[178] widow of John Usher (Lieutenant-Governor), five hundred and four acres, three quarters, and twenty-three rods of land, for £ 10,350. 7s. 9d., on the 26th December, 1732. The record runs thus:--
This estate is bounded south-west on Menotomy Road; west, on land of Nathaniel Tufts, Aaron Cleveland, and John Tufts; east, on the river and salt marsh of Captain Samuel Brooks in part, and part on river and salt marsh now improved by Josiah Whittemore; and south-east, on land of said Whittemore, lying on both sides of Medford or Mystic Road.Colonel Royal came here with his family in 1738. He died in Medford on Thursday, June 7, 1739, in the forenoon, was buried in Medford on Saturday, 10th inst., and was carried, the same night, to Dorchester, and there “buried in his marble tomb.” His wife died April 21, 1747, and was buried from Colonel Oliver's house, in Dorchester. The tomb is entire at this time. His son, who seemed also to inherit his father's title of colonel, fixed his residence in the house now standing, and which is yet called the “Royal house.” It was built by Colonel Royal, into its present form, by enlarging the house built by Lieutenant-Governor Usher on that spot. A thick wall, running through its centre, shows the outer wall of the former building. Some diversities in the height of rooms indicate the same fact. Its exterior form is a copy of a nobleman's house in Antigua; and its present owner, Mrs. Tidd, has carefully preserved the form given to it by Colonel Royal. It was at first within the limits of Charlestown; and Colonel Royal was chosen Representative by that town nine years in succession, from 1743 to 1752. In 1752, he was promoted to a seat at the Council Board, and, for twenty-two years, performed his duties acceptably in that office. When Harvard Hall was burnt, Jan. 24, 1764, and the entire library of the College destroyed, he contributed most generously for the purchase of another. The first mention of him in the Medford Records is May 8, 1754, when he was chosen Moderator in the town-meeting. For sixteen years, he was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. He died of small-pox, in England, in 1781, and was buried there. His wife died in 1770. Funeral sermon by Rev. Mr. Turell. We have shown above how the virtues and hospitality of his character secured his estates from confiscation, when those
