USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 24
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Matthew Mayhew, in announcing his grandfather's death to Governor Hinckley, of the Plymouth Colony, gives the fol-
1The exact date of his death can be pretty closely fixed. He was alive March 24, 1681-2, when he acknowledged a deed, and on March 28, following, his will was attested by a witness in court. In Experience Mayhew's "Indian Converts," p. 301, it is stated that he preached on the Sabbath before his death, and fell ill that same evening, and was sick six days. March 19 was Sunday in that year, and the six days of his illness would carry us to Saturday evening, March 25, 1682, which is the probable day of his death.
2Indian Converts, 301.
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lowing particulars of the last hours of the old missionary governor: -
It pleased god of his great goodness, as to continue My honoured Grandfather's life to a great age, wanting but six dayes of ninety yeares:1 so to give the comfort of his life: and to ours as well as his comfort, in his sickness which was six dayes, to give him an increase of faith, and comfort, manifested by many expressions, one of which I may not omitt, being seasonable, as in all, so espetially in these times; viz: I have lived by faith, and have found god in his son; and there I finde him now, there- fore if you would finde god looke for him in his son, there he is to be found, and no where else &c: he manifested great assurance of salvation; he was of low price in his own esteem, saying that he had been both unworthy and unprofitable, not deserving the esteem many had of him; and that he was only accepted in, and through the lord Jesus: &c.2
To this he adds his own estimate of him: "I think with- out detraction I may say no man ever in this land approved himself so absolute a father to the Indians as my honoured grandfather: I got no great hope that there will ever be the like in this selfish age."
The exact location of the burial place of the governor is given in a document entered in the registry of deeds, as pre- pared by his direct descendant, William Mayhew of Edgar- town, Aug. 14, 1838. In this paper he says, after describing the "home lot" of the family: "Gov. Thomas Mayhew and his wife, according to the best of my knowledge were buried in the west corner of Grafton Norton's lot about ten feet from the street and a little to the north west of the graves that are now visible. I think there is a rock near the head of the graves of the said Thomas and his wife." In this same yard, on South Water street, there are several grave stones erected to members of the Mayhew family, and William Mayhew adds: "I believe the whole number to be eight." It is the house lot just north of the "Old Mayhew House."
JOHN MAYHEW.
John Mayhew, the youngest son of Thomas, Junior, born "in the beginning of 1652," succeeded to the work so long carried on by his grandfather, and was the third of his family
1Subtracting ninety years less six days, his age as stated by Matthew, we are car- ried back to March 31, 1592, as the day of his birth, and allowing for his error of one year in his age, we have his birth falling on Saturday, March 31, 1593, the day prior to the record of baptism, as shown in the sketch of his family and early life in another portion of this history.
2Prince Mss. (Hinckley Papers), I, No. 30, in Boston Public Library.
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to engage in it. He was just turned thirty years of age when he became the spiritual teacher of the native churches, but owing to his modest and retiring disposition, his connection with it has not been sufficiently established in the public knowl- edge. "But I can assure my Reader," says Prince, "that he fell not short either of the eminent Genius or Piety of his ex- cellent Progenitors." His ministry among the Indians was generally successful, though it was marked by the appearance of a schism, due to the spread of the Antipedobaptist doc- trines. This gained considerable headway, and caused him much concern. "Mr. Mayhew was rightly for repelling them with spiritual Weapons," says Prince, "and being a Person of very Superior Abilities, and Acquaintance with the Scriptures, he used to desire such as began to imbibe those principles to produce their Reasons; and those who wanted to be resolved in their Difficulties, to give him the Advantage to resolve them in publick, that others might also receive Light and Satisfac- tion; whereby they came to be more clearly instructed, and more fully convinced and satisfy'd, than in the ordinary Way of Preaching, which yet always preceded the other." It is stated that such was the power of his arguments against this new-fangled doctrine that the promoters "could make no Progress in their designs on the Island." However, this sect did succeed later in displacing the old orthodox religion of the Mayhews on Gay Head, as will be related in the history of that town. John Mayhew inherited the personal qualities of his father, in so far as his disregard of the temporal returns for his services. From 1682 to 1686 he was paid but ten pounds a year, "but after the honourable Commissioners came to be acquainted with him, and the eminent Service he did, they raised his Salary to thirty Pounds which was about two Years before his Death."1 And yet, says Prince, "he went on chear- fully, in Hopes of a rich and joyful Harvest in Heaven." He was destined to have but a short career, as in the latter part of September, 1688, he was taken with "an heavy Pain in his Stomach, Shortness of Breath, Faintness &c," and gradually grew worse until "he deceased on February 3, 1688-9, about two in the Morning, in the 37th Year of his Age, and the
1"In the Island of Martha, which is about Twenty Two miles long, are two american Churches planted, which are more Famous than the rest, for that over one of them presides an Ancient Indian Minister, called Hiacooms: John Hiacooms, Son of the said Indian Minister, also Preaches the Gospel to his Countreymen in (Chappa- quiddick) Church: in that place John Tockinosh a Converted Indian Teaches." (Brief Relation of the State of New England, pub. London, 1689.)
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16th of his Ministry; leaving the Indians in a very orderly Way of assembling on the Lord's Day for publick Worship in four or five several Places, and of hearing their several well instructed Teachers, who usually began with Prayer, and then after singing part of a Psalm, from some Portion of Scripture spake to the Auditors: as also an Indian Church, of one hundred Communicants, walking according to the Rule of Scriptures." 1
EXPERIENCE MAYHEW.
The death of John Mayhew left a vacancy in the leader- ship of the Indian churches for several years. This loss com- ing so soon after the death of the old governor was the indirect cause of much demoralization in the religious element among the natives, as well as the introduction of the Antipedobaptist doctrines to confuse their minds. But another scion of this missionary family was rapidly growing up to take the crook dropped by the shepherds who had gone before him. This was Experience, eldest son of John Mayhew, born Jan. 27, 1672-3, and sixteen years of age at the father's decease. "The Indian Language has been from his Infancy natural to him," says Prince, and with this essential basis for successful work among them, he was trained by his excellent father for the work of the ministry, particularly to the natives. He began to preach to them in March, 1693-4, about five years after the death of his father, and on October 26th of the same year was invited to "teach" the English church in Tisbury.2 Whether he complied with the latter call is not known, but it is certain that he devoted himself thereafter, with all his abili- ties, to the special work of instructing the natives in the Chris- tian religion. In some respects he is the giant of his name in this field of labor. Among his contemporaries he was so es- teemed. "Tho this Gentleman also unhappily missed of a learned Education in his younger days; yet by the signal blessing of God on his diligent Studies and Labours, he grew so conspicuously by that time he was about twenty five Years of Age, that the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, first in a Sermon printed at Boston 1698, and then reprinted in his Magnalia in London 1702, speaking of more than thirty Indian Assem- blies, and of more than thirty hundred Christian Indians then
1Indian Converts, 305.
2Tisbury Records, 25.
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in this Province, he adds, in the Margin the following Words, 'That an hopeful and worthy young Man, Mr. Experience Mayhew, must now have Justice done him of this Character, That in the Evangelical Service among the Indians there is no Man that exceeds this Mr. Mayhew, if there be any that equals him.' " The condition of the work under his control at this time will be interesting. The society in England de- sired a comprehensive report of the state of the missionary field to which it was contributing, and the commissioners ap- pointed Rev. Grindal Rawson, pastor of the church in Mendon, and Rev. Samuel Danforth, pastor of the church in Taunton, to make a visitation of the several Indian missions throughout the Province, and inspect the work done in each. The follow- ing is an abstract of so much of this report as relates to the island missions: -
At Martha's Vineyard, viz. at Chilmark, alias Nashauekemmuk: here is an Indian church of which Japhet is pastor; a person of the great- est repute for sobriety and religion, and diligent in attending his minis- terial employment: unto whom is adjoined Abel, a ruling elder, who likewise preaches to a part of the church, living at too great a distance ordinarily to attend church administrations. In that place we find two hundred and thirty one persons, three score and four in full communion. Their children are well instructed, as we find by our examinations of them in their catechism.
At Onkonkemme, within the bounds of Tisbury, are three score and twelve persons, unto whom Stephen and Daniel, who are brothers, are preachers; well reported of for their gifts and qualifications. Here we spent part of a Sabbath, and were joyful spectators of their Christian and decent carriage; the aforesaid Daniel praying and preaching not only affectionately but understandingly to them; unto whom we also imparted a word of exhortation in their own language, to their contentmnt and declared satisfaction.
At Seconkgut, in aforesaid Chilmark, also, which belongs to the in- spection of aforesaid Stephen and Daniel, are thirty five persons, to whom for their greater ease, either the one or the other dispenses the word.
At Gay-head, Abel and Elisha are preachers to at least two hundred and sixty souls; who have here at their charge a meeting house already framed. We find that the Indians here, as also may be affirmed of most of the Indians belonging to Martha's Vineyard, (Chaubaquedeck ex- cepted), are well instructed in reading, well clothed and most decently in English apparel.
At Edgartown, viz. at Sahnchecontuckquet, are twenty five families, amounting to one hundred and thirty six persons; Job Russel is their minister (error for Job Peosin).
At Nunnepoag about eighty four persons; Joshua Tackquannash their minister, Josiah Thomas their schoolmaster.
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Mafachufee PSALTER : ASUH, Uk-kuttoohomaongafh DAVID Weche WUNNAUNOHEMOOKAONK
Ne anfukhogup JOHN,
Ut Indiane kah Englishe Nepatuhquonkath.
Ne woh fogkompagunukhettit Kakoketahteaekuppannegk, aketamunnat, kah wohwohtamunat Wunnetuppantam- we Waffukw hongafh.
John v. 39. Natinneakontamook Wuffukw honkanafh, newut- che ut yeufh kuttunnantamamwoo kuttahtom- woo micheme pomantammoconk ; kah nifb rafhog wauwaonukquenifh.
BOSTON, N. E. Upprinthomunneau B. Green, kah } Printer, wutche quhtiantamwe CHAPANUKKEG wutche oncheketouunnat wunnaunchum- mookaonk ut New England &c 1709.
FAC-SIMILE TITLE PAGE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS PSALTER, OR PSALMS OF DAVID BY EXPERIENCE MAYHEW
The Missionary Mayhews
At Chaubaqueduck, about one hundred and thirty eight persons; Maumachegin preaches to them every Sabbath. Josiah, by birth, is their ruler or sachem.1
This is the most comprehensive report we have had about the missions to the Indians, and gives us a detailed account of the several praying towns and the numbers in each. In a letter dated March 2, 1705, the Rev. Increase Mather wrote to Sir William Ashhurst, governor of the society, that Ex- perience Mayhew had reported "that there are about one hundred and four score families of Indians on that island; and that of these, there are no more than two persons which now remain in their paganism," adding the further informa- tion that "he is at this time, gathering another church of Indians, whereof he is himself to be the pastor."2 About this time, Rev. Josiah Torrey of Tisbury, who had learned the Indian tongue, began to preach to the Indians in that town in their language. Increase Mather called him "a hopeful young man."
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, under the advice of Mayhew probably, and with the approval of the commissioners, took another step forward in the relations which existed with the natives, and began the plan of caring for their material welfare. It will be remembered that Matthew Mayhew had sold to Governor Dongan certain fees and privi- leges in 1685 on Gay Head, known as the Lordship and Manor of Martha's Vineyard. Dongan, who had been created Earl of Limerick, was in receipt of yearly tribute from the Indians for the occupancy of this land, and the friends of the natives considered that the indefinite continuance of this tenantry system would reduce the Indians to a state of indolence and hopelessness. It was seen that without any interest in the soil they cultivated they had become shiftless, sinking deeper and deeper into poverty, and were becoming thereby an easy prey to vicious habits. As a result of negotiations with the owner, the society, on May 10, 1711, bought of him all his vested interests, Noman's Land excepted, for the sum of £550, and the title of Lord of the Manor passed from Lord
1Records, New England Company, 82. Two years later, the following persons were receiving compensation for preaching to the Indians here: John Weeks, at the Elizabeth Islands, £10-0-0; Experience Mayhew, £35-0-0; Japheth, Indian Pastor of an Indian church at Martin's Vineyard, £20-o-o. (N. Y. Col. Documents, IV, 755.) This was in 1700.
2Records, New England Company, 84, 86. It is believed that this was a church in Christiantown.
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Dongan to the corporation. Sir William Ashhurst, the gov- ernor of the society, says in a letter: "I hope it will be the means to make the Indians live comfortably upon it, and prevent their scattering abroad, which would certainly have brought their offspring back again to their old idolatry."1 This plan ensured a landlord in sympathy with their needs.
It will not be practicable to follow the yearly work of this missionary, for his services cover too long a period, but for the purposes of obtaining a view of the conditions about the middle of his pastorate the following account, given by him to the Rev. Cotton Mather, in 1720, is of interest. After stating that there were six small villages of natives on the is- land, containing about 155 families, to the number of about eight hundred persons, he proceeds: -
Each of these villages is provided with an Indian Preacher to dis- pense the Word to them on the Lord's Days, when I am not with them. They meet for the Worship of God twice a Day on the Sabbath, and after Prayer sing a Psalm; then there is a Sermon Preached on some portion of Scripture, which being ended, they sing again, while the Days be of sufficient length; and then conclude with Prayer. .
There is also care taken to Catechise the Youth; for besides what is done in this kind, by the Indian School-Masters & Preachers, I frequently examine the Young People myself, and have determined to attend this Service once a Fortnight, in some or other of the fore-mentioned Villages; and this Method will, I hope, prove very advantageous; and many grown People as well as Children, attending these Exercises.
Having now Preached to the Indians upwards of 25 Years, I have never yet had any special charge of any one single Congregation com- mitted to me; but have visited the several fore-mentioned Assemblies alternately, as I thought necessary; Preaching ordinarily unto some or other of them every Lord's Day, and on working days once a Fortnight; constantly also attending their Church-Meetings, to assist and direct them.
After referring to the aid rendered to him by the Rev. Josiah Torrey, he adds: "The Rev. Mr. Samuel Wiswall Pastor of the Church in Edgartown, has now almost learned the Indian Tongue, with a design to do what Service he can among that people."?
The period represented by the pastorate of Rev. Experience Mayhew was noted not only its for length but for the high character of the work done by him in the development of native missionary talent. It was the longest service rendered
1Records, New England Company, 94-6. Livery and Seizin was not given until Oct. 6, 1712. (Sewall, Letter Book, I, 422.)
2Mather, "India Christiana " (1721).
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by any of his name, and during it he had acquired a reputa- tion of international proportions. He brought to it the zeal and industry of a mind in sympathy with his calling, and next to Eliot is classed at the most profound scholar in the Algon- quian tongue. His published works in the native language are as follows: -
I. Ne Kesukod Jehovah Kessehtunkup &c. [The day which the Lord hath made.] A discourse concerning the institution and observation of the Lord's-day, etc. Boston, 1707.
II. Massachusee psalter: asuh. Ukkuttoohomaongash David etc. [The Massachusetts psalter: or Psalms of David, etc.] Boston, 1709.1
III. It is probable that the Indiane primer of 1720 and 1747 was revised by him.
His masterpiece, "Indian Converts," will be referred to in another place. It was dedicated "to the Honourable William Thompson, Esq., Governour, and To the rest of the Honourable Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and Parts adjacent in America."
Although he was not a college-bred man, yet such was the "Extraordinary Progress" he made in learning, that he was frequently offered the Degree of Master of Arts by Har- vard College, but he "was pleased to excuse himself from the Honour." However, the college later prevailed upon him "to over-rule his Modesty," and the degree was conferred upon him at the Commencement on July 3, 1723, "to the Approbation of all that know him," says Prince.
That the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ap- preciated his value is well indicated by his long service in their employ, extending from 1694 to 1758, a period of sixty- four years, but their financial support was not always constant nor adequate. In 1730 he petitioned the General Court for a grant of land as a recompense for his "Labours & Services in converting the Indians to Christianity & the Disadvantages to his own private Estate." The court ordered an allotment of two hundred acres, one mile to the eastward of the great Wachusett Hill.2 Again in 1739, he was in financial straits and in another petition to the General Court represented that he had "been obliged to spend of his own Estate about
1Sewall says Mayhew was printing this book on Jan. 1, 1710-II, a discrepancy in dates. (Diary, II, 295-6.) See Indian Converts, p. 307, where 1709 is given, with a statement that he was also employed in translating the Gospel of John.
2Province Laws (1730), Vol. XI, C. 172. This was the Blue Hill in Milton.
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Sixteen Hundred Pounds for the necessary support of himself and his Family notwithstanding his utmost care to preserve the same, by his living as frugally, as with any discovery he could do; His annual Salary being no more than an Hundred Pounds. Not that till within a few years last past, besides Twenty pound p anno lately allowed him, on account of his extraordinary Expenses in Entertaining the Indian Ministers and others on necessary occasions, resorting to his House and frequently lodging there .. . . insomuch that he has already been obliged to sell of his own Lands to the value of Six Hun- dred Pounds, besides Two Hundred Acres, formerly Granted to him." The General Court again came to his rescue and gave him a grant of six hundred acres in Hampshire County, and an annual allowance of £30, old tenor, for the space of five years.1
Like his forefathers he began the training of one of his sons to follow in his footsteps, and thus perpetuate the suc- cession of ministry to the Indians in the family name. Ac- cordingly Nathan, born in 1712, was sent to Harvard College in 1727, where he graduated in the class of 1731, but the young man died two years later, and all hopes were then centred on his youngest born sons, Zachariah and Jonathan. The latter did, indeed, take a college course, being made a Bachelor of Arts in 1744 at Harvard, but this brilliant young man desired a wider field for his talents, and accepted in 1746 a call to the famous West Church in Boston. This left Zachariah to assume the reins, but he had not been in prepara- tion for it, and at the decease of the father, full of years and honor, on Nov. 29, 1758, there was no one ready to fill the place. In the cemetery on Abel's Hill, in Chilmark, lie the mortal remains of this remarkable man, the scion of a famous ancestry, and the progenitor of one of the most famous pulpit orators of the pre-Revolutionary period.
ZACHARIAH MAYHEW.
It devolved upon Zachariah Mayhew, who was forty years old at his father's death, to become the fifth missionary in successive generations, and after some time spent in de- ciding upon the matter, he concluded to take up the work, and in 1767, nine years after the death of Experience, he was
1Mass. Archives, XII, 104-108. The land was laid out in 1741.
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ordained a preacher of the gospel to the Indians. When he took charge of the work, it was a different sort of a field from that plowed and cultivated by his ancestors. There were scarce three hundred Indians in the whole county by this time, two-thirds of whom resided in Chilmark and Gay Head. When he began his labors there were four societies engaged in the task of supporting missionary work among the natives of America, three belonging to Great Britain, one of which was of Scottish incorporation. The original society con- tinued to support the Vineyard minister until towards the period of the Revolution, when the political agitations caused a withdrawal of funds and a lessening of interest in the subject. Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, in 1762, tried to secure the incorpora- tion of a local society expressly for "propagating Christian Knowledge among the Indians of North America," but George the Third would not grant the necessary approval. This benevolent intent was frustrated, probably, for both religious and political reasons, as one of the four societies was main- taining a number of Episcopal churches in New England out of its missionary funds, the society chartered in 1707 by William III, to establish missions of the established church. This last-named organization was the object of great opposition among the Puritan element and many controversies grew out of its operations.1 This, together with the attitude of the people of New England towards the crown tended further to alienate patronage; and Rev. Mr. Mayhew, in June, 1776, petitioned the General Court for relief from taxation, as he had been "long since deprived of remittances from England
1This society was attacked in a pamphlet prepared by Jonathan Mayhew, pub- lished in 1763, in which he essays to show the "nonconformity" of the conduct of its officers with the chartered requirements. The society, he says, has probably "ex- pended 42,400 pounds sterling in New England," and by this means "might have maintained forty or fifty missions among the heathen for over thirty years past." The Indians on the Vineyard were already cared for; but Dr. Mayhew urges particu- larly the opportunities which had existed "for half a century past" among the Six Nations of New York, saying, "The chiefs have even petitioned for missionaries repeatedly through the governor of New York sending their petitions to this society." Only one missionary had been sent in response, Dr. Barclay, to the Mohawks, a little west of Albany, from 1735 to 1740; but his brief labors had been too feebly supported by the society to be of much avail. Mr. Apthorp, the Cambridge rector, himself saying, "Indian conversions are undertaken by our society incidentally and, as it were, ex abundanti." Had the society directed its energy to this work instead of planting churches in the towns already so supplied, says Dr. Mayhew, it would not only have furthered the good of the Indians, but "by converting these Indians, from New England to Florida, on the back of our settlements, important political results would have been gained. It would have had a direct and manifest tendency to attach them to the British interest. The more to counteract the designs of the French, till of late our most dangerous enemies on this continent."
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