will deign to smile either approvingly or compassionately upon these pages; yet it is hoped that the general reader will find them neither dull nor uninstructive. The labors of the Committee have been much aided by the ready and generous assistance of several gentlemen, who are "experts" in the antiquities and genealogies of New England. Among others, grateful acknowledgments are due to Charles Ewer, Esq., of Boston, for many Wigglesworth manuscripts; to Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Concord; to Rev. Aaron Green, of Andover; to Samuel Andrews, Esq., of Boston; to Mr. James D. Green, Dr. T. W. Harris, and Rev. Thomas Whittemore, of Cambridge; and to Mr. T. B. Wyman, Jr., of Charlestown. It was the purpose of the Committee, that a large part of the volume should be occupied with the genealogies of the old Malden families; but it soon became evident, that full justice to this subject would require half a dozen such volumes as this, and years of toilsome research in preparing them. As it is, a few notices of some families, and of some of the first settlers of the town, such as could be procured without a further retardation of the book, are given, in the hope and desire that they may "serve as stepping stones" to those who would hereafter reach more full and satisfactory information. The Committee of Publication would close their duty in the words of the writer of the Book of Maccabees ; "Considering the infinite number, and the difficulty which they find that desire to look into the narrations of the story, for the variety of the matter, we have been careful, that they that will read might have delight, and that they that are desirous to commit to memory might have ease, and that all into whose hands it comes might have profit. Therefore to us, that have taken upon us this painful labor of abridging, it was not easy, but a matter of sweat and watching; even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet, and seeketh the benefit of others; yet for the pleasuring of many, we undertake gladly this great pains." MALDEN, May 24, 1850. A. W. MCCLURE, J. G. ADAMS, WM. H. RICHARDSON, JR. |