Learn about the Revalyon family, free Black Bostonians, who moved their family to Medford in 1828.

Speaker and Local Historian Dee Morris will tell us about Thomas (b. 1777) and Margaret (b. 1781) Revalyon, free Black Bostonians, who moved their family in 1828 to a new house on Cross Street in Medford. Thomas owned a popular Main Street barber salon while Margaret attended to the household. After growing up amid Yankee ship carpenters, three of their children married notable partners: Younger Margaret wed a Black abolitionist, Charlotte married a local West Indian barber, and Robert became the soul mate of Keziah Gould a Native American descended from Massasoit, the Wampanoag who befriended the early Pilgrims. Several Revalyons have found eternal rest in the Cross Street Cemetery section of Oak Grove. The story of their lives in Medford demonstrates the historical diversity of our community.