Since the preceding article on the 18-18 Boys was prepared,
Marshall Symmes, the last of the company, has passed away.
His death occurred on July 19, 1911, at his home in
Winchester, of which town he was the oldest resident.
He always lived near his birthplace, which was, in 1818 and till 1850, in that part of Upper
Medford known as
Symmes' Corner.
He was seventh in descent from
Rev. Zachariah Symmes, the first minister of the Charlestown church.
The ancestral home was upon the minister's farm, granted to him in those early colonial days.
Some portions have never passed from, but are still in the family name.
The location being in that part of old
Charlestown lying northwest of
Medford, its residents were obliged to journey through the latter to their meetinghouse, and in 1754 their section was annexed thereto.
[p. 29]
Incidentally we notice that
Governor Brooks was a
native of
Charlestown (and not of
Medford, as has been stated), having been born in what became the former residence of
Marshall Symmes, and at a date prior to the annexation to
Medford.
Reverend Zachariah had a large posterity, many of whom were artisans of various crafts, as well as farmers and professional men, and their mills and shops were scenes of busy industry in the days long gone.
At the present time the
Marshall Symmes farm is passing somewhat into residential sites, but the name of
Symmes' Corner clings to the locality, with its diverging streets, though that of Upper
Medford has been well-nigh forgotten by the incorporation of
Winchester.
