house of worship on Nelson's hill, seems to have been erected in 1731. A council of three churches met April 16th, 1734; and on the 18th embodied the South Church, with sixteen male members. On the 4th of September following, Jonathan Sargeant and Ebenezer Upham were chosen ruling elders, and John Mudge deacon. Rev. Joseph Stimpson, of Charlestown, was settled as pastor of this church, September 24th, 1735. He appears to have been frequently disabled by sickness from occupying the desk, and was consequently dismissed in 1744. In 1737, the south part of the town, with the exception of eight families, was incorporated by the General Court, into a separate religious precinct. It was several years before their sanctuary was finished, if it ever was; and those who resorted to it never enjoyed the convenience of a public road, as it stood, unfortunately, in the midst of the lots. Two years after Mr. Stimpson's dismissal, this precinct invited Joseph Emerson, Jr., a son of the minister of the old parish, to become their pastor; but the terms of settlement were not acceptable to him. In 1747, Rev. Aaron Cleveland was installed over them, and was dismissed in two or three years. In 1752, the old parish proposed a union with the south precinct, on condition that the new meeting-house, whose location had caused the division, should be taken down and removed to the place where the first house of worship used to stand. But the southerners refused the motion. In 1752, Rev. Eliakim Willis became pastor of the south society. In the course of thirty or forty years their interests so far decayed that they barely maintained the forms of public worship. Mr. Willis was obliged to take the Parsonage to satisfy his claims for salary. He then preached for some time for a little pittance, which was raised from Sabbath to Sabbath. In the summer of 1787, i in consequence of disaffection with Rev. Mr. Judson, then minister of the first parish, a score of individuals of influence went off and joined the south precinct. This was a seasonable reinforcement to that declining society. They repaired the meetinghouse, on that bleak and lonely hill. They found the windows sadly shattered, the clap-boards hanging down by the end, and the whole edifice presenting a most cheerless and desolate aspect. The heart of Mr. Willis was greatly revived. On the dismission of Mr. Judson, in 1791, the way seems to have been opened for the healing of the old schism. A reconciliation took place; and on the 25th of March, 1792, the first and second churches were incorporated into one, after a separation of more than fifty-five years. By this measure, Mr. Willis became pastor of the united churches. In 1729, the north part of Malden, including ten families, was annexed to Reading. There is extant a Petition, "To the Great and General Court," of Timothy Sprague, of Malden, miller, relating to his mill privileges, and bearing date December, 1751. On the back of this petition, there is a petition in aid, signed by the following inhabitants of Malden: Nathaniel Howard, Edward Halloway, William Sprague, John Stower, Thomas Parker, Jr., Samuel Sprague, Lemuel Jenkins, Phinehas Sprague, Jr., Samuel Wayte, Jr., Joses Bucknam, In 1736, an alarming disease prevailed in the town, effecting especially the children. It was called the "throat distemper." Forty died of it in the town from the beginning of July to the 20th of October. Two families buried three, others four each, and one family five. In February 4th, 1761, the Selectmen sold a mulatto child to Mr. Solomon Townsend. There were formerly a number of persons of African descent held in chains of bondage among us, one or two of whom survived until within a very few years. There is a tradition that one of our old Esquires of this town had a slave who had been in his family until he was about seventy years of age. Perceiving that there was not much more work left in the old man, the Esquire took him one day, and made him a somewhat pompous address to the following effect. "You have been a faithful servant to me and my father before me. I have long been thinking what I should do to reward you for your services. I give you your freedom! You are your own master; you are your own man." Upon this the old negro shook his grisly head, and with a sly glance, showing that he saw through his master's intentions, quietly replied; "No, no, Massa, you eat de meat, and now you must pick de bone.” During the Revolutionary war, it was voted in a legal town-meeting, to choose a committee to go and remonstrate with the Committee of Supplies at Watertown, or else with the Honorable Provincial Congress, informing them, "That with great grief they observed the breach of the Sabbath made by multitudes of teams travelling upon that day, and other persons unnecessarily journeying; and to desire that they would take effectual measures to prevent the same for the future." In 1770 the town gave another proof of strong moral principle, by voting "That we will not use any foreign tea, nor countenance the use of it in our families unless for sickness, till the revenue acts are repealed." In consequence of the depreciation of the Continental currency, the town, in 1779, passed a sumptuary law regulating the price of various commodities. Among other things, it was fixed, "That the price of men's good leather shoes should be £5 2s 0; and women's do. £3 12s 0; that W. I. toddy should be 16s a bowl, and New England Rum 12s a bowl." This vote was afterwards reconsidered; and it was determined that toddy should be 18s a bowl when made with loaf sugar, and 16s when made with brown." No other incidents of material importance connected with the history of the town during this century are in our possession, aside from the ecclesiastical affairs, which are more fully noticed in the account of the ministers of the town, and the colonial struggles with the mother country, so largely treated of in Mr. Green's Bi-Centennial Oration. The present brick meeting-house was erected on the spot where the former house stood, in 1802. The following laconic note in reference to the building of the house stands on record; date Dec. 7, 1801: Voted, to build a brick meeting-house. Voted, to purchase the bricks rather than make them. Voted, to pass over the 6th and 7th articles. Voted, to adjourn. A bell for the use of the town was given by "Lord Timothy Dexter" of eccentric memory. The following vote of thanks was presented to him: Voted, That we are deeply sensible of the honor done by Timothy Dexter, Esq., in the donation of the large and elegant bell which he has presented us. That we hope to retain a grateful remembrance of our obligations to him; and unanimously request Mr. Dexter to accept our sincere thanks for the honor conferred upon the people of his native town." There were originally two cupolas on the house, which were removed, agreeably to a vote of the parish, in 1824, and the present steeple was erected instead of them. ANCIENT MINISTRY OF MALDEN. The first year or two of its existence, the infant church was supplied by a lay preacher, "a godly Christian named M. Sarjant," who is supposed to be the ancestor of those who bear the name in this town. He was assisted occasionally by certain" young Students from the College." MARMADUKE MATHEWS. Of the early life of this afflicted man, few traces can be found. He was the son of Matthew Mathews, and was born at Swansey, in the Welsh county of Glamorgan, in the year 1605. By the matriculation-books of Oxford University, where he is entered as a "plebeian," we find him, at the age of eighteen, a scholar of All Souls' College. He was evidently a man of learning, talent, and ardent piety. He arrived at Boston, in a ship from Barnstable, September 21, 1638; and was first settled in the Plymouth Colony over the church at Yarmouth, to which he went, in company with the first settlers, in the succeeding winter. He took the "freeman's oath at that time. He is named in "Morton's Memorial," under date of 1642, as one of those "Godly and able Gospel Preachers" with whom "about these times the Lord was pleased of his great goodness richly to accomplish and adorn the Colony of Plymouth." He is also mentioned by Hubbard, as among the "many worthy ministers" of that Col ony in 1643. He is also named with respect in the antiquated narration of Lechford. He subsequently got into difficulty on account of some sentiments advanced in his preaching. Having paid the penalty exacted by the magistrates, he left the "Plymouth Patent," probably in 1647, and came into the colony of Massachusetts Bay; these colonies being then, and long after, separate governments or jurisdictions. He preached a short time at Nantasket, probably in 1644, |