T)fT)I0ATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEDFiEI.D TOWN IMIi 
 
 K,E-T)BDIGATION 
 
-i^r 
 
 / 
 
 7/ 
 
TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, MASS. 
 
 Dedicated Sept. lo, 1S72. 
 
 Destroyed by Fire Jan. 8, 1874. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, 
 
 September io, 1S72: 
 
 WITH SUPPLEMENT COMTAtNINS AN XCCO'J^T OF TItE EXERCISES AT THE RE-DED- 
 
 TCATION, NOVEMBER. 2d, 13/4; BRIEF SKETCHES OF THE CHURCHES 
 
 OF THE TOWN AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY ; AND A RECORD 
 
 OF THE SOLDIERS FURNISHED BY THE TOWN 
 
 IN THE LATE W^AR OF THE 
 
 REBELLION. 
 
 MEDFIELD: 
 PREPARED AND PRINTED 
 
 BY AUTHORITY OF THE TOWN. 
 MDCCCLXXV. 
 
 f.T, 
 
 .9^ 
 
< 
 
 
 Geokge H. Ellis, Printer, 
 7 Tkemont Place, 
 
 BOSTOX. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface ........... 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 Order of Exercises 
 
 Public Services . ' 
 
 Rev. C. C. Sewall's Address 
 
 Remarks by Charles Hamant, Esq. 1 1 
 
 Remarks by J. B. Hale, Esq. i r 
 
 Mr. Robert R. Bishop's Address 17 
 
 Notes Appended to Mr. Bishop's Address .... ^^ 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 Order of Exercises at Re-dedication of Town Hall ... 43 
 
 Remarks by Charles Hamant, Esq ^e 
 
 Remarks by J. B. Hale, Esq 46 
 
 Remarks by Rev. C. C. Sewall eg 
 
 Mr. Robert R. Bishop's Address 51 
 
 A Brief Sketch of the Ministrj^ in the Several Cliurches . 57 
 
 Free Public Library 6, 
 
 Record of Soldiers Furnished by the Town in the Late War of the 
 
 Rebellion ......... 64 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 At the Annual Town Meeting, March 3, 1873, a 
 Committee was appointed to collect, revise, and print the 
 several Addresses made at the Dedication of the Town 
 Hall, September 10, 1872, the Committee consisting of 
 J. M. R. Eaton, George H. Ellis, and George Cummings. 
 Efforts were made at once to carry out the wishes of the 
 town, but it was not till near the time the Hall was 
 destroyed by fire that all the papers were received. After 
 the fire, the Committee decided to await further instruc- 
 tion from the town before giving the papers to the press. 
 As the -result of this delay, we are enabled to give, in a 
 Supplement, the proceedings at the Dedication of the 
 second Town Hall. 
 
 By an informal vote of the town, we also insert a brief 
 sketch of the several churches, from their organization to 
 the present time, together with the names of the pastors 
 who have served them. 
 
 There will also be found, at the close of this little 
 volume, a record of the soldiers in the War of the Rebel- 
 lion from the town of Medfield. 
 
 At his own request, George H. Ellis has been excused 
 from serving on this committee. 
 
 J. M. R. Eaton, 
 George Cummings. 
 
ORDER OF EXERCISES. 
 
 The Order of Exercises at the Dedication was as 
 follows : — 
 
 MUSIC. . 
 
 Medfield Cornet Band, Wm. R. Smith, Leader. 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 Rev. C. C. Sewall, President of the Day. 
 
 Delivery of the Keys and Papers, by Charles Hamant, Esq., and 
 
 Reception of the Same, by J. B. Hale, Esq., in belialf 
 
 of the Citizens of the Town. 
 
 DEDICATORY PRAYER. 
 Rev. J. M. R. Eaton. 
 
 SINGING. 
 
 Medfield Choral Union, Wm. R. Smith, Conductor. 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 Robert R. Bishop, Esq., of Newton, a native of Medfield. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 REMARKS FROM OTHERS PRESENT. 
 
SINGING. 
 
 An Ode written by the Rev. C. C. Sewall. 
 
 We meditate the former days 
 
 And mem'ries of the dead, 
 While here we lift the voice of praise 
 
 To Him, whose Spirit led 
 
 Our fathers to this goodly place, 
 Whose worth they did not know ; 
 
 And here upheld them by his grace, 
 When press'd by savage foe. 
 
 What they endured, historic page 
 
 Transmits with truthful care ; 
 And we the goodly heritage 
 
 In peace and safety share. 
 
 One loyal son* — to birthplace true — 
 Though dead thus speaks to-day : 
 " The gift you take will oft renew 
 A debt you cannot pay 
 
 " Save, only, if your souls be fired 
 With gen'rous, manly zeal 
 To consecrate — all I desired — 
 Its use to public weal. 
 
 " A bond of union let it be, 
 
 Winning all hearts to peace ; 
 From all dissensions keep you free, 
 And your best strength increase. 
 
 " So, while the years shall onward roll. 
 Peace be the spirit here ; 
 The fix'd resolve of ev'ry soul 
 To make that peace more dear. 
 
 " The heritage you now possess. 
 Far richer, then, will be ; 
 Your homes the smile of God will bless ; 
 Your hearts from jDains be free." 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 Rev. James M. Wiggin. 
 
 ♦George. W. Choucry, donor of thi- Hall. Died June 20, 1866. 
 
PUBLIC SERVICES. 
 
 At half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, Sept. lo, 
 1872, the Hall was filled with citizens and invited guests 
 from abroad. After music by the Medfield Cornet Band, 
 Mr. Isaac Fiske, in behalf of the Trustees, introduced 
 Rev. C. C. Sewall as President of the day. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. CHARLES C. SEWALL. 
 
 Felloiv Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
 
 I congratulate you upon the occurring of this much desired 
 and long deferred occasion. I congratulate you that we are as- 
 sembled to receive, and by formal act take possession of, this 
 costly and beautiful structure — the noble and generous legacy of 
 a native of this place. He was cut down, as you know, by in- 
 sidious and fatal disease, in the midst of an active, useful and 
 honorable manhood, while yet the enjoyments, promises, and 
 hopes of life were fresh and full in his possession ; but with a 
 noble sentiment of loyalty to the place of his birth and home, 
 and a strong desire for its embellishment and prosperity, he be- 
 queathed a large part of liis estate to three confidential friends, 
 in trust, to be by them appropriated and expended, according to 
 his wishes, for the erection of this building ; thus leaving a me- 
 morial of himself, which it should be our pride to guard with 
 
lO 
 
 sacred care, and an example which it should be the ambition of 
 all, especially of our young men, to imitate, by a watchful regard 
 for the public welfare, and by zealous endeavors to promote it. 
 
 Having finished their work in discharge of the solemn trust 
 confided to them, the trustees are now about to surrender the 
 noble gift of our benefactor into the keeping of the citizens of 
 Medfield, and we are here to dedicate it, by appropriate services, 
 to the only use and purpose for which it was designed. 
 
 Permit me, then, in the place which I occupy at your request, 
 to say, very briefly, that the occasion demands of us the grateful 
 recognition and acknowledgment of the magnitude and worth of 
 the gift we are about to receive, and of the noble sentiment which 
 prompted it ; the recognition and acknowledgment, also, of the 
 fidelity with which the trust committed by our benefactor to his 
 friends has been fulfilled, and the work of their agents, the archi- 
 tects of the building, performed. And that all this is to be 
 supplemented by our solemn dedication of the building to its only 
 proper and intended purpose ; to the better accommodation of the 
 citizens of this place in discharge of their municipal obligations 
 and duties ; to the calm, conscientious, and careful consideration 
 of whatever events may occur or propositions be offered, affect- 
 ing the best interests of the town ; to the delivery of useful, 
 instructive, literary, and scientific lectures ; to the culture and 
 practice of the beautiful art of music ; to whatever shall best 
 tend to promote the intellectual and moral growth, and the 
 rational enjoyment and recreation of the people; — excluding, ab- 
 solutely and forever, whatever shall plainly have tendency to foster 
 habits of thoughtless levity, of useless or injurious expenditure of 
 time and money, or of bold irreverence for those p>rinciples and 
 institutions upon the permanence of which must ever depend the 
 peace and safety, the morals and happiness of the community. 
 
II 
 
 Let the voice of fierce and angry contention, of political or per- 
 sonal crimination and recrimination, never be heard within these 
 walls. Let them never be desecrated by any base pandering to 
 vicious tastes and desires ; by derision or denial of the origin and 
 authority of our holy religion, or by any irreverent allusion to 
 those truths, principles, and practices, the observance of which is, 
 and must ever be, of vital importance to the character and the 
 happiness of all classes of the community, and especially to the 
 safety of the susceptible and forming minds of the young 
 amongst us. 
 
 Consecrated to high and worthy ends, let them stand a sacred 
 memorial of the noble qualities of that heart which caused them 
 to be erected. Let them stand a perpetual monument of the 
 high intellectual, moral, and religious character of the citizens of 
 Medfield. 
 
 The keys and papers were then delivered by Charles 
 Hamant, Esq., with the following remarks. 
 
 REMARKS BY CHARLES HAMANT, ESQ. 
 
 On the 25th day of June, 1866, I was summoned to the res- 
 idence of one whom I had known from his earliest infancy, who 
 was then prostrated and sinking with a relentless disease, which 
 the united skill of eminent medical advisers vainly attempted to 
 arrest. 
 
 I shall never forget entering that cjuiet sick chamber, where 
 naught was heard save the labored breathing of one who was so 
 soon to pass away ; anxiously and tenderly attended by her, the 
 nearest and most dear of earthly friends, watching over him with 
 the purest and most devoted womanly affection. 
 
 There, in that quiet apartment, with a mind clear and unim- 
 paired, in a feeble voice — comprehending all that he desired to 
 have accomplished, — he dictated the instrument by virtue of 
 
12 
 
 which the town of Medfield this day comes into the possession 
 of this commodious and beautiful edifice. 
 
 This act was but the cuhnination of tlioughts which he had 
 cherished, and oftentimes expressed to his friends and fellow- 
 townsmen, when he was in health and in the active duties of life. 
 He survived the solemn act of executing this instrument but 
 three days. On the 28th day of June his spirit passed on to 
 that " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." His 
 memory will be cherished and honored by this and succeeding 
 generations. 
 
 Since the commencement of this structure, others, too, whom 
 we would not forget, have gone to the " house of many man- 
 sions," who felt a lively interest in the progress of this work. 
 It is fitting and appropriate that we should pause for a moment 
 to remember them. 
 
 The first was that gray-haired and venerable man of more than 
 three score and ten years,* and whose excellences of character 
 are in pleasant remembrance by all who knew him. Amid the 
 closing scenes of his earthly pilgrimage, and but a few days prior 
 to his decease, he expressed a wish that his life might be spared, 
 so that he might see the completion of this building. 
 
 In quick succession he was followed by one f faithfully and 
 honorably occupying official positions in the town, and in the 
 very midst of his usefulness. He, too, while his strength was 
 spared, prompted by feelings of lively interest, was accustomed 
 almost daily to visit this spot to witness the progress of the 
 building of the strong foundations. " Many hearts mourn his 
 loss." 
 
 And we would also solemnly remember the sudden and start- 
 ling death of that father J of the donor of this building, which 
 
 ♦Jacob Marshall. t Ilt'my J. l'>e;elt. J Waneu Chouury. 
 
13 
 
 took place in the following autumn. He lived to see the com- 
 pletion of the external part of the house, and obeyed the sum- 
 mons to depart — the last member of his family. He has gone 
 to join " the dead found faithful to the end." 
 
 There are others of whom we think to-day, and of whom we 
 would kindly speak, but want of time forbids. 
 
 The Board of Trustees would feel that the exercises of the 
 hour would be incomplete, did we not gratefully recollect the true, 
 womanly affection that prompted the widow of our benefactor to 
 abide by, and accept of, the testamentary provisions made for 
 her, rather than waiving them, and by so doing receiving a much 
 larger pecuniary consideration. We are most happy to bear tes- 
 timony to the honorable and lady-like disposition which she has 
 exhibited to us in all our business relations with her. 
 
 I will now very briefly pass to a sketch of our doings since 
 we determined upon the question as to the time of building. 
 
 It may not be known to all that, by the conditions of the 
 will, this was left somewhat discretionary with the Board of 
 Trustees, one condition depending vitally upon the expressed 
 wish and authority of the town, and to be determined by their 
 votes at a meeting legally held for that purpose. And here let 
 me say that all our proceedings have been guided by a desire to 
 promote the best interests of the town, as they were so soon 
 to come into possession. We, however, felt sacredly bound to 
 respect the verbally expressed wishes of the testator, made to 
 one of the Board at the time the trust was created ; namely, 
 that it should be, in its exterior and interior arrangements and 
 form, pleasing and attractive to the eye of persons of cultivated 
 tastes and possessing knowledge of rules of architecture. For- 
 tunately for two of the Board, the one selected from a neighbor- 
 ing town * possessed in an eminent degree the qualifications 
 
 *Hou. E. P. Carpenter, of Foxboro. 
 
14 
 
 necessary to direct in the initiatory proceedings; and we beg 
 leave here and now, for ourselves and in behalf of our citizens, 
 gratefully to thank him for the valuable services he has rendered 
 without money or price. 
 
 In regard to the location of the house the Trustees had no will 
 or wish particularly their own to gratify, but brought the question 
 before a very full meeting of our legal voters ; and their enthusi- 
 astic and unanimous verdict was in favor of the present site. The 
 bond required by the will was unanimously authorized by a large 
 vote, and nothing remained on the part of the town to be accom- 
 plished ; and there seemed to be a pressing desire and increasing 
 interest that the work of building should immediately be com- 
 menced. Accordingly three distinguished artists were found 
 who were willing to compete, upon the terms proposed, and three 
 separate plans, all having merits worthy of consideration, were 
 furnished, one of which, after mature deliberation, was accepted 
 by the Board. An unforeseen difficulty now arose. No con- 
 tractor could be found who was willing to undertake the work 
 for the means we had in our hands — a dilemma for wliich we 
 had not provided. But generously and unsolicited by us our 
 friends brought the subject before the town, and an appropriation 
 was unanimously made, covering expenses already incurred in the 
 purchase and grading of the land, leaving the trust fund to be 
 used wholly in the erection and furnishing of the house : a desire 
 expressed by the donor when making the bequest, and the work 
 has been accomplished substantially in accordance with the 
 original designs. 
 
 The contractors, honorable men of means and ability, it is 
 believed, have faithfully and substantially performed the work, 
 and we trust with no pecuniary loss to themselves. We feel that 
 great credit is due also to the architects, Messrs. HartwcU & 
 Swasey, for the beautiful mock-l furnislied, the pleasing and 
 
15 
 
 attractive picture which it presents to us and to the passino- 
 stranger. Other thoughts crowd upon our mind, but I have 
 already occupied more time than I should. 
 
 " 'Twere vain attempt to speak the worth 
 Of benefaction such as this; 
 Our hope shall be that it give birth 
 To noblest impulse, and with bliss 
 Be crowned, surpassing all reward 
 Which worldly honor, rank and fame, 
 With hoarded wealth, can e'er afford 
 To him who nothing more can claim." 
 
 Mr. Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, — This building 
 having now been completed to the acceptance of the Board of 
 Trustees, whom I have the honor to represent, in their behalf I 
 now present you these keys, and in accordance with the provis- 
 ions of the will, this deed of conveyance by virtue of which this 
 beautiful estate passes from the custody of the Trustees, and 
 vests the title in the inhabitants of Medfield. I also present you 
 with policies of insurance upon the building. Thus is consum- 
 mated the expressed wishes and directions of the testator, and 
 may it be a lasting benefit to this and succeeding generations. 
 
 J. B. Hale, Esq., in behalf of the citizens of the 
 town, received the keys and papers, with the following 
 remarks. 
 
 REMARKS BY J. B. HALE, ESQ. 
 
 3f7'. CJiairinan, and Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: — 
 
 The reception in behalf of the town of this noble building 
 is one of the most acceptable official duties I have been called 
 upon to perform. I do not forget that it is the position I happen 
 to occupy at this time, more than my own merit, that brings me 
 before you to-day. 
 
 It seems almost like a dream that, after using the "Meeting- 
 
i6 
 
 House" for more than two centuries for town purposes, and in 
 later years rooms not adapted to, or convenient for, the wants 
 of the town, we are the recipients of this beautiful Hall without 
 the asking, and with very little effort on our part; and it marks 
 an important era in our history, that a citizen born and reared 
 in our midst, one whose ancestors have dwelt here for four 
 generations, and are mentioned with honor in our public records 
 of Revolutionary times, should find his duty and inclination 
 in devoting so large a portion of the fruits of his labors for the 
 public good. May posterity honor his memory, and others 
 follow his example ! 
 
 I would that I were capable of doing justice to this occasion, 
 but language fails me. A few words to yourself and your 
 associates. 
 
 You have been pleased from the first to show me the plans 
 offered, and to express your feelings and desires very fully in 
 executing the trust confided to your hands; and it gives me 
 pleasure to-day to testify to your unwearied zeal and earnestness 
 that nothing should be overlooked that could add to, or enhance 
 the value of, this noble benefaction. I congratulate you in your 
 choice of architects, — gentlemen who have shown eminent 
 qualifications for their profession, who have carried out yo?ir 
 intention to provide, in accordance with the desire of the gen- 
 erous donor, a building that should be substantial, that should 
 be useful for the present and prospective wants of the town, 
 and whose proportions should be a pleasure to the eye and an 
 ornament to our village. In all these particulars, a;id more, 
 you have been eminently successful, and have the proud satis- 
 faction of a solemn trust well performed. 
 
 The dedicatory prayer was then offered by Rev. J. M. 
 R. Eaton ; and after .singing by the Medfield Choral U nion, 
 
17 
 
 the following address was delivered by Robert R. Bishop, 
 Esq., of Newton. 
 
 ADDRESS OF ROBERT R. BISHOP, ESQ. 
 
 I ACCEPT with grateful pleasure the task of speaking to-day ; 
 for which of her children can come back again to a town having 
 the history and the memories of this town, — can come back on 
 a festival day, — with other emotions than those of joy and love ? 
 We come, the sons and the daughters of Medfield, to devote to 
 its uses in a formal manner this building, the gift of a son of 
 Medfield. We come up to the old street, we come under the 
 shadow of the old trees, but into this new hall which his munifi- 
 cence has provided for future generations. If you were to visit 
 Medfield coming from Newton or Needham, and should cross the 
 high land near Mr. Franklin Shumway's house, or coming from 
 Sherburne should pass over the hill by Mr. Charles Howe's, or 
 if you came from Walpole across that beautiful plain, near which 
 sixty years ago lived the beloved physician of Medfield, Dr. Elias 
 Mann, whose house, to his credit be it said, the present owner 
 preserves in all its fine old form, — from either of these spots, 
 looking toward this place, you would see to-day, and you would 
 have seen for years, a picture, I venture to say, unsurpassed in 
 its kind. Seated here in the midst of its embowering trees, 
 every line proportionate, every figure harmonious, this place 
 realizes Goldsmith's line, 
 
 " Loveliest village of the plain." 
 
 But I have been struck during the past summer — have you 
 not.-* — to see how that picture is rounded out, and filled, and 
 made complete by the outline and the form of this building ap- 
 pearing in the midst. As you look, it seems natural, and yet it 
 is new ; it seems familiar, and yet you have never seen it before ; 
 
and you cannot tell whether by its proportion, its comeliness, and 
 its fitness to the place, it adorns the spot more, or whether the 
 ancient trees, and the surrounding buildings, and the spot adorn 
 the building more. And let me congratulate you, friends, at the 
 outset, upon what, possibly, is the chief characteristic of this new 
 building ; namely, that it is fitted to this old town. I have not 
 forgotten that a new broom breaks the handles of all the old 
 ones, nor the sad story of the man who, persuaded by his daugh- 
 ter, bought a pair of new brass andirons ; how the brightness of 
 the andirons put to shame the dullness of the old shovel and 
 tongs, so that a new pair of shovel and tongs had to be bought ; 
 then the brightness of the new- shovel and tongs was a great dis- 
 comfort to the old table and chairs, until a new table and chairs 
 were obtained ; and they, in turn, distressed the carpet, and that 
 had to go and a new one take its place ; and so on until the man 
 was ruined. But the principle to be derived from such examples 
 rightly apprehended does not apply to this case. If you intro- 
 duce something that is new into the midst of that which is old, 
 it does destroy the harmony of it, it does disarrange the symmetry 
 of it, it does spoil the arrangement of it, if it is not fitted for it ; 
 but it adds a beauty to it, it discloses a charm which you did not 
 suppose existed, it develops a perfection which was not dreamed 
 of before, if it is fitted to it. And just here, in my opinion, — 
 pardon pre for saying it, — is where the skill of an architect, if he 
 has skill, and the good sense of a building committee, if they 
 have good sense, come into play. It is not by the extravagant 
 expenditure of money, it is not by building the largest house, or the 
 most elegant house, that an architect shows his skill, or a building 
 committee their wisdom ; but it is by building a house fitted to its 
 purposes, and to its place. I care not whether the house was built 
 two hundred years ago, or built to-day, whether it is large or small, 
 whether it is elegant or economical, — show me a house which is 
 
19 
 
 fitted to the uses to which it is to be put, and to the spot on which 
 it stands, and I will show you a house built in good taste, and with 
 good sense. Try this house by that standard. Consider the prob- 
 lem the Trustees were to solve ; the germ of it, the substance of 
 it, is contained in apt language in the will of the donor, when he re- 
 quires the Trustees to erect a building, such for " materials, form, 
 and beauty of finish," as a judicious expenditure of the bequest 
 would admit. Beauty of finish ! that is one requirement. Who 
 are they who dislike beauty .'' Where is he who is not better for 
 the beauty of flowers ? Where is he who is not happier for the 
 beauty there is in the faces of little children .-' The difficulty is 
 to determine what is beauty, for it consists as much in the ab- 
 sence of those things which offend the taste, as in the presence 
 of those which gratify it. It consists in the chasteness and 
 rigidity of exclusion as much as in the amplitude of admission. 
 But surely those things which are beautiful only are of no ser- 
 vice, and therefore should be discarded ; and he who says that will 
 point us to a score of things about this building which should 
 have been omitted because they are beautiful only. And I think 
 if he were to come up from the North End, and round the corner, 
 and take a full view of this building, the first thing he would put 
 in his catalogue would be the graceful and airy railing which runs 
 along the ridge-pole and mounts the turret. That, surely, is of 
 no service. It is graceful, it is beautiful, it makes you better for 
 looking at it ; but it is of no service, and therefore it should have 
 been omitted ; of no more service, friend, than the two buttons 
 on the back of your coat, and therefore should have been omitted. 
 A little girl who was born and had spent all her childhood in 
 India, was sent at the proper time to her aunt, in New England, 
 to be educated. On the morning after her arrival her aunt 
 dressed her in a new gown made purposely of very plain stuff, 
 because she knew the little girl had not been accustomed to 
 
20 
 
 finery, and the only ornaments there were on the dress were two 
 simple bows, one at the elbow and the other at the shoulder. 
 The little girl came down to breakfast, and, after " Good morn- 
 ing," looking at the bows with a pleased but puzzled expression 
 said, " Auntie, I am glad you put these bows upon my dress, they 
 are so comfortable and convenient." She had not the vocabu- 
 lary of fashion, but she knew that they made her comfortable and 
 happy. She instinctively knew that, like all proper adornment 
 they marked the difference between civilized enjoyments and 
 barbarous pleasures. 
 
 The other requirement is as to form and materials : and what 
 should these be but of the most permanent and enduring charac- 
 ter, — for this building is not built for a day, but for your children 
 and their children's children. A house, like matrimony, like wed- 
 lock, should endure. And how much thought there was in the 
 language of him who said : " This has been a good house to live 
 in ; it shall be a good house to die in." And if that is true, 
 friends, of your house and of mine, how much truer is it of the 
 house of the town, built, and to stand, in memorial of her son. 
 Looking, then, friends, into the future, thinking of the days 
 which shall be when we are not, shall we not pronounce this a 
 work well done, and done forever .'' 
 
 And thinking of the future, we come naturally to think of 
 the past, of that long succession of years, that long procession of 
 events, which have transpired since Medfield became a town. 
 Medfield became a town in 1650.^ Think how long ago that was ! 
 Then Oliver Cromwell was at the head of the State in England, 
 and John Milton was his secretary. King Charles the First had 
 been beheaded about one year, and Hampden had been dead 
 about seven years. In the province of Massachusetts there 
 were, 1 believe, about forty tovvns.^ The spirit of intolerance 
 
 1. For this and .succeeding references, see Notes ai)i)ended. 
 
21 
 
 and oppression against the Quakers and other heretics was rising 
 to its full height. The next year John Clarke preached to a 
 handful of Baptists at Lynn, and he was publicly tried by a court, 
 and sentenced to pay a fine, and one of his associates publicly 
 wdiipped ; and the law previously passed, perhaps designed orig- 
 inally to prevent such civil disorders as had prevailed in Europe, 
 was set in force with intent to banish forever all Baptists from 
 the soil of Massachusetts.^ In the^'same year a law was passed 
 prohibiting gentlemen from wearing top-boots, and gold and silver 
 lace, and prohibiting ladies from wearing, among other things, 
 Tiffany hoods, and requiring that the selectmen should see to 
 the fulfillment of these requirements.^ If, as I suspect, Tiffany 
 hoods bore some relation to modern bonnets, I have no doubt the 
 selectmen had an agreeable duty in enforcing the part of the law 
 which applied to them. In the same year a war of conquest on 
 the part of the United Colonies of New England, for the subju- 
 gation and annexation of New York, was prevented by the sober 
 common sense of Massachusetts. 
 
 Among the towns most remarkable, in some respects, of that 
 colony was the town of — Contentment. Yes, that was the name ; 
 for when the first settlers of Dedham had built their houses, and 
 marked out their lots, they petitioned the General Court to be 
 incorporated as a town under the name of Contentment, because 
 they said they. had observed the strifes which were prevalent in 
 the other towns of the province, and had observed how good men 
 could dip their hands in each other's blood for the sake of relig- 
 ious opinions ; therefore, they, being peaceably disposed, of one 
 mind and heart, inclined to live together in unity and the fear of 
 God, prayed to be incorporated as a town, and that their senti- 
 ments might be embodied in its name. But the General Court 
 thought otherwise, and incorporated the town under the name of 
 Dedham. This was in 1635. Shortly afterward many of the 
 
22 
 
 inhabitants, allured by the fertility of the soil, the beauty of this 
 spreading plain, and the luxuriance of the meadows, came to 
 what is now Medfield, and settled what was then called Mead- 
 field and Bogastow, and in the years 1650 and 1651 this was 
 established as a distinct town, the first offshoot from Dedham.^ 
 
 In the year 165 1, John Eliot undertook to form his settle- 
 ment of Indians at South Natick. He built three long streets 
 on the banks of the Charles' River, and drew the Indians into 
 habitations, and clothed them with raiment, and put over them 
 the laws which Jethro recommended to Moses, — one ruler for a 
 hundred, two rulers for fifties, ten rulers for tens. Dedham com- 
 plained of being deprived of that territory, and accordingly 
 commissioners were appointed to go out and inspect, and provide 
 other land for Dedham in the place of that taken at South Natick 
 for the Indians. The commissioners went to Ashburnham and 
 the district comprising what are now the other towns on the 
 border of Massachusetts near the southern line of New Hamp- 
 shire. If you should take the Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad and 
 go to that vicinity, even if you should go no further than Fitch- 
 burg, and look out upon the Rollstone Hill, which is opposite, I 
 think you would make the same report which the commissioners 
 made when they came back ; they said that it seemed to be the 
 backbone of the province, and they did not think it was fit for 
 agricultural purposes. 
 
 Meanwhile reports of the g^-eat fertility of the Connecticut 
 Valley had come to the East, and other commissioners were ap- 
 pointed who went to what is now the beautiful town of Deerfield. 
 There they saw such intervales as they had never seen before, 
 and looked upon such meadows as were nowhere else in the 
 province except on the banks of the Connecticut River ; and like 
 the m3ssengers of old, they came back and brought a favorable 
 report ; and so it was that the eight thousand acres of land given 
 
by the General Court to Dedham, in place of the land at South 
 Natick which had been taken away, was located at Deerfield, 
 Thereafterwards, Deerfield, Dedham, and Medfield have much 
 that is common in their history. The names which you will find 
 upon the records of one town are found upon the records of the 
 others ; father and mother in one, son and daughter in the others. 
 Eleazer Lusher,*" who was appointed to divide the lands in Na- 
 tick for the Indians, was the first town clerk of Medfield; yet he 
 never lived in Medfield himself, but retained his residence in 
 Dedham. Robert Hinsdale lived in Dedham, then came to 
 Medfield, then went to Deerfield, and with his three sons was 
 slain at Bloody Brook on that beautiful September morning as 
 they were carrying the grain to Hadley.' And the names of 
 Frary and other names are common upon all the records. 
 
 Deerfield and Medfield were both subjected to the fire and 
 blood of Indian war. I suppose the best account of the sacking 
 and burning of Medfield is the contemporary one written by 
 Hubbard, minister of Ipswich, two years after the event took 
 place.^ He says it is indeed a surprising thing that Medfield 
 should have been burned at all, because warned by the loss of 
 Lancaster, Medfield, together with some other towns, had pro- 
 vided itself with garrison-soldiers, and there were plenty of 
 soldiers in the town. But the garrison troops were billeted up 
 and down the town, and could not be readily gathered together. 
 And he says, what I expect is not even now an uncommon fact,, 
 the farmers of Medfield had taken up more land than they could 
 well take care of, and so bushes and trees had grown up from the 
 stumps, and thereby the Indians were better enabled to secrete 
 themselves over night under the bushes and trees, and near the 
 fences and barns, and so to spring upon the town at the break 
 of day. He records that the first house burned was that of 
 Samuel Morse, at the east part of the town, undoubtedly a house 
 
standing upon the Morse estate, which has remained in the 
 family ever since. This, he says, was the signal for the universal 
 firing, and the shooting of the inhabitants as they ran out of 
 doors. A father and one child would run in one direction, 
 and the mother and another child in the other ; one was saved 
 and the other perished. He relates how an old man nearly 
 one hundred years old was burned in his dwelling, — John Fussell. 
 He says the lieutenant of the town, Henry Adams, who came 
 from Braintree, and who was a lineal ancestor of Mr. John Wick- 
 liffe Adams, was shot in his door-way," and his wife perished soon 
 afterward by the accidental discharge of a musket in the house. 
 Seventeen or eighteen people were slain, or mortally wounded, 
 and ^2,000 worth of property destroyed. Finally the Indians 
 were driven over the bridge into Medway by the firing of canon. 
 But he records the mercy of Providence which spared the two 
 garrison-houses, and the better part, as he says, of the dwellings.''* 
 
 Deerfield was likewise sacked in the French and Indian war 
 thirty years later. Nor is Deerfield the only town at the western 
 part of the State which has intimate associations with Medfield. 
 Sturbridge was some fifty years later settled by an immigration 
 from Medfield; and the tales of family visits there — brothers, 
 cousins, and friends making the journey on horseback — are in 
 our memory still.'' 
 
 In the Revolutionary War, and in the stormy and critical 
 period which preceded it, when the minds of men were forming, 
 Medfield took no inconsiderable part. It has been said that the 
 town-meetings of Boston for the ten years preceding the battle 
 of Lexington, tried by the consequences of their language and 
 deeds, were among the most important public assemblages men- 
 tioned in history. The other towns of the Colony must share in 
 this encomium also; and to none, I believe, is it more applicable 
 than to ours. No one, I think, can examine the records of the 
 
25 
 
 town (fortunately preserved from the beginning), and go over the 
 period from 1765 to the close of the war, without being deeply 
 impressed with the character of the men who stood in this place, 
 our fathers, and took upon themselves their full share of the 
 great responsibility. They took for their watchword the motto 
 appended in 1765 to the instructions given to Samuel Clark, their 
 representive in the General Court, "Honor the king, but save the 
 Country," and kept it throughout the contest. These instruc- 
 tions, full of patriotic ardor, were ordered in town-meeting to be 
 inscribed at length upon the records " as a memorial to ages yet 
 unborn, of the present generation's high sense of our natural 
 and chartered rights and privileges." They held, I was going 
 to say, an almost continual town-meeting, adjourning from month 
 to month, or week to week, as occasion required. They sent 
 the French neutrals to Canada, and provided them money to go 
 with, on condition that they should never return. Under a 
 sense of their " duty to the times " they restricted the use of 
 what we should deem the necessities of life, but what they 
 termed its luxuries. A long list of the articles prohibited you 
 will find upon your records. They chose a committee of safety, 
 and a committee of correspondence with the town of Boston, 
 and their reply to the famous letter of Boston, — which I hope 
 before this occasion closes will be read in your hearing, spread 
 at length upon the records, — is unsurpassed in the language 
 which was uttered by any town at that eventful time. One 
 hundred and fifty-three names, — all the heads of families or 
 freeholders, — appear upon your records appended to the articles 
 of association recommended by the Continental Congress at 
 Philadelphia, whereby the Colonies practically sever their con- 
 nection with the mother country. It is to be noted also with 
 grateful pride that, in the same voice and votes in which they 
 assert their own rights, they maintain those of all men, and con- 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 demn slavery. They say that it appears absurd to plead for 
 liberty and yet patronize the most cruel servitude and bondage ; 
 and yet the " poor Africans taken from all that is dear to them on 
 their native soil, have not the least shadow of liberty remaining." 
 " We wish," they say, " to maintain constitutional liberty our- 
 selves, and cannot endure *the thought of its being withheld from 
 the same flesh and blood for no other reason that we can conceive 
 of but because the God of nature has been pleased to tinge their 
 skins with a different color from our own." Thus early did the 
 principles of anti-slavery take root in this town.'- 
 
 Who were the actors in that scene .-* We only know by the 
 records and by tradition. The names of Daniel Perry, William 
 Plimpton, Moses Bullen, Eliakim Morse, Henry Adams, Nathan 
 Plimpton, Oliver Ellice, Seth Dwight, Eleazer White, Seth 
 Clark and Nathan Coolidge appear constantly. And the soldiers 
 who sustained the cause upon the battle-field, — the young men 
 who left the plow in the furrow, and went forth, and came not 
 back again, — how little do we know of them ! *'' 
 
 The history of a town can best be understood by considering 
 the lives of the most prominent actors in it. In an enumeration 
 of the citizens of Medfield who have left their impress upon 
 their generation, the first to be mentioned is Ralph Wheelock, 
 the first subscriber for removing from Dedham to Medfield, and 
 styled the founder of the town. He was a native of Shropshire, 
 England, was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, became a 
 dissenting clergyman, and was called an emininent preacher. 
 He came first to Watertown, and then removed to Dedham, 
 where he was an unsuccessful candidate for minister at the time 
 Mr. Allin was chosen. He remained in Dedham, performing 
 many public duties, until the founding of this town, and then 
 removed here. He was the magistrate of the place, was deputy 
 for Medfield in the General Court of Elections at more sessions 
 
27 
 
 than any other person, and was the person commissioned by 
 the General Court to perform the marriage service within the 
 bounds of Medfield and Mendon/^ as he had previously been for 
 Dedham. He was a man of mark and prominence in the Colony, 
 and from him descended Eleazer Wheelock, the Indian Mis- 
 sionary, and founder of Dartmouth College.^'' 
 
 Of the clergymen of the town there never should be forgotten 
 four : — John Wilson, the first minister of this town, who graduated 
 in the first class at Harvard College, who preached here forty 
 years, and was the son of the Rev. John Wilson, who came 
 from England, and was the first minister of Boston. Joseph 
 Baxter, his successor, who likewise preached here forty years, 
 but whom the town came very near losing that he might become 
 a missionary among the Indians. When Governor Shute, the 
 Governor of the Colony, undertook a voyage and journey to 
 visit the Indians in Maine, that he might learn their habits, and 
 form a treaty with them, he invited Mr. Baxter, who was a man 
 " full of promise," to accompany him, with a view that he should 
 remain as a missionary. On the same voyage, undertaken in a 
 shallop, the Governor invited also the Chief-Justice of the Col- 
 ony to accompany him, — Chief-Justice Samuel Sewall, a lineal 
 ancestor of him who honors us with his presence to preside 
 to-day. While in Maine Mr. Baxter had some correspondence 
 with Ralle, the French Jesuit, who had spent all his life as a 
 missionary among the Indians ; and when Ralle complained that 
 the Latin, — the language in which the correspondence was 
 conducted, — of Mr. Baxter's letters was bad. Governor Shute 
 replied that the chief requirement of a missionary among the 
 Indians was not an exact knowledge of the Latin tongue, but 
 that he possess the ability to bring them from nature's darkness 
 into Christ's marvellous light. Thomas Prentiss, who preached 
 here forty-four years, whom some of you surely remember, that 
 
28 
 
 most dignified and earnest man, whose force of character was 
 great, who was a man of the utmost Ubsrality of mind and of the 
 greatest consistency of life. Dr. Daniel C. Saunders, who left 
 the presidency of a university to become a minister in Medfield. 
 He was an exact scholar, and, as we remember him, a stately 
 gentleman. 
 
 But of all the names of those who have been identified with 
 Medfield, two are pre-eminent ; two there are who have gone 
 out from among us, who have reflected imperishable honor upon 
 the spot of their birth. Theirs was no common course ; they 
 pursued no beaten track ; they struck out a course for them- 
 selves, and in the departments in which they severally labored 
 they produced a new era' in history. Hannah Adams was the 
 first American lady who devoted her life to literature ; indeed, 
 she was the first American lady » who attempted to enter the 
 field of literature ; and we can never realize the debt of obligation 
 which we and all posterity owe to her, because we can never 
 understand the poverty and barrenness of the literature of her 
 time. Take, for instance, one out of many of her works, her his- 
 tory of New England, — an excellent book, afterwards used as a 
 text-book in the Boston schools, and, I believe, in Hai-vard Col- 
 lege. How many histories of New England do you suppose 
 there were at the time she began to write that book .'' Only two. 
 No, not two ; only two books which could pretend to be histories, 
 or which contained in any connected form any considerable his- 
 torical account of New England ; and one of them was Cotton 
 Mather's " Magnalia," written one hundred years before, — 
 which I am afraid my ecclesiastical friends will tell me had 
 better never have been written at all, — and the other was 
 about as bad. She was a pioneer ; she struck out a course for 
 herself ; she drew her materials from original sources, and she 
 accjuired a national reputation. She took the place in America 
 
29 
 
 which Hannah More held in England. Tell it, therefore, 
 elsewhere if you will, but tell it not in the birthplace of Hannah 
 Adams, that a woman cannot serve her country, or bless her 
 age, and that she is not entitled to the education of a man. 
 
 And if you ask me for the other name, what child of Med- 
 field, what son, is known throughout the land, across the water, 
 over the continents beyond, in the Sandwich Islands, in India 
 and in China, I ask you to tell me where the tunes of Hebron, 
 and the Missionary Hymn, and Mount Vernon, and Hamburg, 
 are sung, and who first set their lines to measure .-' He went to 
 school with some of you ; he began life as a trader in Georgia ; 
 but music was in his soul, the impulse was irresistible, and to- 
 day the name of Lowell Mason is known and loved, and his 
 recent death lamented, wherever throughout the world the 
 praises of God ascend in song. 
 
 I should be glad to speak of others. Coming down to a 
 time within our own recollection, I should be glad to speak of 
 Daniel Adams, and Dr. Hewins. I should be glad to speak of 
 that brilliant young man cut off in his prime. Lieutenant Derby. 
 I should be glad to try and draw a picture, if I thought there 
 was any chance of success, of Charles Onion. And I should 
 rejoice to speak of some of the living, of Dr. Allen, of North- 
 boro, who went out from us a youth, — but who returns to be with 
 us to-day, his head hoary with years, and himself ripe with 
 honors from his adopted town. I should not fail to speak of 
 the debt which the town owes, and especially the young people 
 who have been through the schools of the town owe, to you, 
 sir,* for wise counsel, for timely admonition, and for a steadfast 
 adherence to the best and highest interests of the young. 
 
 But the occasion reminds me that in what remains to be 
 
 * Rev. Mr. Sew;ill, ricsident of the day. 
 5 
 
30 
 
 said I should speak chiefly of him by reason of whose bounty to 
 the town we are assembled together. 
 
 George Warren Chenery was born in Medfield. He was the 
 son of Mr. Warren Chenery, an upright, sturdy, excellent man, 
 who by a life of foresight and industry had accumulated a con- 
 siderable fortune. After passing through the schools of this 
 town Mr. Chenery began life as clerk in the employ of Mr. Fiske, 
 and afterwards went into business with his father. He was not 
 a man who was liked by everybody, but, what is far better, he 
 was a man whose qualities entitled him to the respect of every- 
 body. He had himself strong likes and dislikes, and it must be 
 that such a man will offend some; but nobody ever doubted the 
 honesty or the purity of his purposes, or the trueness of his 
 heart. He did not pin his faith, or his opinions, or his course in 
 life, to the course, or opinions, or faith, of anybody else. He 
 was truly independent ; yet along with this independence there 
 was a degree of refinement and sensibility about him which marked 
 him as a gentleman. And then there was a generous desire 
 which he possessed to make the most of himself, and to do his 
 best. He might have done — nothing. From childhood he was 
 of slender constitution, and he was afflicted during most of his 
 life by that terrible malady, the asthma ; and he might well have 
 sought excuse from the trusts and activities of life, if anybody 
 may. With his father's ample fortune to fall back upon, it would 
 have been easy for him to lead a listless life. He might have 
 been a spectator of the great drama of life, instead of a partici- 
 pant in it. If he had chosen, he might have shirked the 
 responsibilities of life. But, friends, if he had, we should not 
 have been assembled to do him honor. I have said that he chose 
 the best things. By travel, by books, by observation, and by 
 study, he cultivated his mind, and who shall not say cultivated 
 
31 
 
 his heart also. But he sought the best things for others as well 
 as for himself, and one of the constant subjects of his interest 
 was the town in which he was born, and in which he dwelt ; and 
 he often remarked upon what in various particulars and in dif- 
 ferent respects would benefit or improve the town, or add to it ; 
 and often regretted the absence in the town of any building suit- 
 able for public purposes. And thus it came to pass that on his 
 death-bed he left the bequest which reared this edifice. Let its 
 walls forever stand as a memorial of a young man who in life was 
 true to his trusts, and did his best. He was cut off in the midst 
 of his years ; he died at the age of less than forty years ; yet who 
 shall say that he did not accomplish much ? Who shall say that 
 such a life as his was not worth living ? Nay, shall we not all 
 unite in saying in reference to him, " That life is long which 
 answers well life's end" .'* 
 
 But our duty would not be performed if we failed to remem- 
 ber our obligation at this time to another, his wife, — and now his 
 widow. It is sufficient to say that, while she might have em- 
 barrassed the Trustees in the discharge of their duties, while she 
 might have retarded the erection of this building, while she 
 might have placed obstacles in the way ; she removed all obstacles, 
 she hastened the erection of the building by relinquishing that 
 which she had a right to claim, and from first to last she co-oper- 
 ated with the Trustees in the discharge of their duties, and 
 assisted them with cheerful help to the end. And when we 
 remember, friends, the controversies which are now going on in 
 two adjoining towns in regard to bequests of a public nature, and 
 the way in which selfish men usually act, and behold the way in 
 which this noble woman who stood by his side in life stood by his 
 bequest in death, may we not take from fiction its address to one 
 
32 
 
 of the most beautiful of its characters, and apply it to you, 
 madam ? * 
 
 " Lady, lady, if there were more like you, there were fewer like us." 
 
 We dedicate this hall to-day. By all the emotions which 
 swell the heart, or rise to the lips, let us dedicate ourselves, also, 
 to a life of high purposes and noble endeavor. The life and ex- 
 ample of him whom we chiefly commemorate to-day thus appeals 
 especially to the young men of Medfield. We may scatter, and 
 our avocations are to be perhaps as diverse as the places of our 
 abode; some will remain upon the old homestead and be carried 
 at last to the old grave-yard ; some may die in San Francisco or 
 Japan, and be buried by unknown hands; some may be wealthy, 
 others may bear through life the cords of poverty ; some will be 
 successful, many will be disappointed ; but whatever our avoca- 
 tions in life may be, or wherever our lot upon earth may be cast, 
 let us fill up the measure of life with good works, animated by a 
 right heart, so that at the end it may be said of us, " He, too, did 
 not live in vain." 
 
 At the close of the Address the following gentlemen 
 responded briefly to appropriate sentiments given by the 
 presiding ofBcer: M. M. Fisher, Esq., of Medway; Geo. 
 Allen, Esq., of West Newton; James Hewins, Esq., of 
 Medfield; W. H. Baldwin, of Boston; Chas. P. Clark, 
 of Newton; and Rev. J. H. Wiggin, of Medfield. 
 
 After singing the Original Ode, the Benediction was 
 pronounced by Rev. Mr. Wiggin. 
 
 * Mrs. Chenerv. 
 
NOTES 
 
 APPENDED TO THE ADDRESS BY R. R. BISHOP, ESQ. 
 
 1. Strictly 165 1. It was a "villadge" belonging to Dedham until 
 the act entitled " Meadfeild's Power." — Vid. Note j. In the succeed- 
 ing year (1652), Medfield was first represented by deputy in the General 
 Court of Election. 
 
 2. Not so many distinct towns entitled to representation. In the 
 list of towns sending deputies to the General Court of Election in 1652 
 and subsequently, Medfield stands the twenty-eighth. 
 
 3. This act was passed in 1644. — 2 Mass. Col. Rec, 8j. It is to 
 be observed that the preamble recites the civil conflicts in Germany as 
 the ground and justification for passing it. And it can hardly be be- 
 lieved that in the state of civil society then existing, this was mere 
 pretence. It had remained a dead letter. — Fid. IVms/ow's Hypocricie 
 Unmasked.^ 10 1, Two successive presidents of Harvard College had 
 held Baptist doctrines. And see the grounds of Gov. Winthrop's opin- 
 ion in Mrs. Hutchinson's case. — Winthrop's journal, /., 2_^o. 
 
 4. 3 Mass. Col. Rec, 243. For a law passed in 1639 upon the sub- 
 ject of apparel, Vid. i id., 27^. 
 
 5. The inhabitants of Dedham, in 1636, petitioned the General 
 Court of Election "to ratifie unto your humble petitioners your grante 
 formerly made [in 1635] *^f ^ plantation above the ffalls, that we may 
 possess all that land which is left out of all former grants upon that 
 side of Charles River ; and upon the other side seven miles square." 
 They further pray for exemption from taxation for four years, and that 
 the Court will " distinguish our towne by the name of Contentment." 
 In reply to this petition, the General Court ordered that the plantation 
 should have three years' immunity from public charges, should be called 
 by the name of Dedham, and should " enjoy all that land on the east- 
 erly and southerly side of Charles River not formerly granted unto 
 
34 
 
 any town or p'ticular p'son, and also to have five miles square on 36 
 other side of the river." This grant is copied upon the first page of 
 the Dedham town records, and see also i Mass. Col. Rec, i80i 
 257 ; J id., 247. Its terms comprehended all the territory in the 
 colony eastward and southward of Charles River above the falls not 
 previously granted, including the present towns of Dedham, Medfield, 
 Wrentham, Bellingham, Walpole, Franklin, Dover, Norfolk, and Nor- 
 wood ; and the five miles square on the north and west side of the 
 river embraced Needham, Natick and part of Sherburne. Medway 
 was not included, that lying north of the river and beyond the limits 
 of the five miles square on that side. 
 
 When the time came for laying out a distinct village (1649), Ded- 
 ham obtained a further grant from the General Court as follows : " In 
 ansr. to a petition of the inhabitants of Dedham ffor a parcell of vpland 
 and meadow adjoyning to their line to make a villadge of, in quantity 
 4 miles south and north, and three miles east and west, becawse they 
 are streightned at tlieir doores by other tounes & rocky lands &c. Their 
 request is graunted so as they erect a distinct village therevpon within 
 one yeere from this day, Octob. 23 1649, and Capt. Keajne, Mr. Ed- 
 ward Jackson & the surveyor gennerall are appointed to lay it out at 
 any time, Dedham giving them a weekes warning." — j Jfass. Col. 
 Rcc, 181. 
 
 The following is the record of the laying out pursuant to this grant : 
 "Whereas there was a graunt made by the Generall Court at a ses- 
 sion the 2 2d of the 8th moth, 1649, vnto the inhabitants of Dedham, 
 in answer to a petition of theires for the enlargment of the village 
 theire, as by the sajd graunt may more fully appeare, this graunt, so 
 made, was layd out by Captayne Robt. Keaine and Mr. Edward Jack- 
 son, who haue subscribed it with theire hands in manner & forme 
 followinge, vizt : begininge at a small hill, or iland, in the meddow 
 on the west side of Charles Riuei", & runinge from thence about full 
 west three miles, and then, turninge a south line, ended at Charles 
 Riuer at three miles & a quarter, this line beinge there shorter then 
 by the graunt it was allowed to be, but accepteed by the grauntees, the 
 -sajd riuer is appointed to be the bounds from that place to the place 
 where the first lyne began. This Court doth approue of this re- 
 turne of the psons aboue mentioned concerninge the bounds of the sajd 
 village, & in answer to the request of the inhabitants of Dedha, doe 
 
order that it shalbe called (Meadfeild) — •/ Curia.'''' j Afass. Col. Rec, 
 
 i88. 
 
 The tract of land conveyed by the last grant is now wholly in the 
 town of Medway. The " hill or iland in the meddow " is near the 
 house of the late Horatio Mason, and the three-mile line "about full 
 west " is the present dividing line between Sherborn and Medway, and 
 the line beginning at the end of this and running south reaches the 
 river just above Medway village. 
 
 Having obtained this grant Oct. 23, 1649, Dedham held a town 
 meeting Nov. 14th following, and set apart a portion of its original 
 territory for the new town. After reciting the above grant, the town 
 voted that there shall be "granted for the accommodation- of the vil- 
 lage so much land within the west end of the bounds of Dedham next 
 Bogastow, as is or may be contained within the extent of three miles 
 east and west, and four miles north and south, — the form and line to 
 be varied and altered as in the judgment of such men as shall be 
 deputed thereunto shall seem for the most convenient accommodation 
 both of Dedham and the said village." 
 
 Jan. I, 1650, Eleazer Lusher, Lieut. Fisher, Ensign Phillips, John 
 Dwight, and Daniel Fisher were appointed to lay out this grant from 
 Dedham, and the territory laid out by them doubtless conforms to the 
 present territory of Medfield (all that portion granted by the General 
 Court as above mentioned upon the west side of Charles River now 
 forming the town of Medway. — Vid.post). And at a town meeting sub- 
 sequently held in the same year, Dedham passed a vote by which it 
 " consented unto and ordered " that all the power and right of town 
 government in said territory be transmitted and delivered unto the 
 town of Medfield and its selectmen forever, Medfield making a certain 
 payment, as to which Dedham promised reasonable forbearance. 
 
 Full power is given to Medfield as a town by the following act, en- 
 titled " Meadfeild's Power," passed by the General Court 22 May, 
 1651 : 
 
 "There beinge a towne lately erected beyond Dedham in the county 
 
 of Suffolke, vppon Charles Riuer, called by the name of Meadfeild, 
 
 vppon theire request, made to this Generall Court, this Court hath 
 
 graunted them all the power & priuiledges which other townes doe 
 
 injoy, according to law. — / Curia.'''' j Mass. Col. Rec, 228 ; 4 id., pt. 7, 
 
 46. 
 
 After this the town regularly appeared by deputy in the General 
 
 Court of Election. 
 
36 
 
 In 1659 the General Court made an additional grant unto the 
 town " at the west ends thereof two miles east & west & fower miles 
 north & south," and Capt. Lusher and Lieut. Fisher were appointed 
 to lay out this grant, which was done. — 4 Col. Jicc, pt. i, jjg, j8o. 
 
 The territory laid out under this grant was, doubtless, what is now 
 the remainder of Medway beyond the grant west of the river in 1649. 
 In 1 7 13 the town of Medway, embracing all of Mediield west of the 
 river (/. e., the grants of 1649 and 1659), was set off as a distinct town. 
 This left remaining in Medfield that territory which originally formed 
 a part of Dedham, as before remarked. 
 
 The name of the town is variously spelled. In the Dedham town 
 records it is usually spelled Medfield ; in the Medfield records often 
 Meadfield ; while in the records of the General Court of Elections the 
 Secretary almost invariably transposes the i and e, and makes it " Mead- 
 feild." The brand of the town was established by the General Court 
 as follows : — " ^^. Itt is ordered that the marke. or letter, in the 
 margent be the brand or marke for Meadfeild." — 4 Col. Rec, jj^. 
 
 As to the extent of the territory called Bogastow I am in doubt. 
 The word is sometimes used as synonymous with Medfield. But in the 
 Medfield town records Medfield is spoken of as " a town to be estab- 
 lished near that place commonly called Boggastow," and as located 
 "on the westward of the bounds of Dedham toward Boggastow," and 
 the name seems more properly to have applied to what is now the 
 southern part of Sherborn and the eastern part of Medway. The peti- 
 tions for the establishment of a town at Sherburne, and the action of 
 the General Court thereupon, refer to the place as Bogastow, and the 
 farms granted at Bogastow to Rev. John Allin and others were, doubt- 
 less, in the eastern part of Medway. 
 
 6. Eleazer Lusher's public services were veiy numerous. In rec- 
 ognition of them, the General Court of Election granted him a tract of 
 land for a farm comprising most of the territory Avhere the present vil" 
 lage of Holliston stands. 
 
 7. It is indeed true, in the language of Hubbard, that Capt. Loth- 
 rop's company, slain at Bloody Brook, was composed of young men 
 " the very Flower of the County of Essex, .... none of whom were 
 ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." — /. Hi/b. Itid. Wars, 
 1 1 J. But the additional statement that they were "all called out 
 of the towns belonging to that county " cannot be correct. Holland 
 
37 
 
 in his History of Western Massachusetts falls into the same error, 
 and in his list of the slain puts Robert Hinsdale and his sons as of 
 Manchester. The company was composed of young men from Essex, 
 but doubtless others from Deerfield joined it on its arrival there, 
 among- them Hinsdale, who had recently removed from Medfield, and 
 his sons. Hinsdale's house in Medfield was the first house north of 
 Vine Brook, and his well is still in use uj)on the estate. So also Jon- 
 athan Plimpton, — son of John Plimpton, one of the signers of the 
 original compact for removal from Dedham to Medfield, who had sub- 
 sequentl}'' removed to Deerfield, — was a member of Capt. Lothrop's 
 Company, and perished at Bloody Brook. Two years and one day 
 afterward the father was taken by the Indians from Deerfield, and car- 
 ried towards Canada, and likewise perished at their hands. — Vid. 
 Savage. 
 
 8. Medfield was burned on the morning of the 21st Feb., 1676. 
 
 9. Timothy Dwight had been for many years the lieutenant of the 
 town ; but he was honorably discharged on his own petition by the 
 General Court, May 27, 1668. Adams Avas appointed and commis- 
 sioned in his place Jan. 6, 1673. — 4 Col. Rcc, pt. 2, J82, 57^. 
 He had bought (in 1660) of Eleazer Lusher the farm granted to the 
 latter by the General Court, comprising most of the present village of 
 Holliston, and placed his sons upon it, but never removed there him- 
 self. Maj. Thomas Savage was commander-in-chief of all the forces 
 sent for the protection of Medfield.- — 5 Col. Rec, y2. 
 
 10. It has been stated that the Sunday before the assault the In- 
 dians were seen on the heights of Mount Nebo and Noon Hill as the 
 people came out from public worship, and that the Rev. Mr. Wilson 
 had warned his flock to be vigilant against surprise. — Dr. Sautidas's 
 Historical Sermon. If this is so, their unguarded condition is matter 
 of greater surprise. The first house burned was that of Lieut. Samuel 
 Morse, which stood upon somewhat high ground, a few rods south-east- 
 erly of the present residence of the Misses Lucy and Mary Morse, but 
 upon the north-westerly side of the road as it then ran. The tradition, 
 which seems to be without doubt correct, is, that "while Lieut. Morse 
 was pitching hay from the mows to feed his cattle, early in the morn- 
 ing of the day when the burning took place, he uncovered the leg of 
 an Indian who was concealed in the hay. He quietly let out his cat- 
 tle, and fled with his family to the fort. He had hardly left the house 
 before it was in flames. This was the signal for the work to commence. 
 
At the close, of the war, this same Indian, passing through the town, 
 narrated the circumstance of his being discovered in the hay, and said 
 he should not have moved had the fork been thrust through his leg." 
 There were four garrisons in the town : one where the house of Mr. 
 Bradford Curtis now stands ; one at the Isaac Chenery homestead, 
 where Mrs. Coltman now resides ; one at the old Capt. Sadey house, 
 afterwards Barachias Mason's, and subsequently the homestead of the 
 late Col. Johnson Mason and of Horace Wight; and one where Mr. 
 IvOrenzo Harding now lives. The Indians seem to have avoided that 
 portion of the town between Lieut. Morse's house and the church. 
 
 Near the house of the late Mr. Moses Bullard, on South Street, 
 Elizabeth Smith was killed, and her son Samuel, then an infant in his 
 mother's arms, was thrown into the air and left for dead. He was 
 afterwards found alive at his mother's breast, and lived to an ofd age- 
 One party crossed the meadow in front of the present residence of Mr. 
 John Ellis, and near this place were killed Thomas Mason (son of 
 Thomas one of the original subscribers for removing) and his eldest 
 two sons ; but his wife reached the garrison with their youngest child, 
 from whom, the tradition is, all the Masons in this vicinity have de- 
 scended. After the work of destruction the Indians crossed the river 
 at a bridge which formerly stood between the present turnpike bridge 
 and Brastow's bridge, not far from where Mr. Fisher Newell now lives, 
 and held a wild feast upon the high land opposite. The position of 
 this bridge is shown by a high rock on the bank. King Philip, whom 
 tradition reports as having rode in exultation during the burning, leap- 
 ing fences and ditches, upon a black horse, caused to be posted upon 
 the bridge a paper, of which the following is a copy, 
 
 " Know by this paper that the Indians that thou hast provoked to 
 " Wrath and Anger will war this twenty-one years if you will. There 
 "are many Indians yett. We come 300 at this Time, You must con- 
 " sider that the Indians loose nothing but their lives. You must loose 
 "your fair houses and cattle." 
 
 The common belief that the ancient "Peak House" was standing 
 when the town was burned is probably erroneous. The best present 
 information upon the subject tends to the conclusion that this was 
 part of another building standing a short distance from the present 
 spot, built at a later date, and moved to the place where it now 
 stands. 
 
 II. The land at Sturbridge was granted in 1729 to several peti- 
 
39 
 
 tioners from Mediield, and was called New Medfield until its incorpo- 
 ration in 1738. It was for some time a kind of plantation, where the 
 proprietors or those employed by them went in the summer, av.d 
 returned in the autumn. For some time after the work of dealing 
 began,' no one dared to spend the winter in a place so remote fiom 
 habitation. — Clarke's Historical Sermon. The first meeting-house w as 
 consecrated by the Rev. Mr. Baxter. 
 
 12. Slavery prevailed in Medfield, and it is perhaps from this fact 
 that the resolutions are so strong and so pointedly directed against it. 
 Rev. Mr. Baxter, by will, probated in 1745, devised to his wife "My 
 negro slave Nanny during my wife's life, and to my said negro slave I 
 give her freedom at my wife's decease." In a codicil he makes tlie 
 bequest of freedom to depend on the condition that the negro woman 
 shall " in all things carry and behave herself dutifully and well 
 towards her said mistress, my wife. " Warwick Green was a slave, 
 brought from Africa, and was the body servant of Col. Wheelock in 
 the army. Newport Green was also a slave. 
 
 13. The news of the battle of Lexington was brought to Medfield, 
 as to the other towns, by a horseman. I remember hearing the tradi- 
 tion that the wall in front of the late Augustus Plimpton place was 
 being laid the day on which the news came. The M'ork stopped, and 
 the men went to the army. This was but a sample of the conduct 
 of the people. It is a matter of regret to me that I am unable to give 
 some full and personal account of the soldiers from Medfield in the 
 Revolutionary War. A want of time to make the necessary examina- 
 tions, caused by the pressure of other duties, alone prevents me from 
 attempting to gather such facts as are now accessible, and which 
 indeed are fast fading from recollection and knowledge. 
 
 14. —3 Col. Rec., 4S; 4 id.pt. i, 382 ; pt. 2., 55^. 
 
 15. For several generations the descendants of Ralph Wheelock 
 continued to live in Medfield, and to exercise a prominent part in 
 public affairs. Col. Ephraim Wheelock, great-grandson of Ralph, 
 was eight years in the French and Revolutionary wars, was captain at 
 the siege of Louisburg, and afterwards served at Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point. He was the grandfather of the Misses Lucy and Mary 
 Morse, — who are also descendants of Samuel Morse, and still reside 
 upon his original homestead, — and whose knowledge and intelligent 
 zeal in matters relating to the history of the town deserve the highest 
 praise. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT BUILDING. 
 
 The style of the architecture is a Germanized-Gothic. The chief building 
 material is of selected brick, with Nova Scotia stone dressing, while the more 
 important decorative parts are of cast-iron, painted and sanded in imitation of the 
 stone. The base work is of Rockport granite, with the principal steps and tiling 
 of the large main vestibule of marble. The situation of the building and surface of 
 the land are such as to give a story of twelve feet on the rear side, and a portion of 
 the ends entirely out of the ground. This basement story contains two large 
 furnaces and fuel cellars, with one of the main hall furnaces in each, accommoda- 
 tions for police detention cells, a fire-engine room, with a large assemblage room 
 for the firemen, a room for the town hearse, a large room to let for mechanical 
 purposes, two small cellar rooms for use of stores above ; also two water closets, &c. 
 All the partition walls of this story are of substantial brick work, and four stairways 
 give access to the main floor. t 
 
 The floor above the basement provides four commodious stores, the Selectmen's 
 room (containing a substantial brick vault), the Public Library, a janitor's room, a 
 rear stairway to platform of main hall and its anterooms, and also the grand stair- 
 case to the hall. The vestibule from which these stairs start is finished with a 
 marble tiled floor, ash wainscoting, and finely frescoed in oil. 
 
 The main hall is on the second floor, and finished well into the roof, and is, 
 together with the stairways and entries, highly finished in fresco. There are ante- 
 rooms leading from the platform, with a gallery above them. At the front or 
 entrance end of the building are other anterooms, on each side of the stairway, 
 communicating both with the main hall and entry. The main hall windows, four 
 on each side, are finished with inside blinds, and the room is lighted at night by 
 four large and two small chandeliers. A stairway from this floor leads to the 
 gallery over the front anterooms, and others again to a still higher room finished 
 in the tower, and yet others to a deck at top of tower roof which is covered with 
 copper. All ridges are covered with cast-iron crestings, and the tower deck with 
 an iron balustrade. 
 
 A tower, eighteen feet square, stands at the left front corner, the main building 
 without tower or projections being 48x80 feet, and standing sideways to the main 
 street. The tower continues a proper height above the main roof, is surmounted by 
 
a lofty roof of its own, and terminates with the observatory deck before named. 
 The store fronts are between the tower and a projecting wing frontward on the right 
 hand corner. This wing is finished with a steep roof, showing a well decorated 
 timbered gable, etc. Ample provisions have been made in the hall for water closets 
 at each end of the building, and all possible convenience for making the building 
 thoroughly constructed in every part and complete in all its appliances. The 
 outside steps to the store on one end and Public Library and Selectmen's room on 
 the other are of cast-iron, and the land about the building has been completely 
 graded. 
 
 In a recess built for the purpose in the vestibule is a large and elaborately 
 finished marble tablet, to the memory of Mr. Chenery, the donor of the original 
 building. The tablet bears the following inscription : — 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 BY Ills FELLOW TOWNSMEN 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMORY OF GEORGE W. CHENERY, 
 
 THROUGH WHOSE 
 
 LIBERALITY THIS BUILDING WAS ERECTED, 
 A. D. MDCCCLXXII. 
 
 G. W. C. 
 
 Born March 4, 1S26. 
 
 Died June 28, 1S66. 
 
 " Semper Honorandus Api/d Posteros.'' 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 The following papers will sufficiently explain the 
 necessary enlargement of this little volume. The sev- 
 eral parts were performed according to the " Order of 
 Exercises " herewith given. 
 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 RE-DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TOWN HALL, MEDFIELD, 
 
 NOVEMBER 2, 1874. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 Medfield Cornet Band, Wm. R. Smith, Leader. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 Charles Hamant, Esq., President of the Day. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 Rev. J. M. R. Eaton. 
 
 Delivery of the Keys, by J. B. Hale, Esq., Chairman of the Building 
 
 Committee, and Reception of the Same, by Rev. C. C. 
 
 Sewall, in behalf of the Citizens of the Town. 
 
44 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 DEDICATORY PRAYER. 
 Rev. C. C. Sewall, 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 Robert R. Bishop, Esq., of Kcwlon, formerly of Medfield. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 REMARKS FROM OTHERS PRESENT. 
 
 SINGING. 
 Hymn v*rittcn by the Rev. C. C. Sr.AVALL for the occasion. 
 
 Father ! we mark the evidence, 
 
 On Avhom our hopes depend ; — 
 The witness of Thy providence, 
 
 Whose goodness hath no end. 
 
 The hope, once cherished without fear. 
 
 Delusive proved and vain ; 
 But now we gladly gather here 
 
 To testify again 
 
 The gratitude we owe to Thee, 
 
 Who hath our hope renewed ; 
 Reminding us, where that must be. 
 
 No change can e'er delude. 
 
 O, hear the trustful, earnest quest, 
 
 We breathe, in faith, to Thee, 
 That on this house Thy blessing rest j 
 
 And grant it long to be 
 
 A monument of deep-felt sense 
 
 Of duty to the name 
 Of him,* from whose munificence, 
 
 The gift we treasure, came ; 
 
 And long the heart of youth allure 
 
 To seek enduring fame 
 In knowledge, truth, and virtue pure. 
 
 And win a deathless name. 
 
 BENEDICTION. . 
 
 Rev. A. M. Crane. 
 
 ♦George W. Chonery. 
 
45 
 
 After music by the band, Charles Hamant, Esq., 
 President of the day, made the following remarks. 
 
 REMARKS BY CHARLES HAMANT, ESQ. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlcuien : — • 
 
 On the loth day of September, a little more than two years 
 since, we were assembled, in a beautiful, attractive, and conven- 
 ient building for the purposes for which it was intended, erected 
 upon this spot by the liberality of one of the noble sons of this 
 ancient town, whose memory we cherish and honor to-day as 
 then ; and now, for similar purposes, and with ever grateful 
 remembrances, we would have our thoughts and feelings in 
 unison with the occasion. , 
 
 On the morning of the 8th day of January last, while our 
 citizens were in deepest sleep, the terrifying alarm of Fire 
 resounded through the streets of our village, arousing us only to 
 painfully witness the total destruction of the beautiful edifice 
 which we had with justifiable pride and pleasure so dedicated. 
 
 Those who witnessed the rapidity with which the destructive 
 element performed its work, the flames simultaneously leaping 
 and shooting from roof, tower, and every window of the structure ; 
 and finally the crash, as one after another of the walls yielded 
 and fell, — can never forget the scenes of that dismal night. Men 
 stood as if paralyzed, powerless to stay the work of destruction, 
 which was complete, — involving, it is believed, a greater loss of 
 property than the aggregate, since the memorable historic con- 
 flagration of 1676. 
 
 Resolution soon took the place of despondency; some of the 
 highest feelings of our nature were quickened, and sympathy was 
 aroused to activity, in partially supplying the personal losses of 
 some of our citizens who had suffered. A call for a meeting of 
 
46 
 
 the town was promptly made, and, with feelings of pride and 
 satisfaction, we bear testimony to-day to the entire unanimity 
 with which the assembled voters at that meeting enthusiastically 
 responded in the affirmative to the question, "Shall we rebuild?" 
 The subsequent proceedings were in harmony with the spirit of 
 this meeting. The committee appointed by the town at once and 
 energetically went forward with the work confided to them, and 
 how faithfully and well they have executed the trust, let these 
 walls silently, but eloquently, speak. This beautiful edifice has, 
 phoenix-like, arisen from the ashes of the former structure, and 
 we are here on this delightful autumnal day to re-dedicate to the 
 public use the grand and beautiful building in which we are 
 assembled ; and long may it proudly stand, as a memorial of the 
 noble spirit which gave it birth; of him who has passed the dark 
 vale to brighter scenes beyond ; to gladden the hearts of the 
 aged, whose sun is fast descending to the west ; and animate all 
 to the practice of those virtues which are indispensable condi- 
 tions of social and individual security and happiness; and 
 remind us — 
 
 " . . . . the life of Heaven above 
 Springs from the life below." 
 
 Remarks were then made by Rev. J. M. R. Eaton, 
 welcoming citizens and invited guests to the Hall and 
 the occasion, following which was an address by J. B. 
 Hale, Esq., on delivering the keys. 
 
 AOnRESS BV J. D. HALE, ESQ. 
 
 Afr. President and Fclhnv-Citir:cns : — 
 
 You can all recall the sad 8th of January last, when we found 
 our beautiful Town Hall, that we had taken so much pride in, 
 reduced to ashes, together with the public library, fire apparatus 
 complete, and a new hearse, totally destroyed, and with only a 
 
47 
 
 partial insurance on the building. Our first thought was that 
 the loss was irreparable. But a few days elapsed before there 
 was a feeling developed that as the building had been a gift we 
 were morally bound to restore it in all its beauty and usefulness, 
 and at a town meeting, called the 24th of January, it was voted 
 to rebuild the Town Hall. 
 
 A Committee was chosen, consisting of J. B. Hale, J. R. 
 Cushman, D. D. Curtis, A. B. Parker and G. H. Ellis, to pro- 
 cure plans and estimates for the new building. February 7th, 
 the Committee reported plans drawn by T. W. Silloway, with 
 statement of estimated cost, and having had a short time for 
 procuring plans it was voted to extend time for the report of the 
 committee to the day of the annual town meeting. Six plans 
 were presented March 2d. 
 
 Voted — To accept and adopt the plans of a town. hall offered by T. W. Silloway. 
 pf Boston, at an estimated cost of $i8,ooo, including debris of former building. 
 
 Voted — To choose J. B. Hale, J. R. Cushman, D. D. Curtis, A. B. Parker and 
 George H. Ellis to be the Building Committee. 
 
 Voted — That said committee be authorized to contract with responsible and 
 competent builders to build the Town Hall. 
 
 Voted — The Building Committee be instructed not to exceed $20,000 for the 
 completion of the building. 
 
 August 29, 1S74. — Voted — That the committee be autjjorized to expend a sum 
 not exceeding $1,200 in furnishing the building, exclusive of the Public Library, and 
 for heating and lighting apparatus for the same. 
 
 The Trustees of the Public Library placed in our hands the 
 fitting up and furnishing their room to be done substantially as 
 it was before, and not to exceed ^500 ; afterwards they ordered a 
 cabinet at an estimated expense of ^50, thus giving us ^550 for 
 
 that department. 
 
 We have had most of that work done by the contractors of 
 the building, and we now report the entire expense of the 
 
48 
 
 library, fitting up and furnishing, at $506.34, for which the 
 proper vouchers are ready. With the $1,200 for furnishing, 
 heating, and lighting the rest of the building, we have procured 
 everything deemed necessary in each department so far as our 
 limited time would allow, not intending to overlook the smallest 
 want, and the expense has been $1,199.35, for which the proper 
 vouchers are in hand. 
 
 For the construction of the building the architect com- 
 menced at once to carefully prepare drawings and specifications 
 to the satisfaction of the Committee, and as soon as ready they 
 were placed in the hands of responsible contractors. We had 
 five competitors, to the lowest of which, Messrs. Mead, Mason & 
 Co., of Boston, the contract was awarded for the sum of $17,870. 
 
 In the course of erection various improvements have sug- 
 gested themselves, some of which were so decidedly good that 
 we have felt the necessity of adopting them, and by so doing 
 incurred a further expense to the contractors of $575.03. So 
 the cost of construction is as follows, viz: — 
 
 Contrnct price, ...... $17,870.00 
 
 Balance — extras, Mead, Mason & Co., . . . 544-00 
 
 " " Otis Weiitworth, . . . . 3' -03 
 
 Architect fees and expense, ..... 642.00 
 
 Freiglit, . » . 
 
 B. F. Crehore, iron work, 
 
 C. E. Kershaw, cell and vault door 
 Oiling building, 
 
 Stucco work, 
 
 L. J. Shepard, frescoing, . . 
 
 D. Hoisington, 
 
 R. W. Sherman, curb-stone work, 
 G. W. & F. Smith, iron steps, 
 
 5--3I 
 190.00 
 
 62.25 
 120.00 
 475.00 
 
 10.75 
 
 30.00 
 
 250.00 
 
 W. F. Whittemore, painting, .... 9.75 
 
 J. B. Hale, balance over sale of old material, . . . 35-46 
 
 $20,323.75 
 We have drawn .... 20,000,00 
 
 Leaving unpaid .... $3-3-75 
 
49 
 
 We have also, at the earnest request of prominent citizens, 
 ordered iron gates for vestibule, which will still be to pay for. 
 
 In closing our report, it is but justice to say if there is any 
 credit in our work, we are largely indebted, first, to the architect, 
 Mr. T. W. Silloway, of Boston, a gentleman of large experience, 
 thoroughly competent in his profession, and a sound, practical 
 adviser, who has entered heartily into the carrying out of our 
 plans, and was, to all intents and purposes, an additional member 
 of the Committee. We cheerfully commend his services to any 
 one desiring an architect. 
 
 Messrs. Mead, Mason & Co., contractors, and Mr. Otis Went- 
 worth, who assumed the contract for granite, brick, slate, marble, 
 and iron work, and their efficient superintendents ; also Mr. Shep- 
 ard, whose frescoing has done so much to beautify the building 
 — all have entered heartily into carrying out their contracts in a 
 faithful and honorable manner, according to the specifications, 
 and so lightening very much the duties of the Building Com- 
 mittee; and we recommend them with pleasure in their several 
 spheres. 
 
 We are indebted to the Messrs. Harwood Brothers, of Brom- 
 field Street, Boston, for a present of the elegant clock that helps 
 so much to adorn our hall, and for locating it where it may be an 
 admonition to all prosy occupants of this desk. And to D. D. 
 Curtis, Esq., for a present of a fine eagle which adorns this end 
 of the hall. 
 
 The Committee appointed some time since to procure a 
 memorial* tablet to the memory of George "W. Chenery, have 
 co-operated with the Building Committee by having it placed in 
 position to be ready for this day. In delivering to you, as the 
 representatives of the town, the keys to this building, and with 
 them the responsibility which has rested upon us, we have 
 endeavored to carry out the trust reposed in us, and earnestly 
 
50 
 
 hope no faults will be found that shall seriously mar the enjoy- 
 ment and possession of this building for the various uses for 
 which it is intended. 
 
 Rev. C. C. Sewall received the keys on behalf of the 
 town, and made the following address. 
 
 ADDRESS BY REV. C. C. SEWALL. 
 
 JMr. Chairniaii : — 
 
 It is with no common pleasure that, in the name and as the 
 representative of the citizens of Medfield, I am privileged to 
 receive from you the keys of this building. I accept them as a 
 symbol of the noble and generous bequest of our benefactor; 
 intended by him as a means of providing better accommodations 
 for the discharge of our civic and political duties, and for mental 
 culture and social enjoy menf. I accept them as a symbol, also, 
 of a sacred trust committed to our keeping and care. 
 
 And it is. Sir, with even greater pleasure that I am permitted 
 to thank you and your associates for the interest and pains you 
 have taken to procure a tasteful and serviceable plan for the 
 erection and interior arrangements of this building; and for your 
 constant and faithful supervision of the construction of it. I am 
 sure. Sir, that your fellow-citizens — one and all — recognize and 
 appreciate these services, and are most heartily disposed to con- 
 gratulate you and your associates upon the timely and entirely 
 satisfactory completion of your labors. 
 
 The building is universally admitted to be superior to that, 
 the place of which it takes, and the loss of which had been so 
 severely felt and deeply regretted. It has been erected in 
 accordance with the admirable plan of an architect, whose works 
 display his superior taste and skill wherever they are seen ; and 
 with industry and faithfulness on the part of contractors and 
 workmen, which deserve and command our grateful recognition. 
 
51 
 
 Its interior adornments — alike most valuable and useful bear 
 
 testimony to the liberality of donors closely connected by family 
 ties and associations with the people of the place. 
 
 And now, Sir, long after he who addresses you, and they in 
 whose behalf I am speaking, shall have passed away from all 
 earthly scenes, may this hall, in all its beauty, bear testimony to 
 them who shall succeed us, of the appreciation and grateful 
 acknowledgment of the services of yourself and your associates 
 of the Building Committee, by the present citizens of Medfield. 
 
 These keys, as I have said, are a symbol of the trust which 
 is now committed to us. That trust. Sir, we will faithfully keep. 
 This beautiful hall reveals to us, and will speak to others, of the 
 name and the liberality of our noble benefactor. His name you 
 have inscribed on the tablet which meets the eye at the entrance 
 of the building, and the beauty and perfection of which must . 
 strike every beholder. And, by God's blessing, we will transmit 
 the building, uninjured, to future generations, with that tablet 
 still bearing the memorial which we all feel to be most truly 
 deserved : — 
 
 '• Semper lioi}nnnidiis apitd po-^^teros.''^ 
 
 x^n appropriate prayer of dedication was then offered 
 by Rev. Mr. Sewall, after which Robert R. Bishop, Esq., 
 delivered the following address. 
 
 ADDRESS BY ROBERT R. BISHOP, ESQ. 
 
 We come again. — in the beautiful Indian summer, when the 
 forests are purple and gold, and the showers of their falling 
 leaves carpet the earth, — we gather again, to open the doors of 
 ^/lis hall. The fire has done its work. The beautiful structure 
 which you had hoped to hand down to posterity is ashes. We 
 come to find the legacy reproduced by faithful hands, in con- 
 struction more thorough, with all known defects removed, as 
 
artistic, as beautiful ; and we sincerely trust that if the youngest 
 child in Medfield shall live to the age of our venerable friend 
 whose chair to-day is vacant, * or of the other venerable men 
 whom I see before me, fathers of the town, whose lives have 
 been its life, and whose biographies have been its history for so 
 many years, the child shall die with its walls still standing, and 
 its doors still open for the performance of the public duties of a 
 free people. 
 
 So much was consumed ; so much has been restored. But 
 all was not destroyed. What if the records had gone ! Thanks 
 to a wooden safe, built when oak lumber was plenty and work- 
 manship you may be sure was genuine and sincere, — thanks 
 that it was not a modern contrivance with a coat of black paint 
 to keep the fire out and a hole to let it in, — the records were 
 not lost. The tale of the life of this town from the days of 
 Ralph Wheelock to your own is still preserved and speaks from 
 their pages. Do not forget that they contain the germ of all 
 that makes us a free people. " Child of the Reformation," — the 
 historian says, — "Child of the Reformation, closely connected 
 with the past centuries and with the greatest intellectual strug- 
 gles of mankind, New^ England had been planted by enthusiasts 
 who feared no sovereign but God." f These enthusiasts were 
 scattered all over the colony. Every little town bristled with 
 them, and when the time for the great struggle came, turn back 
 the leaves of your own records for a century to find how well 
 your fathers comported with the grandeur of the occasion ; turn 
 them back to find every principle of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence previously asserted in your own town meetings ; turn 
 them back to challenge attention to the eloquent, the fervid, the 
 daring, the righteous and the prophetic language of the unknown 
 draughtsman, which would have done honor to the pen of Joseph 
 
 ♦The late Rev. Dr. Allen, of Noitlilioio. t Bancroft.Vol. 4, p. 151. 
 
53 
 
 Warren or of Samuel Adams or of Josiah Quincy, Jr., and which 
 the town voted should be " put upon file in the town records, as 
 a memorial to ages yet unborn of the present generation's high 
 sense of the importance of our natural and charter liberties." 
 What if the train of unborn generations which was to read these 
 words, with increasing awe as the ages pass, had been cut short 
 on the morning of the eighth of January, eighteen hundred and 
 seventy-four ! 
 
 And if there were heroes in those days, — if they were your 
 ancestors and mine, — what is the lesson which their lives teach ? 
 They show the true character of an American citizen, then, now, 
 to the latest generation. Either we have no opportunities given 
 us from God, or we ought to be ashamed of ourselves if, accord- 
 ing to the measure of our opportunities and the character of our 
 circumstances, we do not likewise prove ourselves faithful to 
 the high trusts of men. It would indeed be an empty worship 
 to bow at the shrine of the past and not to attempt to incor- 
 porate into our own characters its strength, and truth. In the 
 comparison I am ashamed to walk the same streets, to look 
 upon the same landscape, to have derived my existence from the 
 same spot, if I emulate not the same qualities. To-day we come 
 into this hall for the formal and congratulatory exercises of its 
 opening ; to-morrow *' you will occupy it for a far more important 
 purpose. See to it, that as the liberties of the country were 
 born of the vigilance of the people in their town-meetings, they 
 be not lost by their neglect. 
 
 The present danger is not an open one ; it is as insidious as 
 it is dangerous. The danger to the country now takes the 
 form either of corruption or of indifference. And these evils 
 usually go hand in hand. Did you ever observe it } the best 
 men usually aid the worst men, until the best men wake up. 
 
 * The day of the annual election. 
 
54 
 
 Then they crush the worst men, and then go to sleep again ; 
 and the rascal comes again, and makes a trade of the virtue he 
 claims to have, and gets elected. Thus the best play into the 
 hands of the worst. There is no sight so pitiful as men of the 
 best purposes and motives led captive at the will of a charlatan, 
 unaware of his wiles, unconscious of his power, beguiled by his 
 parade of virtue. The vice of modern times, — glitter for gold, 
 pretence for reality, profession for principle, — wins the victory 
 if you are not ever on the alert. No wonder that character 
 shrinks from a contest, and propriety even from contact, with 
 the worst element in politics. No wonder that all the better 
 elements of our nature turn with aversion from the field where 
 public office is sought for private advantage, and the high mo- 
 tives which ought to animate a public servant give place to the 
 basest. But remember that the fate of the country depends 
 upon whether true men abandon the active field. Will you 
 accomplish the purpose of dishonest politicians by allowing them 
 alone to attend to the concerns of the public .'' In the conse- 
 quences I know not which is the worst, the corrupt politician 
 seeking place, or the man who from whatever motive, — distaste, 
 indifference, or sentimentality, — mistakes his duty so far that he 
 will have nothing to do with public affairs. Therefore I appeal 
 — I instinctively appeal — to. the men of this town to attend to 
 the duties for the performance of which this hall is provided. 
 Be citizens. Be vigilant citizens. Never seek the power of 
 office; never avoid the responsibilities of men! 
 
 "Of what avail is plough, or sail, 
 If freedom fail ! " 
 
 And if you differ from me in my estimate of the importance 
 of this subject, — if you think attention to these duties may be 
 excused, and especially in a small town, — there is one question 
 
55 
 
 which I wish to ask. In the year eighteen hundred and fifty- 
 one, this, town chose as its representative to the General Court a 
 man, who, throughout the great contest as to who should be the 
 successor of Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United States, 
 voted, steadily and continuously, at every ballot from the begin- 
 ning to the end, for Charles Sumner. He was never absent, he 
 never wavered ; the roll-call still shows his name. And when 
 after the lapse of nearly three months from the beginning, on 
 the twenty-sixth ballot, Charles Sumner was elected by precisely 
 the requisite number of votes without a single vote to spare, he 
 had the satisfaction of knowing that his fidelity had achieved 
 the grand result. If this were now any question of party, — if 
 there now remained any savor of party about it, — it would be in 
 a high degree improper on this occasion to allude to it. But 
 Charles Sumner, thank God, before he died had proved to the 
 world how far he was' beyond the domain of party. As in the 
 light of history we look back upon that event, as no eye but a 
 prophet's could then discern it, we say, It was the Providence of 
 God ; and my question is : Which of you will undertake to esti- 
 mate the consequences to mankind if your representative in 
 eighteen hundred and fifty-one had faltered in his course ? 
 
 And thus, friends, as we dedicate this building, and bid 
 welcome to it for all the future all good thoughts, all high aspi- 
 rations, all fitting speech, all exhilarating song, decorous and 
 enlivening festivities for youth, serious and grave affairs for 
 men; we perform — is it not so.? — the high work also of dedi- 
 cating ourselves to the best in life ; to the best in life, for life 
 and forever ; allegiance to the truth, in politics, morals, society ; 
 hatred of shams ; a steady, undeviating purpose, and an unwaver- 
 ing faith. For as God lives, He crowns the work and never fails 
 to set His seal upon the honest effort of the earnest soul. Thus 
 shall we best thank the donor of this hall, — himself a vigilant 
 
56 
 
 citizen, — himself an example both of the spirit of private recti- 
 tude and of public honor, — thank, him with our lives, which are 
 better than our words. 
 
 At the close of Mr. Bishop's Address several gentle- 
 men responded in earnest words appropriate to senti- 
 ments read by the President. Rev. J. H. Wiggin, of 
 Marlboro; Rev. Mr. Crane, of Medfield; R. T. Lom- 
 bard, Esq., of Medfield; J. B. Hale, Esq., of Medfield; 
 George Cummings, of Medfield ; T. W. Silloway, of 
 Boston; N. T. Allen, of West Newton; R. R. Bishop, 
 Esq., of Newton ; and W. H. Baldwin, of Boston. 
 
A BRIEF SKETCH 
 
 MINISTRY IN THE SEVERAL CHURCHES IN MEDFIELD. 
 
 FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 This church was organized in the course of the year 1650. No 
 more definite record of its organization remains. Rev. John Wilson, 
 Jr., — son of Rev. John Wilson, first Pastor of the First Church in 
 Charlestown, and afterwards first Pastor of the First Church in Bos- 
 ton — was installed first Pastor of the church, December, 165 1. He 
 was a member of the first class graduated at Harvard University, in 
 1642. He had been previously ordained and settled as Pastor of the 
 First Church in Dorchester, and as Coadjuto)- of Rev. Richard Mather, 
 Teacher of that church. He continued in the active and faithful dis- 
 charge of his ministry in Medfield during forty years ; preaching twice 
 on the last Sabbath before his death, August 23, 1691.* 
 
 Rev. Joseph Baxter was ordained Pastor, April 21, 1697. Eighty 
 persons were then members of the church, and three hundred and 
 seventy-one were added during his ministry. Mr. Baxter was widely 
 known, and universally esteemed among the most influential ministers 
 of the times. 
 
 Rev. Jonathan Townsend was received into the church and ordained 
 Pastor, October 23, 1745. During his ministry — which terminated 
 October 9, 1769 — sixty-four members were added to the church. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Prentiss, D.D., was admitted to full communion and 
 ordained Pastor of the church, October 31, 1770. His character was 
 highly esteemed, and his influence was extensively felt throughout this 
 
 *"Tlie flr.-t instance, as far as is known, of prayer at a funeral in Massachusetts, was at 
 the burial of the Rev. William Adams, of Roxbiiry, An^ust 19, 1G85 when, as Judge Sewall 
 noted in his Diary, 'Mr. Wilson, of Medfield, prayed with the company before they went 
 to the grave.' " — LerhforcVs Plain Uenling, x). 89. 
 
58 
 
 community, and in all the neighboring churches. He died, universally 
 beloved and lamented, February 28, 18 14, in the sixty-seventh year of 
 his age, and the forty-fourth of his ministry. One hundred and eighty- 
 eight members were added to the church while he was its Pastor, 
 
 Rev. Daniel Clark Sanders, D.D., — recently President of Vermont 
 University, and, previously, Pastor of the Congregational Church in 
 Vergennes, Vt., — was unanimously invited to become Pastor, Decem- 
 ber 7, 1814, and was installed, May 24, 1815. Eighty-seven persons 
 were then members of the church ; and, during his ministry — which 
 terminated, March 2, 1829 — forty members were added. 
 
 The church continued united and in harmony until 1827. At this 
 time the discussions and dissensions prevalent in the community, in 
 relation to various points of doctrine and of church polity, were the 
 occasion of much agitation and discord here. Several members of the 
 church, together with the two Deacons, withdrew ; and, impelled by 
 their religious convictions, formed a Second Congregational Church 
 and Societ}^ During the ministry of Dr. Sanders, a large and flour- 
 ishing Sunday School was formed, in 18 18. This was one of the first 
 Sunday Schools established in the vicinit}'. Stoves, for heating the 
 meeting-house, were first introduced here in 1826. 
 
 Rev. James Augustus Kendall — son of Rev. James Kendall, 
 D.p., of Plymouth, Mass., — was admitted to full communion, and 
 ordained Pastor of the church, November 10, 1830. He was dismissed, 
 at his own request, June 26, 1837, and cordially recommended to the 
 sympathy and fellowship of any church with which he might, in the 
 providence of God, become connected. During his ministry twenty 
 members were added to the church. The Church Covenant was 
 simplified. A new Hymn Book, compiled by Rev. F. W. P. Green- 
 wood, of Boston, was adopted. 
 
 During the interval between the dismission of Mr. Kendall and 
 the settlement of his successor, the meeting-house was remodeled, 
 and thoroughly repaired. Its position was changed, a steeple erected, 
 and a vestry added. 
 
 Rev. Charles Robinson, formerly Pastor of the Congregational 
 Church in Eastport, Maine, and recently of the First Church in 
 Groton, Mass., was installed Pastor, October 16, 1839. After an 
 able and faithful ministry, during which twenty members were added 
 to the church, he was dismissed, at his own request, October 16, 1850, 
 
 Rev. Rushton D. Burr was ordained Pastor of the church, January 
 
59 
 
 12, 1853, find entered upon the work of his ministry with much zeal 
 and industry. Having received a call to become Pastor of the Unita- 
 rian Church in Marietta, Ohio, his pastoral connection was dissolved, 
 at his own request, September 6, 1857. During his ministry five 
 members were added to the church. 
 
 Rev. Solon W. Bush —recently Pastor of the Unitarian Congrega- 
 tional Church in Burlington, Vt., —was installed Pastor, December 
 24, 1 85 7. During his peaceful and efficient ministry twenty-three 
 members were added to the church. He was dismissed, at his own 
 request, in 1865, and became editor of the Christian Register, a weekly 
 religious paper published in Boston ; and is now acting Pastor of the 
 First Congregational Cluirch in Needham, Mass. 
 
 Rev. James H. Wiggin — recently Pastor of the Second Congrega- 
 tional Church in Marblehead, Mass.,— was installed Pastor, October 
 6, 1867. During his ministry the plan was adopted of having only 
 one sermon on Sunday, and this in the afternoon, preceded by the 
 services of the Sunday School, which was systematized and enlarged, 
 and made one of the most efficient and successful schools in^the 
 vicinity. Conference meetings were held on Sunday evenings, and a 
 series of public lectures given during the winter. The prosperity of 
 the church and the Sunday School was thought to exceed that of any 
 former period of their history. Mr. Wiggin — having received a call 
 to become Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Marlborough, 
 Mass., — was dismissed, at his own request, March i, 1873. During 
 his efficient ministry fifteen members were added to the church. 
 Repairs are now being made upon the church edifice, costing upwards 
 of 56,000. 
 
 BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 N-irlyone hundred years after the settlement and incorporation 
 of the town, a few persons — entertaining the sentiments and convic- 
 tions of the Baptist denomination of Cln-istians — began to hold 
 meetings for separate religious worship. From this small nucleus 
 proceeded, soon afterwards, a society of quite considerable numbers 
 and strength. The first meeting-house was built in 1770. A church, 
 consisting of twent3--nine members, was organized in 1776. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Gair — a member of the First Baptist Church in Boston, 
 and a graduate of Brown University — was unanimously invited to 
 become Pastor, August 25, 1776, and was ordained to that office, Sep- 
 tember 18, 1776. An extensive revival was enjoyed in 1778; during 
 
6o 
 
 which thirty-six members were added to the church. The society was 
 also increased in like proportion, and then embraced, it was said, the 
 greater part of the wealth and intelligence of the town. 
 
 This brightest period of its history was succeeded by many years of 
 darkness and distress. The church was rent by controversies and 
 discussions. Expectations — apparently well grounded — of a large 
 pecuniary legacy were disappointed. So discouraging was the condi- 
 tion and prospect of affairs, that a meeting was called for the express 
 purpose of dissolving the society. The completion of this purpose 
 was happily, and, it would seem, providentially, prevented. 
 
 From the year 1808 preaching was constantly maintained. 
 
 In 18 10, Rev. William Gammell was unanimously invited to 
 become Pastor, and accepted the invitation. He possessed peculiar 
 gifts for the ministry, and was popular and influential as a citizen. 
 Under his pastoral care the church and society prospered. His 
 resignation, in 1823, was much regretted by them, and by the commu- 
 nity. He had baptized eighty-eight persons. After his removal, 
 twenty-five members of the church — then residents of Dedham — 
 withdrew, and formed an independent society there. The number 
 remaining in the original church was now sixty-nine. 
 
 In 1824, Rev. J. Ballard was, by vote of the church, constituted 
 Moderator of all future meetings. Without any more formal intro- 
 duction to the pastoral office, he was very successful in the discharge 
 of its duties for the space of about four years. The former prosperity 
 of the church appeared to be returning when his removal again dark- 
 ened the prospect. 
 
 The pulpit was now supplied, for several months, by Rev. J. A. 
 Boswell. 
 
 In 1830, Rev. Moses Curtis became Pastor, by unanimous vote of 
 the church. During his ministry, of about three years, the church was 
 enlarged ; but it also experienced seasons of great trial. He baptized 
 twenty-three persons. 
 
 His immediate successor — Rev. Amos Lefavour — appears to 
 have been a man of singular temperament, and of absurd pretensions. 
 During the few months of his ministr}-, he was thought to have done 
 all in his power to injure or destroy the church. 
 
 In 1834, Rev. Horatio Loring was unanimously invited to become 
 Pastor of the church. He accepted the invitation: and, after a niin- 
 
6i 
 
 istry of three years, the dissokition of his pastoral connection was 
 universally regretted. 
 
 In 1838, the meeting-house now occupied by the society was built. 
 It was dedicated on the third day of October, and the Rev. D. W. 
 Phillips was, at the same time, ordained Pastor of the church. In 
 1841, a revival — resembling that in 1778 — was enjoyed, and many 
 were added to the church. In 1845, a season of severe trial was 
 experienced. Throughout New England great moral and religious 
 questions agitated the whole community, and the peace and union of 
 many churches w^ere nearly extinguished. Ficm this tribulation the 
 church in Medfield came out strong in harmony and brotherly love ; 
 and afterwards possessed a more commanding position and influ- 
 ence in the community than it had obtained at any previous period of 
 its history. Mr. Phillips dissolved his pastoral connection in 1S50. 
 
 He was immediately succeeded by Rev. George G. Fairbanks, who 
 was settled in 185 1, and continued Pastor of the church till 1855. 
 During his very able ministry ten members were added to the church. 
 
 Rev. J. W. Lathrop beccm.e Pastor in 1856. His peaceful and 
 faithful ministry continued till 1862, and sixty-three mem.bers were 
 added to the church. 
 
 Rev. Amos Plarris succeeded Mr. Lathrop. His ministry con- 
 tinued about three years, and twenty-four members were added to the 
 church. Mr. Harris was held in highest esteem and affection by his 
 flock, and in universal respect by the community. He was compelled, 
 on account of failing health, to dissolve his pastoral connection, in 
 1865. 
 
 Rev. A. W. Carr — previously Pastor of the Baptist Church in 
 Framingham — was the successor of Mr. Harris. During his minis- 
 try, which terminated in 1870, the society prospered, and twenty-eight 
 members were added to the church. 
 
 Rev. A. M. Crane — a recent graduate of the Theological Institu- 
 tion at Newton — is the present Pastor of the church, and, by ability 
 and fidelity in the discharge of the duties of his office, is winning uni- 
 versal respect and esteem. 
 
 During the year 1874, the house of worship was repaired and 
 improved at an expense of $12,575, one-half of the amount having 
 been paid by Mr. George Cummings. 
 
62 
 
 SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 The Second Congregational Church was organized February 6, 
 1827, consisting of seventeen members. 
 
 Rev. Arthur Granger was installed F'astor, April 20, 1831. Pre- 
 vious to this time the church had received an accession of twenty-five 
 members, and during his pastorate, which terminated August 27, 1832, 
 twenty-four were added to the membership. 
 
 Rev. Walter Bidwell was installed Pastor, September 19, 1833, 
 and dismissed April 18, 1836, having received twenty-two members. 
 
 Rev, Charles Walker was installed Pastor, June 21, 1827, dis- 
 missed, August 21, 1838. 
 
 Rev. John Ballard supplied the pulpit a year and a half, com- 
 mencing September, 1838, and received five members. 
 
 From January, 1841, Rev. Moses G. Grosvenor supplied about the 
 same length of time, and received to the church five members. 
 
 Rev. Thomas T. Richmond was installed Pastor, October 25, 1S42, 
 and dismissed, September 12, 1855. Tiiirty-four were added] to the 
 church. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Bigelow, D.D., was installed Pastor, September 12, 
 1855, and dismissed, September 5, 1866, having received seventy-one 
 members. 
 
 In April, 1867, Rev. Chester Bridgman was hired for one year, 
 during which time he received ten persons to church fellowship. 
 
 Rev. J. M. R. Eaton, declining a call to settle, commenced his 
 labors as acting Pastor in 1869. The present membership of the 
 church is one hundred and four. During the year 1843 a chapel was 
 built, the church repaired, and a new organ placed in it, at an expense 
 of some over $4,500, of which sum Mr. F. D. Ellis furnished about 
 
 It is obvious how exceedingly brief the settlements, and how 
 unstable the condition, of the ministry during the last half century. 
 The ordination of a Pastor is but rarely mentioned in the history of 
 these churches during that period. Every Pastor of the Second 
 Congregational Church, since its formation, has been installed into his 
 office, having been previously settled elsewhere. The churches in 
 Medfield do not present exceptional cases in this matter; and the 
 fact proves how great a change has taken place in the ecclesiastical 
 relations and in the religious sentiments of the community. 
 
63 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
 
 The need of a well-organized Public Library, fully adapted to the 
 growing wants of intelligent minds, had been long felt and remarked 
 upon in the community. In view of the erection of a spacious and 
 elegant Town Hall, the subject became more generally rgitated, and 
 awakened more intense interest and activity. Preparations were made 
 by the ladies for a public Fair upon a large and generous plan, — the 
 proceeds of which should be appropriated to the establishment of a 
 library ; and the sum of |8oo was obtained as the result of their exer- 
 tions, A meeting of the citizens was held November 5, 1872, at which 
 it was voted that a room in the Town Hall should be set apart and 
 suitably furnished for the acccmmodation of a Public Library, A 
 Poard of Trustees was elected to manage and control said Library and 
 all property belonging to it ; to receive all gifts and bequests in aid of 
 it, in trust for the town, and to allow the use and enjoyment of it to 
 all the inhabitants of the town, under such rules, regulations and 
 restrictions as said Trustees shall from time to time make concerning 
 it. Whereupon, Deacon George Cummings, with characteristic liber- 
 ality, offered to give f 500 in aid of the Library, as soon as it should 
 be established ; and also $i,coo, in addition, as soon as an equal sum 
 should be made up by the citizens, for the like purpose. This offer 
 was accepted, and a room was at once set apart and prepared for the 
 accommodation of the Library. Deacon Cumimings then proposed to 
 enlarge his previous contribution of ^500, by adding ^300, in order to 
 make it equal to the proceeds of the Fair. A committee w-as chosen 
 to select and purchase books. Miss Mary A. Sewall was appointed 
 Librarian. And on the 29th of March, 1873, the Library — consisting 
 of two thousand volumes-^ was opened to the public, under suitable 
 regulations. Pooks are taken and exchanged on the afternoon of 
 Wednesday and the evening of Saturday, in each week. 
 
 We regard this Institution as of incalculable importance and worth 
 to the community; and esteem it highly creditable to the taste and 
 intelligence of the citizens, that it is so well appreciated and con- 
 stantly used. * 
 
 * This Library was mostly destroyed by fire on the morning of January 8, 1874, since 
 which time it has been partially replenished. 
 
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