Medford was a small, pleasant village at the beginning of the eighteenth century with a population of fewer than people. By , 1, persons were counted in the town in the national census of that year. Not all residents in the town were free.
In a census of Negro slaves in Massachusetts Bay in , there were thirty-four enslaved people over the age of sixteen living in Medford. Twenty-seven were men and seven were women. By the population of enslaved peoples in Medford had increased to forty-nine.
Slavery was finally outlawed in in the case of Commonwealth v. Pomp, an enslaved man of Thomas Brooks, is said to have built it around ; in the yard of the Royall House 35 feet from the mansion, stands the Slave Quarters. Census and probate records have preserved the names of more than 60 men, women and children enslaved by the Royalls.
Religion was a vital part of the life of the country town. The meeting- house which had been erected just before the close of the seventeenth century served as the church for two decades into the new century.
Later a steeple was added. Aaron Porter was the first settled minister. He was called in May , ordained a year later, and served until his death in Turell preached the dedication sermon for the second meeting house, September 3, During his pastorate he noted that he had preached more than five thousand sermons and baptized over one thousand persons.
