Chapter 3:
Civil history.
When the Europeans took possession of
North America, by the right of discovery, their entry of lands, countries, and continents was deemed by them as legal ownership for their sovereign.
The discoveries of John and
Sebastian Cabot,
Bartholomew Gosnold, and others, were understood to give to James I., of
England, the coasts and country of
New England.
The king accordingly claimed, in the eighteenth year of his reign, the entire continent between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
In that same year, he granted to “the Council of Plymouth, in the county of
Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of
New England,
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in
America,” “all that part of
America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid throughout the mainland, from sea to sea,” --“to be holden of him, his heirs, and successors, as of his manor of
East Greenwich, in the county of
Kent, in free and common sockage, and not in capite, nor by knight's service;” the grantees “yielding and paying therefor the fifth part of the ore of
gold and
silver which should happen to be found in any of the said lands.”
Medford was included in the territory granted, Dec. 30, 1622, by the Plymouth Company to
Robert Gorges.
It was the tract “commonly called or known by the name of the Messachusiack,” lying “upon the north-east side of the bay, called or known by the name of the Messachusett.”
It extended “ten English miles towards the north-east, and thirty English miles unto the main land, through all the breadth aforesaid.”
Hutchinson says that this grant, being loose and uncertain, was never used.
March 19, 1628: The Council of Plymouth, under their common seal, by a deed indented, granted and sold to
Sir Henry Roswell and five others “all that part of
New England, in America, which lies and extends between a great river there, commonly called Monomack (Merrimack), and a certain other river there, called Charles; being in the bottom of a certain bay there, commonly called
Massachusetts.”
These are the first grants, under legal authority, of the territory within which
Medford stands.
The Council also sold “all the lands being within the space of three English miles on the south of
Charles River and
Massachusetts Bay, and within the same space on the north of the river
Monomack, and of all parts of said rivers and bay, and from the
Atlantic Ocean on the east to the
Pacific Ocean on the west.”
“Upon the petition of said
Henry Roswell and five others, and their associates, twenty in number, to have and to hold to them, &c., by the same tenure, and incorporated them by the name of ‘ The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in
New England.’
”
Holding under these grants and by these titles, the
Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay made grants of lands to companies and individuals for towns and plantations, usually annexing certain conditions to their grants; such as,
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that a certain number of settlers or families should, within a stated time, build and settle upon the same; or that the gospel should be regularly preached, or a church gathered upon the granted premises.
In this manner, forty-four towns were constituted and established within the
Plymouth and
Massachusetts Colonies before the year 1655, without any more formal act of incorporation.
Among the oldest are the following:
Plymouth, 1620;
Salem, 1629 ;
Charlestown, 1629;
Boston, 1630;
Medford or
Mystic, 1630;
Watertown, 1630;
Roxbury, 1630;
Dorchester, 1630 ;
Cambridge or
Newton, 1633;
Ipswich, 1634;
Concord, 1635;
Hingham, 1635;
Newbury, 1635;
Scituate, 1636;
Springfield, 1636;
Duxbury, 1637;
Lynn, 1637;
Barnstable, 1639;
Taunton, 1639;
Woburn, 1642;
Malden, 1649.
London, May 22, 1629: On this day “the orders for establishing a government and officers in
Massachusetts Bay passed, and said orders were sent to
New England(.”
Although, in the first settlement of
New England, different sections of country were owned and controlled by “Companies” in
England, yet the people here claimed and exercised a corporate power in the elections of their rulers and magistrates.
This was the case with
Medford.
To show what form of government our ancestors in
Medford recognized and supported, we subjoin the following records:--
Oct. 19, 1630: First General Court of Massachusetts Colony, and this at Boston: Present, the Governor, Deputy-Governor, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Ludlow, Capt. Endicott, Mr. Nowell, Pynchon, Bradstreet.
Since their arrival here, the first form of their government was that of Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Assistants; the Patentees with their heirs, assigns, and associates, being freemen.
But now, in this General Court, they agree on a second form, as follows; proposed as the best course: For the freemen to have the power of choosing Assistants, when they are to be chosen; and the Assistants, from among themselves, to choose the Governor and Deputy-Governor, who, with the Assistants, to have the power of making laws, and choosing officers to execute the same.
This was fully assented to by the general vote of the people and the erection of hands.
May 25, 1636:
Mr. Bishop, as magistrate, appointed to keep the county court at
Salem.
1643:
Massachusetts Colony had thirty towns, and was
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divided into four counties,--
Middlesex,
Norfolk,
Suffolk, and
Essex.
1646: Selectmen were empowered to try causes in a town where the magistrate could not, or where he was a party.
The first mention of
Medford in the public records of the Province is the following:--
At a Court of Assistants at Charlestown, 28th Sept., 1630.
It is ordered that there shall be collected and raised by distress out of the several plantations, for the maintenance of Mr. Patrick and Mr. Underhill, the sum of £ 50, viz.: out of Charlton, £ 7; Boston, £ 11; Dorchester, £ 7; Rockbury, £ 5; Watertown, £ 11; Meadford, £ 3 ; Salem, £ 3; Wessaguscus, £ 2 ; Nantascett, £ 1.
It appears from the records that the inhabitants of
Medford did not receive legal notice of their incorporation as a town till fifty years after the event.
Wishing to be represented in the General Court, they petitioned for an act of incorporation, and were answered, that “the town had been incorporated, along with the other towns of the province, by a ‘ general act’ passed in 1630; and, under this ‘ act,’ it had at any time a right to organize itself and choose a representative without further legislation.”
Thus
Medford was an incorporated town in 1630.
The first representative was
Stephen Willis, elected Feb. 25, 1684.
The annual meeting was always held in February.
In the absence of early records, we are left to conjecture, from what afterwards appeared, what existed in the earliest times.
We therefore presume that the first settlers of
