The next neighborhood dispute to which attention is called is that of the Rev. Zachariah Symmes, first minister of the Charlestown church, with Mr. Thomas Broughton and Mr. Edward Collins, both of Medford. These three gentlemen were men of distinction in their day. The ministers of the early colonial churches were often paid for their services with other ‘considerations’ than pounds, shillings and pence. Land was cheap, and much of it was given to the ministers. Both John Harvard and Rev. Zachariah Symmes were presented with farms in ancient ‘Waterfield,’ the locality now known as Winchester but originally belonging to Charlestown. This fact may account for the high moral tone for which the town of Winchester has always been celebrated!
The Harvard farm was situated near the present Catholic cemetery in Winchester, and the Symmes farm, of several hundred acres, was situated at head of Mystic lake, and extended nearly to present Winchester center. The first Symmes house was erected in the center of the Winchester playground, and was occupied and afterwards owned by William Symmes, the only son of Zachariah. There are several homesteads in Winchester now owned by descendants of Zachariah Symmes which have never
