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

May 14, 1772.--“Voted that the selectmen give liberty to Mr. Noah Floyd to build a shop on his land before the meeting-house.”

1772.--For a day's labor by a man, three shillings and sixpence; for a man and team, six shillings and eightpenee.

1772.--Medford chose bread-weighers. It would be a wise law that should re-establish, through the State, such officers, who would protect the poor against imposition in this all-important article of daily food. Such officers in Europe are deemed indispensable.

1774.--An old house, owned, and kept as a tavern, by Eben. Hills, stood in the market-place. This year, it was purchased by Mr. Jonathan Porter, and kept by him as a tavern and a store, and was a favorite resort for British and Hessian officers during the Revolution. In 1785, Mr. Porter took down the house, discontinued the tavern, and built his private residence and store on the spot where they continue to this day.

1775.--Before the battle of Bunker Hill, General Stark fixed his Headquarters at Medford, in the house built by Mr. Jonathan Wade, near the Medford House, on the east side of the street. After the battle, twenty-five of the general's men, who had been killed, were brought here, and buried in the field, about fifty or sixty rods north of Gravelly Bridge. Their bones have been discovered recently.

1775.--Our patriot fathers cut down those “white-pine trees which his majesty had reserved for the use of his royal navy,” and supplied the American troops with fuel at Cambridge and Charlestown.

1775.--Major Andrew McClary, of Colonel Stark's regiment, was a brave and good man. After the battle of Bunker Hill, he rode to Medford to procure bandages for the wounded. After his return, a shot from a frigate, laying where Cragie's Bridge is, passed through his body. “He leaped a few feet from the ground, pitched forward, and fell dead on his face. He was carried to Medford, and interred with the honors of war.” He lies about fifty or sixty rods north of the old burying-ground.

June 16, 1775.--Colonel Dearborn's troops, from New Hampshire, stopped in Medford through the night, and marched early for Winter Hill on the morning of the 17th.

February, 1776.--While the British troops held possession of Boston, an English officer, in disguise, left the town, and came to Medford to see a friend who was dangerously ill; and, although he came under cover of the night, the Americans in Charlestown suspected him, and followed him to Medford. His apprehension and death were almost certain. What to do, or where to fly, he knew not; but to decide speedily was imperative. He knocked at the door of Benjamin Hall, Esq., and asked to see that gentleman in his entry. The servant told him that Mr. Hall could not be disturbed, because he was engaged at a sitting of the Vigilance Committee ! “Good heavens!” he exclaimed to himself, “here I am ”