children were born in this town, and after a residence of seventeen years the family moved to Charlestown, N. H., where Captain Gilchrist died, 1827.
When we see what was the caliber of the members of this family, we realize that what was our loss was New Hampshire's gain.
John James Gilchrist, born February 16, 1809, and Edward Gilchrist, born February 15, 181, must have received their early education here.
The former was a pupil at the school of John Angier.
He graduated from Harvard, 1828, and upon being admitted to the bar established himself in Charlestown, N. H. He married a daughter of a former governor of that state, and became successful in the practice of his profession.
He was early called to the head of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Claims by President Pierce.
He discharged his duties with marked ability and was greatly esteemed.
He died at Washington, April 20, 1858.
His intimate friend and classmate, Hon.
th and ninth generation are living today, while the tenth generation is also represented in the city.
In this same house Lucy Tufts, after her marriage to Benjamin Hall, made her early home.
Turell Tufts on the paternal side was fifth in the line of descent from Peter Tufts of Malden, whose son, Captain Peter, settled in Medford.
The husband of his half-sister, Lucy, was also descended from the John Hall to whom his mother traced her line.
Turell Tufts was selectman, 1820—1825 and 1827-1828.
He served the town as its treasurer in 1827.
In 1824 he was fence viewer, on the committee to audit the treasurer's books, was chosen moderator in absence of Dudley Hall, who was first chosen, and was representative to the General Court.
He had forty-nine votes to Mr. Hall's fifty-six, and there was a third candidate.
The following year, with others, he was on the committee to petition the Legislature in behalf of the new bridge over Charles river from Charlestown to Boston; again select
ayette'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 schoo
arrots, Parsnips & Onions.
15 Planted my Corn & potatoes
May 17 Quince tree in blossom 17 Peas in Blossom
June th 4 pickd the first Strawburrys
July the 1 had the first new potatoes
August the 4 Picked the first peach
August 23 Cactus Triangularius Blossom
October the 16 Got the plants into the Green House
October 17 had the first frost.
December 17 1827 Pickd.
18. Lemons witch weighed 18 lbs. 2 oz. Large weighed, 22.
oz. Measured 17 inches one way 13, the other.
1828 Jan. th 16.
pickd the first Jappan Rose
Jan. 22 Glass down to Zero at Sunrise
March th 9, Soed the first Peas & Reddishes
March the 17 Nobless Peach in Blossom
April th 1 Soed the Peas in the upper garden
April the 1 Soed the Seeds in the Hotbead
April th 7 The Multifloer Rose in Blossom
April the 20 the Cluster Rose in full blossom
May th 13 first pashion flower in blossom
May th 16 Sot out the annual Flower plants
June the 8 had the first pees
June the 8 h
Fitch Hall.
The meager account we have of its construction and history shows it in marked contrast to the other.
The former, with everything of material to be carted onto and sinking into the salt-marsh, continually needing repair, was maintained as a toll road till 1867.
This latter (shortening the distance three miles and opening new territory for improvement in Medford), with plenty of the best material at hand for building and repair, was never a profitable investment, and as early as 1828 was offered for sale.
No buyers appearing, it became, in 1831, a free road in all the towns wherein it was located.
In Medford it became the beautiful Forest street. Just who were the first Board of Directors we may not say, very likely the gentlemen above named, the first and last being of Medford.
What more convenient place for their gathering for business than the well appointed inn of mine host Hezekiah Blanchard?
And so this old time-worn bill of his comes to us, a mute witness of me
called the college.
Considering his sermon against the Malden Baptists, we fear it would have been Let him be anathema, and the house that they shall build come to naught.
Meeting in various places for over five years, those people succeeded, in 1828, in erecting a house of worship on the lane leading from Malden road to the ship yard.
In 1922 their successors, the First Methodist Episcopal Church, will observe its centennial and in its fourth house of worship, while the first still remains— the house of the Congregationalist was dedicated to Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
They seemed to thus have admitted the seventh idol, but the others they had no use for.
But the historian makes no mention whatever of this old church building of 1828, and would have the reader think there was no Methodist church in Medford until 1843.
Just how long this building was used we cannot say, nor yet with certainty when it was moved to its present site, but let us see what the barber's shop alterati
for his misfortune, called him Smiling May, for he was accustomed to talk to himself, and indulged in facial contortions.
The age of the writer encompasses the time of the two latter occupants of this house.
The story of the house in our day called the Train house has been fully told in the Register.
Samuel Train was very fond of telling the story how one day he sat on the sidewalk of the Bigelow property, looked across the street and wished he might own the house he was gazing at. In 1828 his youthful wish was realized when he purchased the estate, and it was the home of the good deacon for forty-six years.
The house of Benjamin Hall, Sr., was inherited by his daughter Hepzibah, Mrs. Fitch, who sold it in 1833 to Dr. Daniel Swan for $5,000, House, garden, orchard and a small piece of land in front by the river.
The people of that period were careful, if they did not live in a ten-acre lot, to have a good view around them and ample space.
This house and one west from it,
ir, and prayer by Pastor Bullock.
As the occasion marked (nearly) the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dedication of the present church, it was fitting that the first dedication hymn of Medford Methodism be sung.
Written by John Newland Maffit in 1828 (for the first house of First M. E. Church on Cross street), it was on this occasion thrown on the screen and sung by choir and people.
After introduction by the chairman (who later, upon call, read from the records of the first two meetings foworld loves an adventurer.
To this we would add—when the venture is successful.
But how was it in Medford a century ago?
The adventurers of 1822 were but few, almost unknown, not blessed with wealth, as their house of worship not erected till 1828 would indicate.
That it was so small, unpretentious and built of second-hand material shows somewhat of the effort, and also that Medford's love for the adventurer was none too ardent.
Even the later ones led by Galen James (of which Mystic Chur
in no instance as yet has a President been chosen by the Northern or Southern States exclusively.
The following table shows what number of Northern and what number of Southern States have voted for each of the successful candidates at each election:
Year. Candidates.Northern States.Southern States
1788--Washington55
1792--Washington87
1795--Adams72
1800--Jefferson27
1804--Jefferson87
1808--Madison57
1812--Madison38
1816--Monroe88
1820--Monroe1212
1824--Adams72
1828--Jackson510
1832--Jackson88
1836--Van Buren87
1840--Harrison108
1844--Polk78
1848--Taylor78
1852--Pierce1413
1856--Buchanan814
Total129143
No successful candidate except John Quincy Adams, ever received less than a majority of all the States of the Union at the time of a given election, and it should be remembered that he was not chosen by the people, but by the House.
We have of course but few comments from the press of the country on the election of Mr. Lincoln to t
f thirty years. He never held any other office.
John C. Calhoun entered the House of Representatives in 1811; served there until 1817, when he became Secretary of War under Mr. Monroe.
In 1821 he was elected Vice-President, and re-elected in 1828.
In 1831 he resigned the station of Vice-President to become a U. S. Senator from South Carolina.
The reason for this extraordinary step was that he might champion the cause of nullification in the Senate and reply to the arguments of Mr. Webste45 he re-entered the Senate, and was a member of it in 1850, when he died.
Daniel Webster came to the House of Representatives in 1814, from New Hampshire.
In 1820, he was elected from Boston, Massachusetts, to which city he had removed.
In 1828, he was elected to the United States Senate.
In 1841 he was Secretary of State.
In 1845 he was again a Senator.
In 1850, he again took charge of the Department of State, and filled that position at the time of his death.
His political career l
