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History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1885)
History of the Town of Medford Middlesex County Massachusetts - 1885 Author:Charles Brooks Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. RECORDS OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD. The best sources of history are contemporaneous records. The earliest records of the town extant are in a book ... more »fifteen inches long, six wide, and one inch thick. It is bound in parchment, and its leaves are tied together with leathern strings. The loss of the first thirty pages is much to be deplored. The first entry is as follows: — "The first Monday of February, in the year of our Lord, 1674: At a meeting of the inhabitants of Medford, Mr. Nathaniel Wade was chosen constable for the year ensuing." The chirography is good, the sentences are properly constructed, and the spelling is unusually correct for that period. In accordance with the pedantry of the day, Latin quotations are frequently introduced among the somewhat dry and meagre details of town business, furnishing satisfactory assurance of the sound scholarship of our fathers. The first six pages of the book, in its present imperfect condition, were written by Jonathan Wade ; and, so far as is now known, he was the first town-clerk. His successor was Stephen Willis, who held the office thirty-six years, in two terms of service,—from 1675 to 1701, and from 1708 to 1718. John Bradstreet was town-clerk in the interval. The book closes with the retirement of Stephen Willis from the position he had so long and faithfully filled. The last item in the volume is dated Aug. 20, 1718, and is the receipt of Rev. Aaron Porter for his salary. The second volume is a small folio, bound in parchment. Its records cover the period from Feb. 12, 1718, to June 23. 1735- The third volume is a large folio, sadly torn and injured. The later town-records are complete, and well preserved in books which are calculated to stand the wear and tear of time. The early church-records ...« less