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of the registry of deeds in Middlesex County, June 11, 1657.
Its next occurrence, May 20, 1662.
1670.--Some Indian children were brought up in our English families, and afterwards became idle and intemperate.
A gentleman asked the Indian father why this was so. He answered, “Tucks will be Tucks, for all old hen be hatch 'em.”
1673.--Population of New England, 120,000.
Of these, 16,000 could bear arms.
Boston had 1,500 families.
In 1760, New England had 500,000 inhabitants, and 530 Congregational churches.
1673.--An author says, “At this time, there was not a house in New England which had more than twenty rooms.
There were five hundred persons worth each three thousand pounds. The worst cottages were lofted.”
February, 1674.--The earliest record of town-meetings in Medford, which has escaped destruction, bears the above date.
Before 1676, there were but few settlements more than twenty miles from the Atlantic coast.
1679.--“The court decide that it is not lawful for a man to marry his former wife's sister.”
There is no good reason for this; but it would have been wise to have forbidden first-cousins to marry each other.
Apparitions and haunted houses.
The belief in them was very common for the first hundred years of our history; and it was a faith full of efficacy to puzzle men and frighten children.
1690.--The delusions of witchcraft never penetrated Medford.
(See Mr. Turell's narrative.)
In 1690, Medford chose a sealer of weights and measures.
The “oath of fidelity” was often taken in Medford during the first century.
It differed from the “freeman oath.”
1697.--“Isaac Royal, merchant, of Boston, was married, by Benjamin Wadsworth, July 1, 1697, to Elizabeth, only child of Asaph Eliot, of Boston.”
Hon. Isaac Royal chosen moderator of a town-meeting,--the first mention of his name on the records (about 1755).
May 3, 1697.--Voted to pay the representative eighteen-pence per day during his service in the General Court.
1699.--John Bradstreet, of Medford, descendant of Governor Bradstreet, son of Simon, married his cousin, Mercy Wade, of Medford, Oct. 9, 1699.
Their children were Dudley, born Oct. 26, 1701, married Sarah Pierce, Aug. 18, 1724; Ann, born July 7, 1704; Lucy, born May 30, 1706; and Patience, born Feb. 13, 1712.
Sarah married Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, who was born in Medford.
Our ancestors generally assembled in town-meeting at six o'clock, A. M., during the warm weather.
Nov. 26, 1700.--“The above town-meeting was adjourned to the sixth day of December next, to meet at the house of Stephen Willis, sen., about sun-setting.”
John Wilson and son. 22 School Street. Boston. 1855.
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