[p. 38] the Mistick river, which would have been spread out before them, both east and west.
He may have first stopped opposite Winthrop's farm, at Ten Hills, and there done something in the fishing business. . . . [P. 88.]This extract conveys a wrong impression, inasmuch as Mr. Brooks was well aware that Mr. Cradock never came to New England.
And who, in a letter of April 17, 1629, speaks of the settlement of families here in these terms. . . . [P. 89.]Here is an admittance by Mr. Brooks that Medford was settled in 1629.
After his death, a part of his farm in Medford was sold to Mr. Ed. Collins. . . . . [P. 93.]Mr. Collins bought the whole farm.
For the ordering of Prudentials,. . . [P. 100.] （Oct. 13, 1684.) It was agreed upon at a general meeting of the inhabitants, by a vote, to petition to the General Court, to grant us power and privilege as other Towns for the ordering of prudentials amongst us. [Medford Records.]The court declared ‘that Meadford hath been, and is, a peculiar, and have power as other towns as to prudentials.’ Mr. Brooks misquotes the answer of the General Court. This declaration of the General Court did not imply that Medford had all the rights that were enjoyed by the other towns of the colony. The order of the General Court, passed June 2, 1641, ‘That all farms that are within the bounds of any town, shall be of the town in which they lie, except Meadford,’ fixed the status of Meadford plantation; it was a farm or plantation, and not a town, at that date.
Medford a Town. [P. 119.]Mr. Frothingham, author of the History of Charlestown, says ‘that Medford was not a town.’ Mr. Brooks good-naturedly dissents from this statement, and shows cause. Let us, in turn, dissent from Mr. Brooks' statements, and show cause. From 1629, the date of the settlement of Medford, to
