Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 16.

It seems that the ministers of the First Parish made deep impressions on many young men.

Theodore Parker, on a visit here, wrote in his diary April 13, 1843,‘Saw schoolmaster Thomas Starr King,— capital fellow, only nineteen. Taught school three years. Supports his mother. He went into Walker's three courses of lectures, and took good notes. Reads French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, a little Greek and begins German. He is a good listener.’

He resigned his position August 1, 1843. In 1845, at the invitation of the citizens of Medford, he delivered the Fourth of July oration in the Unitarian Church.

Service in our schools seems to have been a good preparation for a wider life of usefulness and prominence. Many pupils must have been stimulated and greatly influenced for good by such earnest, fine young spirits as Starr King and his predecessors in office.

The most distinguished guests within our borders have been two of world-wide fame, Washington (1789) and Lafayette (1824). The magnet that drew them was John Brooks, their comrade-in-arms.

President James Monroe, during his term of office, on a visit to Boston in 1817, was in Medford twice. A Boston newspaper says that Thursday, July 3, he came with his suite in carriages to return a call made him by Governor Brooks, ‘partook of an elegant collation, visited the delightful neighborhood,’ and on the Saturday following ‘dined with Governor Brooks returning to Boston at 6 o'clock.’

The elegant collation and delightful neighborhood evidently refer to the reception given to the president by Peter C. Brooks at his fine country estate in West Medford, to which he graciously invited his neighbors. Mrs. Elijah Smith, the site of whose home was where Boston avenue meets High street on the south side, attended the reception, taking a little daughter of five months.