[103] their treasurer; and John Bradstreet was chosen, with a salary of 10s. per annum. March 17, 1702: We have a singular instance of precision of dates; for, on this day, the town-clerk says:--
At said meeting the town reckoned with Ensign John Bradshaw; and there was due to him, upon the balance of all accounts, both for work done for the town and minister's board, from the beginning of the world unto this day, the sum of £ 16. 16s. 10d. Errors excepted.At the March meeting the officers of the town were chosen ; and much stir was there through the village on that day. The result of one of them is thus recorded:--
At a town-meeting legally convened at Medford, March 6th, 1710, Lieut. Stephen Willis chosen Moderator; Peter Seccomb chosen Constable; Ebenezer Brooks, John Hall, and Samuel Wade, Selectmen; John Whitmore, jun., and Thomas Dill, Surveyors of highways; Benjamin Peirce and Isaac Farwell, Viewers of fences; Ichabod Peirce and John Albree, Wood-corders; Nath. Peirce, Hog constable. At said meeting, Lieut. Thomas Willis was chosen Tything-man and Sealer of weights and measures. At said meeting, the Selectmen were chosen Assessors for this year.1711: “Voted that the town's law-book be kept this year at the house of the Treasurer, for the use of the town.” The town voted “to prosecute those persons who had unlawfully voted aforetime.” May 7, 1705: Stephen Willis was objected to, “because he voted for himself.” The idea of our forefathers, touching taxing and voting, was this: That no man should be allowed to vote on pecuniary affairs who held no pecuniary interest in the town in which he lived. To give a specimen of their jealous care, we transcribe the following. Twelve of the most respectable inhabitants of Medford addressed the following note to the Selectmen:--
March 3, 1718.--Gentlemen: Our desire and petition to you is, that our town-meeting may be regulated according to law; for we know that those men that made the law were wiser than we are, and therefore we, the subscribers, will by no means be the breakers of the same; and therefore, if our town-meeting be not regulated according to law, we must enter this as our dissent against it.
