Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 15.

Lafayette's friends, Brooks and Eustis, with the former of whom he had carried on a correspondence, had both passed on before this time. The lives of these friends, in point of years, were nearly identical. John Brooks was born May 31, 1752, and died March I, 1825. William Eustis was born June 10, 1753, and died February 6, 1825, while Lafayette was born September 6, 1757, and died May 20, 1834. The first two were physicians, the latter a pupil of Joseph Warren, and each served the state as its chief executive. The three served in the Revolutionary war, and with such significant incidents what would it not have meant to this trio if they could all have participated in the events of that wonderful day! We can but think that sad memories came to the survivor, even in the midst of the splendors and exciting interest of the exercises.

Three of Medford's daughters have given us accounts of Lafayette's visit and the reception attending it, either in Boston or here, though their descriptions are brief. Lydia Francis was then a charming young girl of twentytwo, having the entree of the best society in Boston and Cambridge. She was already known as a writer, and in 1825 issued her ‘Evenings in New England,’ which mentions Lafayette's entry into Boston and the reception given him, of which she was an eye-witness. We know her better as Mrs. Child, her married name, which she assumed in 1828.

Miss Lucy Osgood, who was personally unknown to me, but whom I recall as one of the celebrities of Medford, was then over thirty years of age, and we have her story of the day, in a letter in her vigorous style, which was published in the Register, October, 1907, page 90.

Mrs. Harriet (Jordan) Rowe, whose reminiscences in the Register, July, 1912, page 73, were written at my request, had the story from the lips of her mother, who was then about ten years old, was in line with the school