HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[82] all those joys are over, those battles fought, those council-fires extinguished, and those hopes prostrate in the dust; and, instead thereof, he sees the white man, who has wrought all these desolations, rushing towards him. For a moment he forgets himself. The avenging ire of the Indian rises within him, the blood crimsons his manly cheek, and he seizes with convulsive grasp his tomahawk and bow; but the next instant tells him it is too late. All is lost. He drops his tomahawk on the ground, shoots his last arrow towards the east, lifts his right hand in adoration of the Great Spirit, and then, all unconquered, leaps from the precipice into the stormy sea, and closes the history of his race.

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Mathew Cradock.

Medford owes its first settlement to the influence of Governor Cradock and Governor Winthrop. The first gentleman was the richest individual attached to the New England Company; and he gave his money with the freedom of an enthusiast. In vol. IX., No. 2, of the New England Genealogical Register, is the genealogy of Gov. Cradock. He lived in Swithin's Lane, London, near London Stone; and “had a house furnished at Rumford, in Essex.” The first that we hear of him is as a distinguished merchant, taking a deep interest in the Puritan cause and in the settlement of New England. He was especially instrumental in forming the “Company of Massachusetts Bay,” whose organization was the first systematic effort for the permanent settlement of this Colony. To obtain a charter was a primary object; and he was among the foremost in petitioning the king. The boon was finally granted by Charles First, March 4, 1628-9, and called the “Charter of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.” In this important document, the king says: “And for the better execution of our royal pleasure and grant in this behalf, we do, by this present, for us, our heirs and successors, nominate, make, and constitute our well-beloved the said Mathew Cradock, to be the first and present Governor of the said company.” The Governor was to be chosen annually; and, May 13, 1629, Mr. Cradock was elected to that office. Whenever a “Court” was held in London (and they were held very often), the Governor presided. The Court consisted of the Governor, Deputy-Governor, Secretary, and Assistants. They were the government of the