The story of the transfer of the Island of Nantucket from the English
Government to Thomas Mayhew, and from him and the Indians to the white
settlers, has so often been told that a mere summary is all that is
required here, in order to preserve the continuity of the narrative.
Nantucket was included in the Royal grant to Plymouth Company in 1621,
and Lord Stirling and Sir Ferdinand Gorges were the Commissioners
deputed to promote the colonization of the territory, including the
islands south of Cape Cod.
Lord Stirling appointed James Forrett as his agent in New York for
the sale or other disposal of the Colony, and Forrett sold the island
of Nantucket, in 1641, (when it was under the jurisdiction of the
Province of New York), to Thomas Mayhew, an Englishman, who emigrated
to New England in 1631, and who first settled at Watertown. Mayhew not
only purchased Nantucket, and the adjacent islands, but became a part
proprietor of Martha’s Vineyard and Governor of that island. He is said
to have been a good colonizer—always a friend to the Indians—and was
the means of preventing them from engaging in Philip’s war. He founded
Edgartown in 1647, and from him were descended numerous missionaries to
the Indians, amongst whom they had much influence, and spoke the Indian
language fluently.
The islands remained in the possession of the Mayhews (father and son),
until 1659, when they were transferred to ten purchasers, including
Mayhew himself, (as he reserved to himself and his heirs one-twentieth
part of the property for his own use.)
From a reliable genealogy of the Coffin family[6] it appears that in
the spring of 1659 “Tristram Coffin proceeded upon a voyage of inquiry
and observation—first to Martha’s Vineyard where he secured Peter
Folger, the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, as an interpreter of the
Indian language; and thence to Nantucket, his object being to ascertain
the temper and disposition of the Indians, and the capabilities of
the island, so that he might report to the citizens of Salisbury what
inducements for emigration thither were offered.”
[6] =Vide= Godfrey’s =Island of Nantucket=, p. 169.
He was evidently impressed favorably by what he saw and heard, for,
when he returned to Salisbury, Mass., a company was formed, and the
purchase of the island determined. In the autumn of 1659 Thomas Macy,
Edward Starbuck, James Coffin, Isaac Coleman and some of their wives
and children sailed in an open boat for Nantucket, where they arrived
safely, and spent the winter of 1659–60 on the island.
In July, 1660, Starbuck returned to Salisbury and Amesbury, and induced
a number of families to accompany him back to Nantucket, and as time
went on the little colony received numerous additions.[7]
[7] Most, if not all, of the English settlers came from Salisbury,
Mass., and its neighborhood.
Each of the original colonists was permitted to name an associate,
so that the island was primarily divided into twenty shares, and as
these were anxious to add to their number, and to induce artisans
and mechanics to come among them, the number of shares was ultimately
increased to twenty-seven, these including the entire island, with the
exception of the “common” land, and that reserved by Mr. Mayhew for his
own use.[8]
[8] For copies of Mr. Mayhew’s deeds =Vide= Macy’s =History of
Nantucket=.
During the next hundred years—say from 1664 to 1774—the records contain
the many transfers of lots of land deeded by the Indians to the
English, until, indeed, the entire island became the property of the
white settlers.
Before the legal purchase of the island could be ratified, it was
necessary to secure the sanction of the representative Indian chiefs
and this was duly obtained as appears from the following deed, dated
May 10th, 1660:—