HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[394] where it joins the land of Mr. B. L. Swan. The supply of water was small, as the present banks indicate. There he, and his only son Joseph, wove cloth by water, prepared wool for spinning, and had lathes for turning wood. His house, of two stories, which he built, stood about six rods north-east from his mill. The mill stood more than forty years, and was once used for the manufacture of pomatum and starch.

1746: This year the tidemill, near Sandy Bank, was built; and it was the first of the kind in that part of the town. As it is now standing, it may be worth while to state a few facts touching its origin. Articles of agreement were concluded, Feb. 20, 1746, between Richard Sprague, cooper, Samuel Page, yeoman, Simon Tufts, Esq., physician, John Willis, yeoman, Stephen Hall, trader, Stephen Bradshaw, yeoman, Simon Bradshaw, leather-dresser, and Benjamin Parker, blacksmith, on the one part, all of Medford, and owners of land; and, on the other part, Stephen Hall, Samuel Page, and Stephen Willis, of Medford, husbandmen, and Benjamin Parker, of Charlestown, housewright, as undertakers. They, of the first part, give the portions of land they own lying between the market and Cross Street, on condition that they, of the second part, will open a straight road, two rods wide, from the market to Cross Street, and build a stone bridge over Gravelly Creek. This was introductory to building the tidemill. Benjamin Parker gave the land on which the mill was built,--thirty-one feet long, and twenty-five wide. John Willis and Benjamin Parker gave liberty to the undertakers to cut a ditch from Gravelly Creek to the mill, and to build a dam. Dr. Tufts, John Willis, Samuel Page, Thomas Oakes, and Nathaniel Hall, bind themselves never to obstruct the free flow of water to the mill. The undertakers then bind themselves “to erect a good gristmill on the spot of land above mentioned; and said mill shall be ready to go at or before the last day of September next.” As guaranty for each party, they “bind themselves in the penal sum of five hundred pounds.”

The mill was completed, and answered its purpose. It afterwards came into the possession of Timothy Waite, jun. He sold it to Seth Blodget, March 9, 1761. Mr. Blodget sold it to Matthew Bridge, Oct. 18, 1780. Mr. Bridge sold one half of it to John Bishop, April 7, 1783; and sold the other half to John Bishop, jun., April 29, 1784. John Bishop sold