USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 19
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THE MAYHEWS FINALLY ACCEPT THE NEW ORDER.
The New York authorities found that the claims of the Province of Massachusetts Bay to jurisdiction over Martha's Vineyard were well founded, and undertook no further ob- struction towards the new order of things. The Mayhew faction had no support from their old masters, and with as good grace as possible they settled down to make the best of it, and save as much as they could out of the wreck. The
1Mass. Archives, CXII, 453.
2 Acts and Resolves, I, 117-8.
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next year Matthew Mayhew had himself elected as repre- sentative to the General Court for Edgartown, and was thus able to deal personally with anything that might come up inimical to his interests.
The first matter that presented itself was a petition of Tisbury to be made one town with Chilmark, and the entire west end of the island. The petition reads as follows: -
To his Excelency Sir William Phips Knight Capt'n Gener'll and Governor of the province of the massachusetts Bay, the honorable Councel And Representatives assembled :-
Right honourable
We your most humble petitioners the freeholders And Inhabitants of the town of Tisbury on marthas Vineyard humbly pray that an act may pass that Tisbury & Chilmark and the dependances with the westerly end of the Island of marthas Vineyard be made one town or parrash for the better Carrying on all publique affaires there. So shall both and our pos- terity Ever give thanks And pray for your prosperous Government.
Voted at a leagel town meeting held in the Township of Tisbury by the freeholders Inhabitants of said Tisbury this 21 day of march 1694.
forasmuch that our town Clark is at present from home The abvoe written is signed by me PETER ROBINSON
Constable of Tisbury.1
This was one of Athearn's pet schemes, and had undeni- able merit. It was an absurd situation for three small com- munities, Tisbury, Chilmark, and the Gay Head region, to exist as separate precincts, having altogether not over three dozen white families in them, but it was against the policy of Mayhew to permit disintegration of his political structure and his family control of the west end through his manorial privileges. Nothing came of this petition at this time. Later in the year, on October 20th, Athearn thought to interest the General Court in his project by drawing a map showing "how the Iland of marthas vineyard is devided," and at the same time adding further comments on the advantages of con- solidation. "Alreedy there ar Commission officers in the milterry over the foote Cumpeny of tisbury and Chillmark," he wrote, and added, "its a rare thing to Acomplish any thing without error: But if Major Mayhew do deny the substanc of what I here offer to be true I humbly pettition oppertunity face to face to defend the truth above written." The two men were at the General Court together, and the duel was continu-
1This vote is not on the town records, one of the portions probably lost. It was certified by Robert Cathcart, as clerk, on May 3, 1694. (Mass. Archives, CXIII, 58.)
198
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The Island under Puritan Control
ous. Athearn renewed his petition on the same day, in the form of an endorsement on his map. It is worth reprinting entire.
October the 20, 1694
I proposing to Major mayhew yesterday that Tisbury & Chilmark might be made one for the better carrying on all publique affairs there &c it being absolutely deny'd, moveth your suplycant humbly praying this honorable house that an act might passe That all lands on the north side of Chilmark & on the westerly of Chilmark including all the west end of marthas vineyard be made payable in all publique tax & rats To the Town of Tisbury :- if this be granted-Chilmark will soon petition to be one with tisbury-if major mayhew object this I say it seems as Expedient as for Chilmark to Jump over tisbury to Chikkemoo & to Jump over the Sound - to Elzebeths Ils-the end of this motion is to heal our being cut in peces, and to reduce us all in to a competent Township to maintain the worship of God & serve our King & Cuntry which is the prayer of your most humble supplycant
SIMON ATHEARN
major mayhew is only a Representative for Edgartown.1
The answer to this petition was simple and to the point, for it lacked one essential qualification, that "it takes two to make a bargain." The General Court, on Oct. 23, said as follows: -
In answer to the Petition of Mr Simon Athearn in the behalfe of tisbury, voted that when the whole Town of Chilmark they desire may be annext to them shall Request the same the Court may then consider of the granting of the same: and as to his proposal to abaten of their Tax Rate he not having yet made it appear that they are over Rated there can not be any abatement yet made.2
The reference to the abatement of taxes for Tisbury was in response to continued complaints of Athearn that that town was over taxed, as compared to Chilmark, or Tisbury Manor. He had said to the General Court that the province levy "will be very greevious to the pore of tisbury, and more espetialy to my knowledge the most of them have not raised their bread corn this present yeare." As he viewed the valuable farms in the Manor of Tisbury, paying but nominal rates on ac- count of the peculiar tenure of the land, he waxed hot and indignant, "being senceable of the enequality." So when the session was finished, Athearn returned home and prepared himself for a campaign upon the lines indicated by the legisla- ture. Continued defeats did not seem to discourage him.
1Mass. Archives, CVI, 94-6.
2Ibid., CXIII, 58.
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The freeholders of his township were called to consider the subject a month later, and passed the following vote: -
November the 21 day 1694 it is agreed and voted at a legal town meeting that mr Simon Athern Thomas Look John Edy Joseph daggit & peter Robinson are Chosen a Commity for the Town of tisbury for to draw up a petition to the general assembly for an Easment of their tax and for an addition of Lands unsetled to their township 1
In opposition to this, when the petition was given a hear- ing before the committee of the General Court in the following March (1694-5), Mayhew appeared and argued that Tisbury was not overtaxed, and that her lands were undervalued. Athearn answered this both before the council and the com- mittees, and in writing in a petition drawn up for the con- sideration of the General Court. By this time Phips had been recalled to London for unsatisfactory conduct, similar to that which we have already seen, and the document was addressed to the deputy governor.2 From a perusal of the document, it will be seen that the manorial system of land tenure was at the bottom of the controversy about the inequality of the tax rates. Aside from the objections to the manorial system as a discredited institution, there arose an intensely practical objection to its existence, as developed under the management of the surviving lord of the manor.
This province had laid certain general levies upon the towns for the support of the troops and other expenses grow- ing out of the various expeditions against the French and Indians, and these taxes were based upon the valuations of lands. The lands in the manor being held by the lord and rented out, the basis of valuation was made upon the rentals produced, and as the greater part of these lands were leased to the members of the Mayhew family, the rents were nominal, or made so purposely, to depress the valuation for the as- sessors. It can readily be seen how this would work an in- justice, especially where the judicial machinery remained in the hands of the men who were perpetrating the scheme. The following is the literal text of the petition presented by Athearn: -
To the honerable Lentnt Governor & Council & Represenaties assembled in Generall Court in Boston the 12 day of March 1694-5.
Your most humble petitioner, In most humble manner sheweth Being desired by the freeholders of Tisbury on Marthas Vineyard, To move the
1Tisbury Records, p. 26.
2The occupant of the position at this time was William Stoughton.
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The Island under Puritan Control
consideration of theire most humble petition &c. And having much debated the matter, before the honored Comitty, about the disproportion of the province Taxes on marthas vineyard, major mayhew saying that Tisbury had undervalued their Lands may be1 admier'd, seeing, that major mayhew knoweth himself and his Breatherin only, did produce Leasees of their farms Lett for about forty or fifty shillings by the year, of the which honest Renters would give above Four times the value for by the year. To con- sider that major mayhew his breatherin and kindred say their lands and Estates is only in Edgertown & Chilmark or precincts, where those farms was so let by Lease, one Brother to another & from the uncle to the Cousen & from the cousen to the uncle. At length major penn Townsin made sum Eaquell proposals, for the better satisfiing of the Inhabitants for the futor &c.
And your humble supplicant prayeth the honnered house to pass an Act, That There shall be six assessors Chosen, that is, two of Each Town on marthas vineyard & under oath to take a Tru List of all Rateable persons & Estates on marthas vineyard & precincts, And to make one assessment on the whole observing the Law of apprisals of all Estates. And when the dew proportion ariseing in each town is found and devided, the major part agreeing, To deliver the assessment of each town or precincts to the constable of each town to Colect the same. And this Act to take place for the assessment of the province Tax to be payed in June 1695,-be a Rulle for Raising all province taxis on the vineyard, for the futor, And that the town of Tisbury bee enlarged by annexing the Lands & Inhabitants as the humble petition prayeth-But if the honnered House would please To make Tisbury & Chilmark & precincts, to be one Town or parrosh for the better carrying on all publique affairs there (it might be much for our peace And well being) for want of such an able settlement, our foundation is out of fram, being in peces, what Can we doe, but praying your Aid, And for your prosperous Government, Is the desier of your most humble suplycant.2 SIMON ATHEARN.
Indeed, the matter of taxation under the new govern- ment was becoming a serious matter. When the island was under the New York jurisdiction, the taxation was practically limited to the quit-rents, as far as any other evidence is now obtainable, and the change was felt very severely by the farmers of Martha's Vineyard, as soon as the change occurred. Mas- sachusetts had undergone great expenses in the recent wars, and the ordinary disbursements for provincial accounts cur- rent were much larger than in any other colony. In a total levy of £10,000 for New York, the two islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard would be assessed fifty pounds, while by the act of June 17, 1696, the General Court of Massachu- setts made a tax levy of £30,000, and "doomed" the Vine- yard alone to pay £350 of the total amount. This was almost
1Manuscript mutilated.
2Mass. Arch., CXIII, III.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
confiscation in the minds of the people here, and Matthew Mayhew, who that year again represented Edgartown and Chilmark combined, was the medium for the transmission of petitions for the abatement of taxes. Already they were in arrears for rates levied since the union with Massachusetts. He preferred the following petition for relief: -
To the honoured William Stoughton, Lft Gov'r, the honoured Council and Assembly of the great and generall Court of the Mass- achusetts Bay in New England :-
Matthew Mayhew of Marthas Vineyard representing the towns of Edgartown and Chilmark on the said Marthas Vineyard humbly prayeth:
That whereas the inhabitants of the said Marthas Vineyard were by an act passed in this great and generall Court doomed to pay the summe of three hundred pounds as their proportion of a tax or assessment for raising the summe of thirty thousand pounds to be raised in this province and whereas the inhabitants of said Island Marthas Vineyard have prayed that the said summe should not be collected for divers reasons therefore offered: and whereas they humbly conceive that by reason of said doom they have been estimated as more of estate lyeable to bear the charge of the province then had their Estates been truly known would have been of them demanded :- Therefore said Matthew Mayhew in behalf of said Is- land prayeth that an act of this great and generall Court the summe of three hundred pounds be remitted and they shall more chearfully pay the severall summes now due demanded of them: all which your petitioner humbly laying before this great and generall Court humbly prayeth for and shall ever pray &c.
Your honours humble supplicant
MATTHEW MAYHEW
June 17th, 1696
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Read :- Voted in answer to abovesaid petition that-
Marthas Vineyard be abated out of their proportion
Edgartown 65- o of the £30,000 Tax: all their former part of s'd Tax Chilmark 42-IO with as much of the last part as will amount to two Tisbury 42-IO hundred pounds (their whole porportion being three hundred and fifty pound).
Read in Council June 17, 1696 and voted concurrance.1
This total amount of £350 had been assessed on the three towns between Sept. 14, 1694, and June 17, 1696, of which amount Edgartown was rated for £153, Tisbury and Chilmark, each £98. At the date mentioned in the petition, Edgartown was in arrears £80, Tisbury £60, and Chilmark £31; and in the equalization of the arrearages Tisbury was
1Mass. Archives, XIII, 137.
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The Island under Puritan Control
favored by the committee, at the expense of the Major's town, and Simon Athearn could score a victory over his ancient enemy.1 But it was not a satisfactory situation for either side, as the taxes were so much in excess of what they had previously paid, that it touched the pockets as the well as sentiments of the freeholders. Nantucket felt it equally burdensome, and in September of the same year, its representative, James Coffin, joined with Matthew Mayhew in a petition for an abatement of their entire allotment in the "thirty thousand pound tax" and asked, in addition, an appropriation of fifty pounds each for military purposes in erecting fortifications, because of their exposed position on the coast, and their con- stant necessities of maintaining defensive operations and guards against the armed vessels of the French. The petition was granted by the General Court, the abatement allowed, and the sum asked for to be used in military works under the super- vision of the commander of the forces.2 During the three years which followed before the close of the 17th century, nothing of political note occurred worthy of mention.
Although maintaining an attitude of superficial allegiance to the Massachusetts jurisdiction, Matthew Mayhew privately wished for the return of the "good old times," when there was no one to supervise his authority with effectiveness, when lordships were to be had for the asking, and six barrells of fish paid their rates, if he could remember to send a sloop with them "to be delivered at the Bridge" in Manhattan, once a year. When the Major thought of these things his gorge rose within him, and not being a man hitherto sub- jected to restraint in things temporal or spiritual, his choler occasionally found vent in vigorous language. On one such time, according to the testimony of Joseph Marion, when conversation turned upon the provincial councillors of Massa- chusetts, the Major broke forth, and said "if they did not Repent of their unjust actions & extortions, their gray beards would never go to their graves in peace & said they all de- served to be kickt into the dock." Marion tried to calm the excited chief justice, and "reproved him" for his uncivil words. "Com, Com, Major," he said, "youl run into your old strain, a dun with this discorc." But the Major was not
1 In a letter to the Speaker of the House, dated June 6, 1697, Mayhew lost his temper at the charges of Athearn that there was inequality of assessment in favor of Edgartown, and offered "to pay back to them their whole assessment " out of his own pocket if it should be so decided by the House. (Mass. Arch. LI 69).
2 Mass. Archives, LXX, 298.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
to be restrained. "The Government of this Country" he continued, "is the worst government in the world," and in his rage poured out such a torrent of contemptuous opinions that his listener could not "remember the particular words that he then spake, yet at other times he hath heard him sayd Mayhew speak words to the same effect or worse re- ferring to his Ma'tis Government in this Province." It was not a day when such opinions could be uttered with impunity, and the irate head of the house of Mayhew and Lord of the Manor of Tisbury had to answer for this "freedom of speech." He probably forgot that he was no longer in command of the island kingdom, and could not do and say what he pleased.
"That in the captain's but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy."
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Political History of the Vineyard, 1700-1900
CHAPTER XVIII.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE VINEYARD, 1700-1900
By the opening of the 18th century, the political relations of the island to its new foster mother had become settled, and the proprietary family gradually "came back to its own" in the official control of its destinies. The beginning of this century also marked the development of the Vineyard in material wealth and increase of population. It had come to be known as a part of Massachusetts now, and residents of the "Bay" colony were more ready to seek homes here than when it was under the distant jurisdiction of New York. The deaths of Major Matthew Mayhew, in 1710, and of Simon Athearn, in 1715, removed from the arena of personal and political strife the two great contestants for the mastery of the island, and henceforth there was internal peace. There was no one to take up the fallen lance so long held by Athearn, and the sons and grandsons of the Major had none of his choleric temperament or domineering methods. However, they were none the less successful in obtaining the lucrative and influential offices, as in 1718, for example, two of them were appointed at one time justices of the Superior Court and Court of Probate.
NEW YORK AGAIN ASSERTS HER CLAIMS.
A generation had grown up since the transfer of the is- land from the jurisdiction of the province of New York, and doubtless most of the residents of the Vineyard supposed that province had abandoned all pretensions to material interests on the island. They were suddenly awakened one day in the year 1723, by a demand for the payment of the ancient quit-rents due under the charters of 1671, granted by Love- lace. That this was a startling demand can be readily under- stood, and served as a reminder to the older generation of the times when they used to send a few barrels of fish to New York as tribute to the Duke's government - when they hap- pened to remember it. The following documents were served upon the officials of the Vineyard: -
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History of Martha's Vineyard
Att a Council held att Fort Georges in New York April the 19th, 1723.
Present: his Excelency William Burnit, Esqr. Coll: Beekman Mr. Harison
Mr. Vandam Mr. Alexander Mr. Barberie
Rip Vandam Esq'r Chairman of the Committee to whom was Refered the memorial of Archibald Kennedy Esq'e Receiver Gen" of this Province Setting forth that the owners or tenants in possession of the Severall Islands belonging to this government in the Sound and to the Eastward of said Island have for a long time delaid to pay the Quitt Rents reserved in their Pattents and that he is Loath to Commence actions against them for the Same without giving them Solem notis to pay them in, and praying an order of this board to pay unto him their Quitt Rents that thereby they might save themselves from Legal prosecutions Being Commenced against them for the same, humbly reported to his Excellancy and this bord that an order be granted according to the desire thereof:
ORDERED that notis to the owners and tenants of the several Islands in memorial mentioned to pay in their Quitt Rents to the said Receiver Gen" without further delay and that upon their neglect the said Receiver Gen" will proceed against them by due course of Law for the Recovery of the same which will be to them no small charge: and that the Clark of the Council or his deputy do prepare Circular Letters to be sent to them.
By order of his Excelancy in Councill:
J. BOBINOR d.c. Council.1
Copies of this circular letter reached the hands of Paine Mayhew in June of this year, and the effect was most dis- turbing to the land-owners of the island, who had supposed that the transfer of the sovereignty, in 1692, from New York to Massachusetts had quieted all other claims dependent upon acknowledgments of lordships. He at once communicated the circular to the Massachusetts authorities, with the follow- ing letter explanatory of the matter: -
May itt please your hon'rs
Yesterday came to my hand a pacquite of papers dyrected: On his Maj's Service Loyal Inhabitants of Martins Vineyard holding Lands of the Crown under the Government of New York :- and when I had opened the papers I found a Letter as herein enclosed and three other papers of the same tenure and date as the copy enclosed will show &c :- and least it should be Construed some way or other to asert the affaires of the present Constitution of government that we are now under I thought proper to
1Mass. Archives, IV, 88. It is difficult to understand how the New York authorities fell into this technical error. Probably some one unfamiliar with the legal history of the Province had instituted these proceedings.
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Political History of the Vineyard, 1700-1900
send them to y'r hon'rs and if anything of that nature should be thought I pray your hon'rs advice in the affaire.
And subscribe your hon'rs most humble servant
PAIN MAYHEW
Marthas vineyard June the 10th, 1723.
post: we were formerly under New York Government and hold our grants from thence under Certain Quit Rents but have paid none since we were under the Massachusetts Government.1
What answer the Massachusetts authorities made to May- hew is not known, but it may be surmised that he was coun- selled to take no further notice of the demands, as they were in the nature of pretensions to jurisdiction, which had passed from New York thirty years ago. But notices of this kind act as clouds upon titles, and the freeholders of Edgartown, who were always "loyal" to the New York authorities, while they were under that jurisdiction, could not rest content to let the matter go by default, so, after some months, a meeting was held, Jan. 17, 1723-4, by those land-owners of the town who felt that some settlement of these claims should be made. Accordingly, they passed the following vote: -
Ajourned to the 18th Voted and Chose John Butler Jr. Agent to go to New York, in order to represent them in the affair concerning the quit rents as demanded by the government of said New York, as by the letters lately received with reference thereto. And further to act and do all things necessary in said affair.
And futher Voted the said John Butler shall have five Shillings a day, for every day he shall expend in said affair: and to pay him for all the copies that he shall bring from off the Records at said York.2
JOHN BUTLER ARRESTED IN NEW YORK.
In pursuance of their plan, John Butler, Junior, of Edgar- town, repaired to New York to have a conference with the authorities there over the situation, and taking advantage of his presence in their jurisdiction, they arrested him, as a preliminary to legal proceedings, looking to the recovery of sundry barrels of "merchantable codfish," perhaps a hundred in the total. It is not entirely understood, whether the New York officials merely wanted the value of the "acknowledg- ment," or used it as a technical method of reasserting their
1Mass. Archives, IV, 89.
2Edgartown Records, I, 130.
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claims to jurisdiction over the Vineyard, which they never had formally waived, as we have seen. William Backman, a mariner of New York, has left us a statement of the expe- riences of Butler, in his diplomatic mission to that city. He states that Butler was "as an agent There for the Proprietary of Edgar Town . ... In order to settle and Adjust the Quitt Rents . ... and s'd Butler being Remanded into Custody and kept by an officer under Command on account of the Rents & services due from s'd Edgar Town to the Govern- ment of New York." He further stated that Butler gave a bond to Mr. Archibald Kennedy, Receiver General of New York, and that he "had good reason to Judge that s'd Butler was in a greate manner compelled to do it." How long John Butler remained "in durance vile" is not known, but it is probable that as all the facts were better known by the New York authorities and the futility of their continued preten- sions to Massachusetts territory was impressed upon them, they gave up the pursuit of these arrears of rentals and ac- knowledgments, and ever after nursed their grievances in silence. It is stated in a contemporary history "that some of the Freeholders of those Islands, (Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard and Elizabeth Islands), when occasionally in New York, were arrested for the arrears of the general Quit-Rents of these Islands," but beyond the occasion just cited the author has not found the record of any other arrest for the purposes stated.1
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