[17] were the teachers. We boys were regularly engaged to sweep out the schoolhouse. It was made very easy, two or three boys one week, and so on. The best playground round the Square was a ten-acre lot near the Hawkins House. A building used to stand on it. Later Uncle Robert hauled one home from near there, with twenty-four yoke of oxen.Robert Aldersey Vinal, son of Robert and Lydia (Stone) Vinal, born in Boston March 16, 1821, entered the grain business with his father; then formed a partnership with Edwin Munroe, and later with his brother, Quincy A. He was interested in the development of the town, and served as selectman, town treasurer, and member of the water board. He, with his brother Quincy, was a charter member of the Boston Corn Exchange, now the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He was active in the First Congregational Society in Somerville, was its treasurer for a number of years, and superintendent of the Sunday School. He married Almira L. Pierce, of Revere, and after living a few years in that town, built a house on Walnut Street in Somerville in 1849. He was of a particularly social nature, always genial, decided in opinions, active and pushing when a new enterprise in which he was interested was at the front. Three of his six children now occupy the home on Walnut Street. Quincy Adams Vinal was born in Charlestown September 23, 1826, in the vicinity of Union Square. After a successful career in the grain business with his father and brother, and in the grain commission business, he filled many positions of trust in public and private life. He was a trustee of the estate of Charles Tufts, who founded Tufts College, an assessor, representative in the legislature, a member of the common council, and on the board of aldermen. He was a member of the committee to lay out Broadway Park, and spent much time in supervising the work. He was interested in the founding of the Public Library; was the first president of the Somerville National Bank, and a director and president of the Cambridge Gas
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