[334] town and to the meeting-house. Here was a wide door open for jealousy and discontent. The next year, 1728, the committee determine “to build twenty-eight pews,” to be placed next the wall, all round the house. Each pew had its price assessed by the committee, and, when paid for, was guaranteed to its owner as regular real estate. Some had no doors, and therefore must be entered through a contiguous pew! The right of choice was now given to twenty-five gentlemen; and here follows the eventful catalogue in the order fixed according to the supposed social rank of each:--
Mr. John Francis, sen., Mr. John Bradshaw, Captain Ebenezer Brooks, Captain Samuel Brooks, Lieutenant Stephen Hall, Mr. Peter Seccombe, Thomas Tufts, Esq., Captain Samuel Wade, Francis Whitmore, John Willis, Mr. John Whitmore, Mr. John Richardson, William Willis, Mr. Jonathan Hall, Mr. Peter Tufts, Deacon Thomas Hall, Mr. Benjamin Willis, Mr. Benjamin Porter, Mr. Thomas Oaks, Dr. Simon Tufts, Mr. John Albree, Mr. Joseph Tufts, Mr. William Patten, Mr. John Bradshaw, jun., and Mr. John Hall.We know not the exact position of any pew occupied by either of the twenty-five gentlemen, save one; and that is the pew, number one, which was the first on the east side of the broad aisle, nearest the front door, taken by Captain Samuel Brooks. His son Thomas chose the same place in the third new house. The price of these pews varied from twelve to eight pounds. 1729: Voted “to petition the General Court for some relief under present differences and difficulties.” The town appoints “Captain Ebenezer Brooks, Mr. Peter Seccombe, Mr. William Patten, and Jonathan Tomson, as a committee to lay the case before the committee of the House of Representatives.” A committee of four (Hodijah Savage, Thomas Berry, Joseph Wilder, and William Ward) met at Medford, when all things were explained concerning the discontent and disputes about certain pews in the new meeting-house. The award was drawn up in form, and was final, and it placed three or four persons anew! June 26, 1740: The town voted to place a bell on the meeting-house; but, as it was decided to purchase the bell with money which should be raised from the sale of bricks owned by the town, the bell was not bought, because the bricks were not sold. However, this appendage to a meeting-house, so necessary in those days, when watches were not as
