Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 3.

[p. 123] wore gowns which had been worn by their honored ancestress. Her wedding gown has descended from her eldest daughter to the present owner, who is the eldest daughter of the fourth generation.

The tavern sign of Jonathan Porter, emblazoned with the British coat-of-arms, was considered priceless by several visitors. It hung in Medford square, on the corner of Main street and Riverside avenue. The ancient tavern was removed in 1785 and the present structure erected. Mr. Porter was by some suspected of being in sympathy with the Tories, but, as he was a lieutenant in the militia during the Revolution, this charge was evidently unfounded. The sign has a bullet-hole through it, which it is said to have received from an irate patriot who could not bear the sight of its device.

Experts pronounced the china exhibit very valuable, yet it was mainly made up of bits of family treasures valued by their owners for love's sake. A cake basket of silver wire was brought to the Royall House in 1815 by Madam Ruth Tidd, and was used there as long as she lived. A silver porringer was owned by her father, William L. Dawes. He was a descendant of William Dawes, who rode through Roxbury to alarm the country, April, 1775. Among Revolutionary relics was the kettle in which Mrs. Abigail Brooks, wife of Rev. Edward Brooks, made chocolate for returning minute-men. Descendants of the Russell family loaned pewter plates which had been buried in Menotomy woods to save them from the British, April 19, 1775. Muskets which were once aimed at each other in deadly conflict hung side by side. A relic of colonial wars was the blanket on the high-posted bedstead. It was homespun, and bore the sign of the broad arrow, which is the mark of English government supplies, and the initials C. R. (Canada Reserves).

One of the bedsteads was made in France for Rev. Aaron Warner, the first Trinitarian minister of Medford.