USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 35
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History of Martha's Vineyard
It will be thus seen that practically the whole of the present town of Chilmark, with the district of Chickemmoo, now in Tisbury, and the Elizabeth Islands were erected into a Manor, like unto the ancient form known in England, and the elder Mayhew and his grandson were created joint Lords of the Manor of Tisbury, by virtues of the Patent of Confirm- ation. This was a strange and unique proceeding for these Puritan people, and is without a parallel in the present limits
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THE FISH BRIDGE, BROAD STREET, NEW YORK, WHERE THE QUIT RENT OF TISBURY MANOR WAS PAID.
of New England. The grant gave the Mayhews peculiar legal privileges, by which all persons residing within the boundaries of their manorial lands were tenants, subject to their jurisdiction, in all matters of government. To under- stand this it will be necessary to define what a manor was and is, in the English system.
THE ENGLISH MANOR.
In English law a Manor is an estate in land, to which is incident the right to hold certain courts, called courts baron. The legal theory of the origin of manors refers them to grants from the crown, as stated in the following extract from Perkins'
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Annals of Chilmark
Treatise on the Laws of England: "The beginning of a manor was when the king gave a thousand acres of land, or a greater or lesser parcel of land, unto one of his subjects, and his heirs, which tenure is knight's service at the least. And the donor did perhaps build a mansion house upon a parcel of the same land." A manor, then, arises where the owner of a parcel so granted has in turn granted portions of it to others, who stand to him in the relation of tenants. The name manor is of Norman origin, and signifies the same as the word fief in France. In some of the United States formed by English colonists, a tract of land occupied or once occupied by tenants paying a fee-farm rent to the proprietor, sometimes in kind, sometimes in stipulated services, is the transplanted form of manor as seen in New England and New York. In Colonial times these resembled the old English manors, their possession being in most cases accompanied by jurisdiction.1
Certain domestic courts could be held by the Lord of the Manor, called Courts Leet and Courts Baron. A Court Leet was a court of record held in a particular manor before the steward of the leet, or district covered by the manor, to determine petty offences, indictments to a higher court, and having some administrative functions. A Court Baron was a small court held in the manor, consisting of the freemen or freehold tenants of the manor, presided over by the Lord of the Manor, for the redressing of misdemeanors and settling tenants' disputes.
The domain was held intact by the Lord Proprietor, and farms let to tenants who were required to pay a "quit-rent" which was due the Lord from the free-holders and copy- holders as an acquittance from other services, such as military duty, or other forms of fealty to the proprietor of the soil.2
QUIT-RENTS OF TISBURY MANOR.
Payment of these quit rents was to be in perpetuity, and constituted an "acknowledgment" of the continued sovereignty of the Lord of the Manor and his heirs or assigns, In the management of the Manor granted to the Mayhews, they alienated portions of the soil, but retained the "acknowledg- ment" of certain annual, or more frequent, payment of trifles
1Maine Early Laws and Customs, 302; comp., Stubbs, Constitutional History, 98 ?It was also called the chief-rent.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
to signify their manorial privileges. During the lifetime of the elder Mayhew none of the manor was alienated, except two pieces in the Quansoo region, to his grandsons John and Thomas Mayhew, and it is not known that he demanded any quit-rents from them. In a sale of a part of the Elizabeth Islands, however, he instituted the custom of requiring quit- · rents, and the first case was that of John Haynes, who agreed to pay "2 good sheep at the Manor House on November 15th yearly and every year."1 It is not known where the "Manor House" was, if it existed in anything more than name. Pos- sibly it was the house occupied by John Mayhew at Quansoo, or Quanames. After his death, Matthew Mayhew, as sur- viving patentee, kept to the custom of requiring the annual payments of such "acknowledgments" in true English style. Usually in the mother country the quit-rent was "a good fat capon," to be delivered at Christmas or Whitsuntide, or oftener, but Mayhew varied his requirements to all sorts of small articles. One was obliged to bring annually to him "a good chees,"2; another "one nutmegg" as a tribute,3 and he required "his beloved brother John," who was per- mitted to occupy certain land, "one mink skin" to be paid yearly "at my mannor house in the mannor of Tisbury," on the 15th of November each year.4 Benjamin Skiffe was made to bring "six peckes of good wheat," annually.5 As late as 1732, Sarah, widow of Thomas Mayhew (3), in a deed to her two daughters conveying land in Chilmark, referred to the "Quitt-rents which shall hereafter become due unto the Lord of the Manner .. which is one Lamb."6
As may be imagined, this transplanted form of manorial government with its suggestions of "lords" and tenantry and "acknowledgments" was not favorably received by the people in the adjoining towns. It gave them an insight into what would occur if the ideas were carried out to their logical se- quence. But Mayhew proceeded with his plans for an ex- clusive domain which should be separate from all the rest of the settlements on the Vineyard. Very early he had surrounded a part of this territory with a fence, and the name of one of
1Dukes Deeds, I, 45. 2Ibid., I, 346. $Ibid., I, 265. "Ibid., I, 27. $Ibid., I, 110. 6Ibid., VI, 56.
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Annals of Chilmark
his divisions, Kuppi-egon, or Kupegon, meaning an artificial enclosure, is a survival of this fact. Simon Athearn gives us a commentary on the situation, which doubtless voiced the sentiments of the settlers, when he said that they "have im- propriated a Cuntery by a fenc to themselves" and again referring to the same subject in describing Chilmark: "This included land is considered un settled but is in propr(ie)ty by a fenc made a Cross the Iland by the people of Chilmark and Chilmark is fenced by the same under their peculiar improvement."1
THOMAS DONGAN, EARL OF LIMERICK, AND THE SOCIETY FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL.
It has been related elsewhere (Vol. I, pp. 174-6) how Matthew Mayhew, in April, 1685, was created Lord of the Manor of Martha's Vineyard, by Governor Dongan, and after enjoying the honor for nearly three weeks, he sold the title and privileges to the creator himself. Thenceforth Dongan was Lord of the Manor, or what remained after Mayhew had excepted most of the Vineyard in the transfer of title. As portions of the land which actually passed to Dongan were situated in this town, his connection with it becomes of interest to students of its early annals. These tracts were the eastern half of the Kephigon district of Chil- mark and Squibnocket, for which annual quit-rents were exacted.2 Dongan appointed Mayhew as his steward, and this relationship was maintained for twenty-five years, until the latter's death. Most of this territory, including the Gay Head peninsula, which formed the bulk of his "manor," was inhabited by Indians, and as tenants, they were poor pay and much care. It is not to be presumed that the lambs, nutmegs, corn and mink skins which they paid ever found their way to his cupboards, though they were religiously collected by his agent. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by reason of its missionary work on the island among the natives, came to feel that with an absentee land-
1Mass. Archives, CXIII, 94.
2Thomas Mayhew paid to Matthew, as agent for Colonel Dongan, who succeeded to the Lordship of the Manor, one lamb yearly "for the neck of Land called Squp- nockett" (ibid., V, 89), and the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New Eng- land, which bought Dongan's rights in 1715, continued to receive the annual tribute of "one Lamb" for the same property as late as 1724 (ibid., V, 89).
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History of Martha's Vineyard
lord disinclined to part with his broad acres, their efforts to uplift the Indian to the plane of civilization would be of little avail under such conditions. When Mayhew died, in 1710, the earl of Limerick was living in London, and the society determined to buy out if it could, the manorial rights of Limerick, and give the Indians the benefit of sympathetic landlordism. Accordingly, after some negotiations initiated by Jeremiah Dummer and conducted by Sir William Ashhurst, Governor of the company, and Judge Sewall, a sale was effected on May 10, 1711, and the Society in its corporate capacity
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ARMS OF GOV. THOMAS DONGAN, LORD OF THE MANOR OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD.
became Lord of the Manor.1 Livery and seizin was not taken, however, for eighteen months after the purchase.
Three years after this Judge Sewall visited the Vineyard and saw the Chilmark portion of the property, and recorded this incident as follows: --
April 9, 1714. Go to the top of Prospect Hill, from thence to the Sound and by Mr. Thomas Mayhew's direction viewed the River falling into the Sound, [Roaring Brook], and the Shoar all along to the end of the 327 Rods which extends Southward to the middle Line, containing about 1000 Acres which belongs to the corporation.2
1Records of the New England Co., pp. 93-96; comp., Sewall, Letter Book, I, 422, Dukes Deeds, II, 311, 327. The Governor of the Company, in a letter expressing his satisfaction with the acquisition, said: "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."
2Sewall, Diary, II, 432.
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Annals of Chilmark
The Society subsequently acquired other property in this region by purchase, and for many years acted in the capacity of guardian of the spiritual and material interests of the native.1 The property was gradually sold to them individually as they obtained means to purchase.
THE FIRST SETTLER.
The peculiar relations which the Manor of Tisbury, or Chilmark, bore to the Mayhew family, being a sort of personal appanage of the successive Lords of the Manor, make it some- what difficult to determine the conditions of early settlement in this territory. In other words, to separate tenants from land owners and actual residents, when the charter was granted in 1671, is a difficult matter. For example, the first recorded deed of sale of any part of the present territorial limits of Chilmark made by the proprietors, is under date of Feb. 26, 1677-8, when Matthew Mayhew, Lord of the Manor, sold fifty-five acres to James Allen, of Tisbury, and in this deed the "land of John Manter" and "Meadow of William Swift" are mentioned. This would indicate that Manter and Swift were then either living in or owning land there, but no deeds to them are of record, showing such ownership. It is known that Allen, one of the Tisbury proprietors, was a great land speculator, but it is reasonably certain that he, then and for some years after, resided in Tisbury. Manter also was one of the original proprietors of Tisbury, lived and died there, and his holdings in Chilmark must have been as a non-resident, merely for agricultural purposes. As to William Swift, the county records contain no records of purchase or sale by him, and yet, in addition to this "meadow" in Chilmark, he had a "lot" on Eddy's Neck in Tisbury the same year. How he came by it, or in what way it passed out of his hands, is not known. It is doubtful if he was anything more than a non-resi- dent land owner in either town.2 It is thus apparent that Allen, Manter and Swift can be eliminated as residents of Chilmark at that time, and we then come to the first definite evidence of an actual settler. This is shown in a deed executed by Governor Mayhew, in 1680, to Daniel Steward, in which is
1Deeds, III, 543. Experience Mayhew to Samuel Sewall, Treasurer of the Society in 1723.
2He was the son of William Swift of Sandwich, and at the date of the deed above referred to, he represented that town in the General Court of the Colony of Plymouth. Savage, Gen. Dict., IV, 242.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
.conveyed a parcel of land "opposite against the point of a neck of Quanaimes, which John Mayhew's house standeth upon."1
From this we can safely conclude that for some time prior to March 26, 1680, young John Mayhew had been living at Quanaimes, and he may he reckoned as the first actual white settler in the limits of Chilmark.2 It is probable that his residence dated from about 1672 or '3, when he married and reached his majority, and presumably "set up his Ebenezer" as a consequence. The life work of this young man had already been chosen, and he selected Chilmark as the field for his labors among the Indians of the town. He had acquired of Toohtowee, Sachem of the north side of Martha's Vineyard, half of his rights as such, and on Feb. 4, 1673, the son, John Toohtowee, "confirmed" the purchase,3 which gives uszan indication of the time of his adoption of this town as his home. In the little house at Quanaimes, built by John Mayhew, was born in the year 1673 the famous Experience, author of "Indian Converts," and after the property had descended to him, as the "first born son," it disclosed the light of day in 1720 to his no less famous scion, the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, the great pulpit orator. This spot, therefore, may well be re- garded as the cradle of Chilmark's most distinguished sons, and is worthy of perpetual designation as the homestead of its earliest resident.
SUBSEQUENT SETTLEMENT AND THE EARLY SETTLERS BEFORE 1700.
Next in point of time, as respects the acquisition of proper- ty, is James Allen, whose earlier connection with the settlement of Tisbury has been recorded in the annals of that town. His first purchase of land in Chilmark consisted of fifty-five acres, situated near Abel's hill on the south side of the road, under date of Feb. 28, 1677-8.4 Shortly after he bought ninety acres extending from the road southward to the pond,5 and eight years later, May 7, 1686, twenty acres more adjoining
1Deeds, I, 266.
2He was in Tisbury in 1677, but whether as a settler or transient is not clear. (Letter to Joseph Norton, in possession of Wm. J. Rotch.)
3Deeds, III, 201.
'Deeds, I, 277. He sold this to Thomas Mayhew on March 7, 1680-81 (ibid., I, 90). $Deeds, I, 265. April 2, 1678.
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Annals of Chilmark
the last purchase.1 When he ceased to be a resident of Tisbury, and became a citizen of this town, is not known. It was sometime after 1682 and before 1690, on which latter date he is referred to as "of Chilmark,"2 and again in 1692 he is des- cribed as "of Chillmark."3 From these dates, and an unknown period before, we may consider him a resident, and claim continuity therefrom till his death. It is traditional that he lived half a mile north of the old meeting-house, and this"is probably correct.
Daniel Steward was the third land owner, chronologically, by his purchase of a parcel of meadow, before referred to, March 24, 1680, situated "on the beach opposite against the point of a neck of Quanaimes."4 Whether he ever lived on this property is open to much doubt. He is called "of Tis- bury" and did not retain the land long, selling it on August 14, 1684, to Simon Athearn. He resided in Edgartown till his death.
With the advent of Benjamin Skiffe, another resident of Tisbury, we are on surer footing, as he became identified with this town, and at his death was one of its best known citizens. He made his first purchase Feb. 6, 1681, consisting of land on the west side of Roaring brook.5 The next year, July 20, 1682, he bought a neck of land called Nathaniel's neck, containing eighteen acres, "bounded Eastwardly by a brook which runneth into a pond, which pond is the South bound: westwardly by a small brook called by the Indians Wachapakesuh: North by the foot path or road which goeth towards the west end of the island, crossing the said brook."6
The location of this land is so carefully described that the reader can easily determine its boundaries, between the Fulling mill and Pease's brook, and south of the road.
Richard Ellingham, who came here from Barnstable, bought of Matthew Mayhew in 1683, eighty acres of land, eighty rods wide on the New Mill river and running one hundred and sixty rods northerly therefrom, being the second lot from the Tisbury-Chilmark line, on the present Middle road. He
1Deeds, II, 277.
2Court Records, Vol. I.
$Deeds, I, 155. His name appears in the Tisbury records as on a committee in 1692 and 1697 on land matters (Town Records, 24, 32).
4Deeds, I, 266.
5Deeds, I, 263.
"Deeds, I, 346. The quit rent for this land was "a good chees" annually.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
was a transient and lived here less than ten years, selling out his interests in 1692 to James Allen.1
A younger brother of Benjamin Skiffe, also a resident of Tisbury, began to make purchases of land in this town a few years later. Nathan Skiffe was one of the early settlers in the adjoining town, where he had, as a young man, held property and acted as one of the officials, but he decided to remove, and on Aug. 16, 1686, he purchased of Matthew Mayhew fifty acres of land bounded southerly and westerly by Pease's brook, which means at the turn of this stream at the end of the South road.2
Samuel Tilton, who had previously owned land at Homes Hole and Tisbury, became a purchaser of property in this town March 30, 1688, when he bought of Matthew Mayhew, eighty acres described as follows: --
. bounded Northward from the corner of the fence in a valley or bottom of a field called Japhets, on the same line as fence to a swamp near the River called Milne in length about 80 poles: Southwardly by a fence in the valley about 80 poles westwardly: and bounded Westwardly by a parallel line drawn from the westward part or end of said Southern bounds paralel to said eastern line till it meet or cometh to the aforesaid Swamp, and Northwardly by said Swamp 3
This land was in the Kephigon district and adjoined the Thomas Harlock property on the east.
The next new resident was Nathaniel Skiffe, the third of the Skiffe brothers to become identified with the town. He bought, Oct. 3, 1689, one hundred acres to the south of Pease's brook, extending to the cliffs, and from time to time, as long as he resided on the island, added to his estate.4 He removed about 1713 to Windham, Conn.
The next new land owner was Ephraim Higgins, who came here from Rhode Island, and bought a tract of land March 14, 1689-90 near the "Stone wall." It is presumed that he occupied and improved it, and it was held by him until his death, about fourteen years after.5 He was probably a single man.
William Homes was here at this period as a transient
1Deeds, I, 115, 135. He was probably a carpenter, as he was employed to build the church at Edgartown in 1685.
"Deeds, I, 341.
3Deeds, 1, 84.
'Deeds, I, 107.
'Deeds, I, 68. Richard Higgins, his "brother and sole heir," disposed of this property in 1714 to Benjamin Skiffe (ibid., II, 58).
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Annals of Chilmark
resident, in the occupation of school teacher. He did not remain as a permanent resident, although he acquired some property April 3, 1690, at Squibnocket.1
Reverend Rodolphus (or Ralph) Thacher, who had come to the town in a pastoral relation to the people, became a pro- prietor of forty-five acres on the South road, Feb. 13, 1694, and built a house thereon, which he occupied with his family.2 This lot adjoined Benjamin Skiffe's on the east.
Nathan Bassett came from Sandwich, on the Cape, and settled in town, next in order of time. His first purchase was thirty-five acres, July 4, 1694, the land being situated near Abel's hill.3
In 1697 another permanent resident was added to the little settlement in the person of William Hunt from Dor- chester. He bought, September 9th, in that year, a tract of land situated near the Wequobsket cliffs, and settled there with his family.4
There were several non-resident owners of property who bought land in town before 1700, Richard Sarson and Thomas Harlock of Edgartown and John Case of Tisbury, but they cannot be reckoned as actual settlers of Chilmark.5
Thus, at the close of the 17th century, about 25 years after John Mayhew first built himself a house at Quansoo, the town population comprised the following heads of families: Experience Mayhew, John Mayhew, Pain Mayhew, Thomas Mayhew, James Allen, Ebenezer Allen, Nathaniel Skiffe, Benjamin Skiffe, Nathan Skiffe, Samuel Tilton, William Tilton, John Tilton, Nathan Bassett, William Hunt, and Rodolphus Thacher, fifteen households in all.
SKETCHES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
NATHAN BASSETT.
Naikan Baforts
Nathan Bassett was the first of his name to come to the Vineyard. He was a native of Cape Cod,
born about 1666-7, and prior to his migration hither
1Deeds, I, 175. He had been in Chilmark several years and returned to Ireland in 1691.
2Deeds, I, 365. 3Deeds, I, 67. 4Deeds, I, 387.
$Deeds, I, 135, 153; II, 27.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
had married Mary, daughter of John and Hope (Chip- man) Huckins, about 1690, at Barnstable. He came to Chilmark about 1694, bringing two children and established his residence on his purchase near Abel's hill. By occupation he was a blacksmith, and he carried on his smithing in a shop near his house. Parson Homes said of him, "he was one that feared God and was peaceable and industrious," and this character he. maintained throughout his long life. His public services were of a modest nature, being chosen surveyor of highways in 1713, 1718-21, 1724-6, 1736, and fence viewer on several occasions. He was an invalid for a long time, being a sufferer from palsy before his death, which occurred Nov. 16, 1743, in the 77th year of his age. His will, dated Jan. 31, 1740, in which he styles himself "gentleman," was probated Nov. 29, 1743, and the inventory of his estate amounted to £256-18-8 as reported by appraisers. His wife, "a peaceable, industrious and pious woman," predeceased him eight days, and left a will dated Jan. 31, 1739-40, which was probated the same time with her husband's will.1 He was a public spirited man and gave to the town, in 1724, the site for a meeting-house.
JOHN HILLMAN.
There is a tradition common to all the scattered des- cendants of this pioneer that he was "shanghaied" and brought to this country when 16 years of age, being taken from a fishing boat in the river Thames.
As he was born in 1651 this would make it about the year 1667 when he landed here. The intervening time (1667- 1675) is a blank, for being only a youth on arrival he was probably employed as a servant or apprentice until he reached his majority. It may be surmised that he lived in the vicinity of Salisbury or Hampton, whence came so many of the earliest settlers of this island and Nantucket. Where this place was is not known, and the first definite knowledge we have of him is at Tisbury some time between 1675 and 1678, when he came into possession of the half lot and share of Samuel Tilton, on the east side of Old Mill brook. This he sold in January, 1679, to Elizabeth Norton, and the next record we have about him is at Nantucket. At that place his oldest child was born
'Dukes Probate, III, 154-163. In his will he bequeaths a silver tankard and a seal ring to his eldest son, Samuel.
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Annals of Chilmark
in 1682, and there he had found his wife, Hannah, daughter of Edward Cottle. One account states that he was a Welch- man and a gardener, but the others call him a worsted comber, and the records describe him as a weaver. In a legal document he is called "an Englishman," which may be taken in the restricted sense, or as an English subject.
He returned from Nantucket about 1685 and again settled in Tisbury where "he hired a farme of Simon Athearn . . for the Terme of 7 years at a place called Wampache, the which he quietly dwelt on 3 years of the time."1 This tract of land was called the "Red Ground" and became the source of prolonged litigation between Athearn and the Praying Indians, who claimed it belonged to Christiantown. There is likewise no record to show when he removed to Chilmark unless we accept the purchase of Oct. 3, 1711, consisting of twenty acres and a quarter share of common rights, as the date of his settlement in the town.2 This leaves thirteen years unaccounted for since the expiration of his lease from Athearn, and so far the gap cannot be bridged. In fact, his whole residence here, covering a period of perhaps forty years, till his death, has given us but few indications of his presence during that entire time.
WILLIAM HUNT.
He was the son of Ephraim and Ebbot ( -- ) Hunt of Weymouth, born about 1655, and prior to his removal to Chilmark he had resided in Dorchester for a time. His purchase of land in 1697 is the probable date of his coming here, and that he was married, his wife's name being Jane, and brought a family with him, appears from collateral evidence. His life here was without incident as far as the records show and the only public office he held was selectman in 1705, which he kept one year. Homes, in his diary, makes the following note of his death under date of January 8, 1726-7: "Last night before sundown Old William Hunt departed this life he was a man of good age, had been long fraile. He died suddenly none of his family knowing when he died." His age was "about 73 years," according to the gravestone. He made his last will March 13, 1721-2, and it was proven April
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