acre, and very thick with trees of pine, beech, and other kinds of wood. This pond had "divers small rocks standing up here and there in it," and this feature suggested the name which they gave to it. The chronicler of their adventure says, —

"They went all about it upon the ice. From thence (towards the north-west about half a mile) they came to the top of a very high rock, beneath which (towards the north) lies a goodly plain, part open land and part woody, from whence there is a fair prospect ; but, it being then close and rainy, they could see but a small distance. This place they called Cheese Rock, because, when they went to eat somewhat, they had only cheese (the Governor's man forgetting, for haste, to put up some bread)."

Cheese Rock may be easily found on the west side of Forest Street, half a mile north-west of the northerly border of Spot Pond.

Mystic River. — This river in a special and very unusual sense belongs to Medford. We may almost say that it has its beginning, its full course and end, within the limits of this township.

Why it was called Mystic River we do not learn from any record or tradition that has come down to us, save that which is found in Trumbull's History of Indian Names, Places, etc. This writer says that the name " Mystic " belongs to the estuary Alissi-tiik, "great tidal river;" but the fact just named, and more probably the fact that the current in this stream flows sometimes in one direction, and sometimes in the opposite, may have seemed, to those who first witnessed the phenomena, something mysterious, and have suggested the name.