‘Full of years.’
by Helen T. Wild, May 26, 1905.
AN anniversary like the one we are celebrating this year causes us who are ‘bearing the burden and heat of the day’ to stop a moment and think of those who are retiring into the shadow, but who are looking on, interested witnesses of our doings.We must remember that during the last twenty years great changes in population have taken place, and [p. 79] these elder ones are unknown to many, although they have the affectionate regard of those who, as little children, knew them in their full vigor. It has interested some of us who have been looking up residents of Medford in years past to search for elderly people, natives of this city. As we have examined the records, tender thoughts have filled our minds as we read the names of those whose faces were familiar to us, and found it hard to realize that they have passed on.
Mr.Hall and Mrs. Dudley C. Hall, Mrs. Thomas S. Harlow and her sister, Mrs. Fitch, Miss Helen Porter, Miss Almira Stetson, Mrs. Matilda T. Haskins, Mrs. George F. Lane, Messrs. Elijah B. Smith, Cleopas Johnson, David Osgood Kidder and eighteen others, resident in Medford, have died within the last seven years, all of them born here more than three quarters of a century ago.
We recognized the names of Mr. John K. Fuller of Dorchester, Mrs. Caroline R. (Brooks) Hayes of Woburn, Mrs. Hepsa (Hall) Bradlee of Boston, Mr. Oliver Wellington of Winchester, Mr. Andrew D. Blanchard of Melrose, and Mr. Andrew Waitt of Cambridge, who although no longer residents, claim Medford as their birthplace, and have passed beyond four score years.
The records of the early part of the last century are imperfect, and it is difficult to recognize married women under their maiden names, but as careful a search as possible has resulted in finding the following twenty-six persons who are natives of Medford, born previous to June 1830, who have lived here continuously, or for the greater part of their lives, and who are now residents.
Henry Richardson, b. June 26, 1818,.
Sarah A. (Kimball) Lincoln, b. July 30, 1818.
Mary W. (Todd) Roberts, b. May 15, 1819.
Mary W. (Blanchard) Harlow, b. March 1, 1821.
Elizabeth (Todd) Turner, b. April 18, 1821.
William C. Sprague, b. June 13, 1823.
Mary M. (Cushing) Weston, b. December 27, 1825.
Frederick D. H. Thomas, b. May 8, 1826.
James F. Fifield, b. September 15, 1826.
Harriet W. (Joyce) Brown, b. October 29, 1826.
Mary (White) Hartshorn, b. December 13, 1826. [p. 80]
J. Everett Wellington, b. April 27, 1827.
Mary (Gleason) Waterman, b. July 2, 1827.
Susan R. (Hall) Turner, b. August 29, 1827.
Lucy A. Peck, b. June 24, 1828.
Ann C. (Drew) Jaquith, b. August 1, 1828.
Sarah Jane Blanchard, b. January 13, 1829.
Lucy B. (Butters) Conery, b. February 2, 1829.
Susan E. (Withington) Howe, b. April 20, 1829.
Henry F. Moore, b. June 25, 1829.
Francis A. Wait, b. July 28, 1829.
John H. Haskell, b. July 30, 1829.
Ellen A. Jaquith, b. August 3, 1829.
James B. Ewell, b. Seprember 13, 1829.
Susan R. (Wheeler) Hanscomb, b. October 19, 1829.
Emeline A. Sparreli, February 7, 1830.
