Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 3.

[p. 168] political, and charitable work of the day. He was careful in giving his advice or opinion, but his judgments when given were sound and true. His spirit was calm and dignified, and under a quiet and sometimes stern exterior he bore a warm and kind heart. A devoted lover of Boston, he lived to see the city grow to great proportions, and it was his pride and delight to tell of his early life when it was so small a town. He was charitable and kind in his religious belief, and in his own simple, quiet way was helpful in every good cause and work. He inherited from his mother, Rebecca Hammond, of Dedham, sister of the late Samuel Hammond, of Boston, his strong character and Puritan love of all that was good and noble and improving, together with an earnest desire for knowledge.

The Boston Traveller, under the heading ‘An Old Boston Merchant,’ said a few days after Mr. Train's death: ‘He was born in Weston. Shortly after his birth his father removed to Hillsboro, N. H., then almost a wilderness. Here he remained until his majority, and then started for Boston on foot to seek his fortune, coming down on the old Derry and Andover pike. He halted at Medford to eat his frugal meal on the spot where he afterwards built his home and where he died. He began business in Boston as a dealer in boots and shoes, near where the Quincy Market now stands. By degrees he added thereto a trade in hides and leather, and was among the first, if not the first, to embark in the importing of hides from South America, and for many years was the leading importer, having established the house of Flint, Peabody & Co., at Buenos Ayres. About forty years ago he associated with him as partner the late Enoch Train. At one time he was one of the largest ship-owners. At the time of his death he was, next to Timothy Dodd, our oldest living merchant in this city. His immediate contemporaries and business associates were Robert G. Shaw, Benjamin Bangs, Samuel C. Gray, Thomas Wigglesworth, George Barnard, and the Pickmans, ’