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June 5, 1753, the General Court laid a tax on coaches, chariots, chaises, calashes, and riding-chairs. Medford, in 1754, had 1 chariot, 7 chaises, and 31 chairs. Cambridge, during the same time, had 9 chaises and 36 chairs. Woburn had 2 chaises and 9 chairs. Maiden had 2 chaises and 20 chairs. During the revolutionary struggle, debts were accumulated to vast amounts; and, on the 26th February, 1781, the Legislature stated, that £ 950,000, specie value, were needed to meet the annual current expenditures, £ 320,000 of which were to be discharged by taxes. At such a time, when parsimony would have been crime, as timidity would have been treason, our patriotic ancestors marched nobly forward, as their prompt payment of the following taxes testify. In 1781, Medford paid £ 1,177. 10s.; in 1786, £ 1,016. 5s.; in 1791, £ 88. 6s. 11d. Ratable polls in Medford (1784) were 223. List of occupiers of houses, in 1798, who are taxed for more than $100:-- Samuel Albree. Asa Adams. Benjamin Hovey. Benjamin Teal. Caleb Brooks. John Bishop. Abigail Bishop. Samuel Swan. Ebenezer Thompson. Nathan Wait. Thomas Bradshaw, jun. Nathaniel Mead. Zachariah Shed. Leonard Bucknam. Spencer Bucknam. John Bacon. Abigail Brooks and Rufus Frost. John Brooks and Mary Patten. John Brooks. Jethro Townsend. Caleb Brooks, jun. Thomas Brooks. S. Buel and Augustus Hunt. Thomas Bradshaw. Andrew Blanchard. Timothy Newell. Hezekiah Blanchard, jun. Ruth Benford. Jonathan Brooks. William Bradbury. Francis Burns. Marah Billings. Hezekiah Blanchard. David Bucknam. John Chadwick. John Cutter. Miles S. Wilson. Jonathan Dunham. Aaron Crowell. William Earl. Deborah Francis. Sarah Fulton.
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