USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
per me THOMAS MAYHEW Governour 2
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
In the following year Isaac Chase, probably in company with Samuel Tilton and Jacob Perkins, all of Hamp- ton, N. H., and related by marriage, came to the new town of (West) Tisbury with a view to a permanent settlement. All were young men, Chase recently a widower of 24, Perkins 34 and Tilton 37 years, and they decided upon Homes Hole neck as the place where they would build their new homes. Chase was refused permission to settle, but later the town allowed him the privilege.
They first acquired the two sixths interest in the Neck belonging to the town (the Mayhew and Eddy shares), but the partners of Chase decided shortly after to leave for other places. Tilton had been granted a home lot in West Tisbury, and later he removed to Chilmark.
Perkins was first mentioned in the records in 1674 as "of Homes Hole." He was a married man, and it is to be
1Deeds, X, 257, Hodgkins et als to Norton.
2Tisbury Records, 6.
14
.
Annals of Tisbury
supposed he brought his wife and family with him to the Vineyard. His residence here was of short duration, as he incurred the enmity of the Mayhews by testifying against Thomas Daggett in the suit against James Skiffe, 1673, and from that time on his lot was not a happy one. Little per- secutions followed on each other, until he sold out his in- terests here in 1676, and settled at Succanesset (Falmouth).
In 1682, Thomas West, who had been a resident of Tisbury, living on the west side of Mill river, sold his property at that place to Arthur Biven and chose his new home at Nobnocket, adding himself and family to the Chases, already at Homes Hole. He bought of Ponit, the Sachem, son and heir of Cheesechamuk, the old Sagamore of that region, thirty acres of land Feb. 8, 1681-2, "with liberty to build a house." This tract was on the site of the U. S. Marine Hos- pital, and was the first of many purchases made by Doctor West of land adjoining this homestead, until he had acquired several hundred acres on the west side of the Lagoon, as far south as the head of that inlet and towards Kuttashimmoo beyond the state highway.
Another resident of West Tisbury followed Dr. West to this new territory, in the person of Edward Cottle, who in 1695 made his first purchase of land bordering on the Lagoon, and extending half way towards Kuttashimmoo. It is not known when he came here to reside, but as he sold his home lot in West Tisbury in 1700, the presumption is that he had before that latter date built his new house at Manehchah-hank- kanah, the name given by the Indians to the locality where his purchase was made.
For thirty years these three families were the only known residents of this region, and in this time the children of the Wests, Chases and Cottles had grown to manhood, married, and most of the girls removed to homes of their own.
DIVISIONS OF LAND.
There were no proprietor's divisions of lots in Homes Hole that are of record, but the six shareholders must have made some allotments in severalty, as appears by scattering references * to such a division. In 1674 Matthew Mayhew sold to Perkins four acres of upland "containing the bredth } of the Souther- most lott layed out at sayd Homes Hole."1 William Weeks,
1Dukes Deeds, I, 336.
I5
History of Martha's Vineyard
in 1683, sold one-sixth part of the "two Southermost lots of land: 42 poles by the harbor extending to the fresh pond."1 Again in 1685 Weeks sold "one compleat half of one third part of the two southmost lots of land upon the Neck."2 It is not recorded how Weeks came into possession of these lots, as the six shares granted by Governor Mayhew are all ac- counted for by continuous transfer of titles. It may be that some additional land was acquired by them of the Indians and subdivided, of which Weeks acquired a part. This would seem probable, as in 1681 "the English lyne" is first referred to, and again in 1685 it is spoken of as "the line which parts the English land from the Indian land."3 This line probably ran from Bass creek to the head of Tashmoo pond, and marked proximately the southern boundary of the grant of 1668 to the six shareholders.
As all of this land passed into the possession and occu- pation of Isaac Chase before 1685, and was held by him through- out his life as the sole proprietor, but one allotment or division was made by him as successor to the shareholders, until 1725 and 1726, when the entire neck was surveyed and allotted in nine parts by metes and bounds to his heirs.4 The results of this division into lots are shown in the accompanying map of Homes Hole neck.
SETTLERS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
In the southern extremity of the town, at the head of the Lagoon, the two daughters of Edward Cottle, Esther and Abigail, married, the first a Harding about 1721, and the second John Presbury about 1725, and these two new comers resided on the Cottle property for a few years, for both died early. The widow, Esther Harding, remarried as also did the widow Presbury, but neither marriage resulted in a material increase of the settlement. In the outskirts of the town, owning property here and in Edgartown, but having his house in the latter, lived Henry Luce, who may be reckoned as part of the community within our limits. About 1734 John Crosby
1Dukes Deeds, I, 78.
2 Ibid, I, 73.
3Ibid, III, 314; comp. I, 73.
4In 1712 on the same day, Isaac gave to his sons, Abraham and James, one sixth each of his land on the Neck (III, 17, 81) and in 1714 the latter sold his share to Abra- ham (III, 82) and thus one third of the neck became vested in the older brother.
I6
Annals of Tisbury
Isaac Chase
Abraham Chave
.
Thomas and Saray Chase
Usselton's Head "
1
'Usseltax's Hollow
Thomas and Sarah Chase
Isaze Chase
Abraham Chase
Thomas and Sarah Chave
ISAAC Chose
30000
Abraham Chase
Ukquiessa
HOMES "HOLE"
N
...
LAGOON POND
DIVISION OF CHASE PROPERTY, HOMES HOLE NECK, 1725.
I7
History of Martha's Vineyard
from the Cape, married a daughter of Henry Luce and became a settler in the Lagoon region on lands given by her father, and from him descended a family which resided here until the second quarter of the last century.
The marriages of the two brothers, Samuel and Seth Daggett of Edgartown, in 1733 and 1734, to Sarah Chase and Elizabeth West, respectively, brought into the town at that time the first members of that family, and added their names to its annals for the succeeding century. About the same time John Whelden, from the Cape, married a daughter of Abraham Chase and became identified with the small settle- ment, and in 1745 John Ferguson from Kittery, Me., married another daughter and made his home here. Ebenezer Allen of Chickemmoo, about 1743, married the widow of Samuel Daggett and settled here on the property owned by his wife, and set up housekeeping and innkeeping. In 1748 Bayes Newcomb of Edgartown brought his large family and became a resident. Jonathan Manter of Tisbury married Sarah Chase, one of the co-heirs of Thomas, in 1755, and came here to live on her large landed estate, known since as Manter's hill. At the same time Caleb Rand from Charlestown, a mason by trade, and Shubael Butler of Edgartown, a weaver, were added to the town's population. In 1757 James Winslow, a pilot, came here and married a daughter of Isaac Chase, and in 1759 John Baxter came from the Cape to keep a tavern. Thomas Winston became a resident about this time, and in after years married the widow, Mercy Chase, and succeeded to the business of innkeeping. He left no descendants. In 1761 Shubael Dunham of Edgartown settled in the Tashmoo region of Chickemmoo with a large family of children, the first of the name in this town. John Holmes, a blacksmith, who had been living in Eastville for a few years, made his first purchase of land here in 1765, and became a permanent settler. In 1767 Thomas Manchester of Rhode Island, and in the next year Jabez Downs, from the Cape, were added to the growing town. Some time after, the exact date being unknown, the earliest of our Portuguese settlers, Joseph Dias, came to this place and his descendants remain here at the present time. These names represent the new element which became identified with Tisbury in the first century of its annals, no account being made of the multiplication of the pioneer families, who had by the opening of the Revolution increased and multiplied rapidly.
18
Annals of Tisbury
SKETCHES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
ISAAC CHASE. 2
Franc Chase The progenitor of the Chase family of Martha's Vineyard, was born in Hampton, N. H., April I, 1650, the third son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Philbrick) Chase. The family genealogies state that Thomas came from County Cornwall, England, to New England, and was the son of Aquila Chase of the Chesham, County Bucks family, whose pedigree extends back several generations. In what way Isaac Chase came to be interested in this distant island is not known, but the neighboring town of Salisbury, Mass., had already furnished many settlers for Nantucket, men of Quaker faith, and through this source it is probable that his knowledge of the Vineyard was acquired. At the age of 24 he came to Tisbury to settle (1674), but the townsmen refused the privilege to him for some reason at that time. Possibly it was because of his religious beliefs, which were of the Quaker doctrinal variety. "The townsmen of Tysbury," so reads the record, "do not give unto Isack Chace of Hampton liberty to settle in the town."1 However he must have overcome this refusal before long, as we find him in less than two years making purchases of land in the town limits.
He must have been possessed of more than the average wealth at that time as he became, before 1700, one of the largest landholders on the Vineyard. He began his purchases of Homes Hole neck in 1676, as elsewhere related, and finally became its sole proprietor. His property in the Chickemmoo region was second in extent of acreage. His initial purchase in 1682 became a subject of dispute with the Sachem and the town, and was relinquished; but in 1692 he bought the entire eastern half of Chickemoo of Thomas Tupper, consisting of I200 acres, and was continually adding to his domain in that region.2 He rarely sold any portion of these acquisitions and all of it, practically, became the heritage of his heirs.
1Tisbury Records, 8. We may surmise that they finally gave him permission to inhabit at Homes Hole, in the uttermost part of the town, many miles from the dwellings of any settlers. He was of Hampton in October 1673 (Norfolk Co. Deeds).
2Deeds, I, 130, 187, 281, 391.
19
History of Martha's Vineyard
His occupation, as elsewhere detailed, was that of black- smith, inn-holder, and ferryman, and these he followed until his death. Although by religion a Quaker, yet he does not seem to have been ultra orthodox in the faith, for he took military office as Lieutenant in the Company of Foot in Tisbury before 1692, and thus broke one of the principal tenets of that sect. In the political upheavals of that time Simon Athearn thus refers to him: "Mr. Isaac Chase the Leueten't without oath he pleading for the quakers."1 During the remainder of his life he was generally called Lieutenant in the records of that period.
He died May 19, 1727, and his will, dated Feb. 12, 1721-2, was proven in July, 1727. By it he bequeathed what lands he had not given away in his lifetime to his widow and surviving children and grandchildren. The Chickemmoo property was mostly deeded to his several sons, 1706-1718, and the Homes Hole neck was to a large extent, 1705-1717, similarly disposed of to Thomas, Isaac and Abraham. In 1725 this remained undivided and Lieut. Isaac and his son Abraham entered suit against the heirs of Thomas and Ebenezer Rogers for a parti- tion. This was done, and the division then made by the jury is the basis of all land titles in Vineyard Haven north of the creek in front of the hospital.
.
Isaac Chase was twice married; first to Mary, daughter of Isaac Perkins of Hampton, Feb. 20, 1673, by whom he had no issue; second to Mary Tilton, probably sister of Samuel of Hampton and Chilmark, Oct. 5, 1675, by Rev. John Mayhew. By his second marriage he had six sons and six daughters, who left a large progeny here and in Nantucket. He was a man of sterling worth and scrupulous honesty, and his life was singularly free from contentions and litigations with his neighbors.
EDWARD COTTLE, JR.
The eldest son of Edward Cottle of Salisbury, named for his father, was born in that town Sept. 28, 1666, and followed his father in his various wanderings until he came to the Vineyard. He bought land in this town on the west side of the Lagoon, in 1695, of Ponit the Sachem of Homes Hole, and thereafter added to this until he owned a considerable
1Mass. Arch., CXII, 424. This is the only reference to the Quaker proclivities of Chase to be found in the record. The allusion to the oath relates to their ob- jection to swearing, although willing to affirm to an act or statement.
20
Annals of Tisbury
tract adjoining the Presbury and West lands.1 There he lived with his half-breed wife, Esther Daggett (22) of the "Bow and Arrow" family, daughter of Joseph and Alice (Sissetom) Daggett. He had wedded her between 1690 and 1698, and one child was born to them, a daughter named Esther, about 1700, who married first a Harding (after 1718), and second (about 1725) Manasseh Kempton. This half- breed wife died before 1702 certainly, and probably sometime earlier.2 He remained a widower until about 1701, when he took as a second wife Abigail, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Holley) Allen of Dartmouth, Mass.3 By this union another daughter was born, June 6, 1702, and she was called Abigail. This girl married three times, (I) John Presbury, (2) Benjamin Luce, and (3) Samuel Lambert. Besides these matrimonial ventures his career was an uneventful one. He appears in court but once as a plaintiff (1736) and in 1733 he was a juror, and this constitutes his sole record.4 He made his will Nov. 2, 1748, "being grown old & stricken in years," and it was probated Nov. 2, 1751, the proximate time of his decease, when he was about eighty-five years old." He bequeaths all his property to his daughter Abigail and her second husband. His wife, who was born April 1, 1663, had predeceased him Dec. 25, 1733, aged seventy years.6
JOHN CROSBY.
This settler was probably the son of Simon and Mary (Nickerson) Crosby of Harwich, Cape Cod, baptized April 13, 170I, in that town, He came here about 1732 and married, before 1734, Sarah Luce (53), probably through the family relations between the two families established in 1704 by the marriage of his aunt Ann to William Luce (9). His father- in-law gave his wife a farm of twenty acres near Tashmoo in Chickemmoo, and they resided there for the remainder of the time covered by our present knowledge of his life. It would seem that his wife died at some time unknown, and
1Dukes Deeds, II, 65. His house was in the Edgartown limits.
2Descent from the "Vineyard Pocahontas" may be traced through the Hardings.
3For proof of this see Bristol Deeds, XIII, 41 and Sup. Jud .. Court Mss. No. 29518. Nathaniel Pease testified that he was present at the wedding.
4He was an illiterate man evidently, as all documents bearing his name as grantor or deponent are signed with "his mark."
5Dukes Probate, III, 274. 6Holmes' Diary.
21
History of Martha's Vineyard
he remarried in 1752 a Mrs. Sarah Tisk1 and that he was living here in 1758, signing as a witness on that date.
· JOSÉ DIAZ alias JOSEPH DIAS.
It is believed that he was the first immigrant of the Portu- guese nationality to come to the Vineyard, and one of the Western Islands was probably the place of his birth.
He was a young man when he arrived in this country, and soon had attracted the attention and won the heart of Sarah Manter (110) of this town. They were married, Jan. 4, 1780, and he soon joined the cause of his adopted country in the struggle against England. He was captured and sent a prisoner to that country, but secured a release after "a distressing captivity." Upon his return home he became a convert to the newly-expounded Baptist teachings, in Decem- ber, 1780, and the incident is thus related by an eye witness :-
By seeing and hearing of these wonders of divine grace his vows in trouble were brought with authority upon his mind; and though the temper set in violently with his suggestions, that there was no mercy for him, and that he had better go and drown himself, in the evening after the communion (December 21st) yet sovereign grace prevented it, and set his soul at liberty so that he was soon after baptized and joined to that church.2
The rest of his brief experience in a land of strangers was tragic, and the whole borders on the romantic. He went forth once again to do battle for his adopted country, and for the second time fell into the hands of the British as a prisoner of war, and was consigned to a living death on the hulk " Jer- sey," of infamous memory. There he died in 1781 as a patriot and martyr, leaving a widow and an infant son, born the year of his decease.
JOHN FERGUSON.
He was a master mariner engaged in the West India trade, and frequently made this haven on voyages from his home in Kittery, Maine, to southern waters. As a guest at Abraham Chase's Inn he met Hannah (55), the young daughter of "mine host." Captain Ferguson was the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Frost) Ferguson, born Aug. 8, 1710, and she
1This name is as written in the Tisbury vital records. It is probably an error for Fisk.
2Backus, Church History, II, 375.
22
Annals of Tisbury®
was fifteen years his junior. Difference in ages made no difference in their sentiments however, as their banns were published Nov. 2, 1745, and they were married soon after. Noth- ing further is known of him, except that a family of seven chil- dren were born to them and baptized here. He was probably occupied in coastwise traffic, and had died before 1769, but the date and place of his death is unknown, probably in the West Indies of some tropical fever, which took the lives of so many of our people in those days. The toll from this cause was a constant drain on the male population.
JOHN HOLMES.
The family tradition that this settler came from Plymouth seems the probable truth, though extended search among the records of that county fails to find confirmation.1 The age given on his gravestone practically tallies with the birth record of John, son of John and Mercy (Ford) Holmes, born June 22, 1730, in Plymouth. If this be the solution of the problem his father was later of Kingston, died there in 1746, and in his will mentions his minor son John.2 Our John first appears in the Vineyard ten years after this, and is enrolled in 1757 as a private in the militia company of Edgartown. He was a blacksmith by trade, and made his first purchase of land Jan. 8, 1760, in the village of Eastville, at Quaise neck.3 He resided there about five years, and on Oct. 30, 1765, bought half an acre of land in Holmes Hole neck, where the Thomas Dunham tavern formerly stood.4 Thenceforth he was iden- tified with this town, and his descendants continued to reside here until the present day. He was chosen constable in 1776 and 1791, the only town offices held by him. Here he became a sound pilot, an occupation which he followed to the end of his active life, and 'for which he was commissioned in 1783 by Governor Hancock. He died Oct. 29, 1812, in the 84th year of his age, leaving a widow and two married daughters. His son John, also a pilot, had predeceased in 1795, and through him the present family descends.
4
"The author has examined all the wills and administrations of Holmes decedents in Plymouth County, and abstracts of each are in his possession. 2Plymouth Probate, XI, 14I. This would account for lack of evidence to connect him with the Vineyard, as he was not of age.
3Dukes Deeds, IX, 17.
4Ibid, IX, 485; XX, 13.
23
History of Martha's Vineyard
THOMAS MANCHESTER.
This settler came here from Rhode Island, and probably was a relative, if not a son, of the Nathaniel Manchester .of Portsmouth, R. I., who married Elizabeth Norton (56) of Edgartown in 1716, or of William Manchester, who married Bethiah Norton (55) the year previous.
He married Eunice Norton about 1757, and made his first purchase of land July 25, 1767, from the widow Mercy Chase.1
STEPHEN PRESBURY.
He was probably the son of John Presbury, a shoemaker, sometime of Salisbury and later of Saco, Maine, where in 1670 he had bought a tract of land .? This John died in that Province before Nov. 3, 1684, leaving three sons, of whom one was Stephen, and the name is so unusual and without recurrence at that period, that we can assume the relationship fairly established.3 This Stephen was a witness to a deed in Kittery, Maine, in 1686, and the next we learn of him is in 1704 when he was called "of Chilmark," meaning that part of it known as Chickemmoo.4 'It is not known where he had resided in the eighteen years intervening, but it can be surmised that he may have gone to Sandwich, Cape Cod, where he married, about 1693, Deborah, daughter of Stephen and Lydia (Snow) Skiffe of that town. His homestead was at the head of the Lagoon within the boundary line of Edgartown, but his closer proximity to the settlement at Homes Hole, where he lies buried, makes his classification as an early settler of this region the natural one.5 His residence here was absolutely without incident of any kind, as he held no offices, appeared in court once as a plaintiff (1729) and in all the twenty-five years of his life on the Vineyard he did not so much as witness a deed or document of any kind, an unusual fact, His will, dated April 6, 1730, was proved June 30, 1730, and disposes of his property to "my seven daughters" and the children of his only son John, deceased.6 He had died May 17, 1730 in his 58th
1Dukes Deeds, IX, 668.
2York Deeds, III, 42. John of Saco was probably the son of that John of Sandwich, Cape Cod, whose death in May, 1648, is recorded.
3Ibid, V(I), 35.
"Dukes Deeds, III, 77; comp. York Deeds, IV, 134.
5He was a land owner in the three towns. (Deeds, III, 114, 504; IV, 108, 217). 6Dukes Probate, II, 56.
24
Annals of Tisbury
vear, and his widow Deborah survived, dying March II, 1743, in the 73d year of her age.1
DR. THOMAS WEST.
The first of the name of West to come to the Vineyard was Thomas, a son of Francis West of Duxbury, and from him have descended many of his name who became noted in succeeding generations in the ministry and learned pro- fessions, and distinguished in colonial military affairs. Francis West, his father, was born about 1606 and lived in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. He was a carpenter by trade, and is said to have come to Duxbury as a single man, upon the invita- tion of Nathaniel Thomas of Marshfield, and after his arrival in his new home, married Margaret Reeves, Feb. 27, 1639, by whom he had five children, Mary (1640), Samuel (1643), Thomas (1646), Peter (1648), and Ruth (1651). He died Jan. 2, 1692, aged 86 years. The descendants of Samuel are mostly found in Connecticut, and those of Peter in Plymouth Colony.2 Few traces of Thomas are found in the Massachu- setts records prior to his emigration to the Vineyard. He witnessed a deed in 1667,3 and is mentioned in the county Treasurer's accounts of June, 1671.4 Between that date and · Sept. 30, 1673, he came to this island, probably through his association with the Skiffes, as his sister Ruth became the wife of Nathaniel in later years. It is possible that West resided in Newport, R. I., prior to his removal hither. On Sept. 30, 1673, he entered suit against the townsmen of Tis- bury respecting his property rights, and his lot, mentioned the following year, was situated on the west side of Old Mill river to the north of the old cemetery, next that of James Skiffe, Sr.5 Thomas West was evidently a man of education and superior ability, and the first known practitioner of medicine and surgery on the Vineyard. In addition to this qualification
"These are the gravestone records, but both seem to be incorrect. The birth of Deborah Skiffe is recorded in Sandwich on July 14, 1668, and thus she was in her 74th year. The age given on his stone would make his birth year 1672-3, but in 1686 he was a witness in Maine. He was probably older than his wife.
2See N. E. Gen. Reg., LX, 142. The claims made in print and private that Thomas West was the son of Admiral Francis West of the well known English family have no bases in fact.
3Plymouth Deeds, III, 101.
4Plymouth Col. Rec. VIII, 133.
6Tisbury Records, 8.
25
History of Martha's Vineyard
he must have been learned in the law, for he was the "Kings Attorney" in June, 1681, and is mentioned in 1687 and the three following years as the King's Solicitor and "Their Majesties Attorney." It is probable he held this office con- tinuously from the first recorded date. He prosecuted the first trials for murder held on the island in the years mentioned.1 Thomas West also has some further distinction in his religious affiliations. With his wife he became a member of the Third Sabbatarian (Seventh Day) Baptist Church of Newport, R. I., at some time prior to 1692, and various West descendants were attached to that communion for many years after.2 His daughter and their children in other names are to be found among the members of this church. In 1702, however, he was excommunicated for disobeying the tenets of the com- munion, but his wife and other members of his family con- tinued in good standing.3
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.