USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 8
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"He had been made freeman June 3, 1652, and ensign in 1664.
7Yarmouth Town Records.
"There is a singular absence of records connected with this family which makes so much conjecture necessary. Taken in connection with the loss of the Barnstable County Land records, by fire, Oct. 22, 1827, when 93 volumes of deeds and three vol- umes of wills were destroyed, the task of piecing out the pedigree is difficult.
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·Annals of Edgartown
that he came here to live, as the grant would have been for- feited for non-residence, while it was retained as belonging to him and his estate for ten years.1 His daughter was already living here, and three of his sons were here at this time .? When he died is not known, but some time before 1693 is the probable date.
The next of the name who is certainly known to have made a permanent settlement in this town is John4, who was, in all probability, the son of Abisha of Yarmouth, though proof is lacking.3 This John is the definite head of the Mar- chant family of Edgartown, and he acquired his first property here by purchase, April 8, 1707, when he bought a harbor lot, just south of Burial Hill, of Joseph Ripley.4 He was then a young man of twenty-seven years, and had just married his first wife. In 1711, he bought the so-called "ministerial lot," and both of these were retained by him for over half a century, and descended to his sons Silas and Abisha. His life was uneventful, if we may judge from the entire absence of his name from the records, law, probate and court. Beyond serving as juror in 1722, 1730 to 1734, he attended strictly to his private affairs, and died February, 1767, at the ripe old age of 87 years.
MATTHEW MAYHEW.
Next in importance to the @Matthow Maykorun old governor himself, in the political life of the Vineyard, was his grandson, Matthew. He was the oldest son of Rev. Thomas and Jane (Paine) Mayhew, and was born in 1648, undoubtedly in Edgartown. Of his youth, up to the time of the death of his father in 1657, we have no knowledge, but after that unfortunate event, the widow wished to conse- crate Matthew or one of his brothers to the work in which their father had acquired such an enviable reputation. Acting on the advice, presumably, of the elder Mayhew, it was de-
'It was sold by his son Abisha Dec. 6, 1693. (Dukes Deeds I, 393).
2 Joseph in 1682, Christopher in 1685, and Abisha in 1693. Joseph bought five acres of William Vincent, near the cemetery, in 1698, and sold it back in 1707. (Deeds I, 140, 146.)
3This is the natural inference. The only other tenable hypothesis is that he was a son of the second John by an assumed second marriage.
"Dukes Deeds, III, 438.
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termined to educate Matthew so that he might follow in the footsteps of his father. It is probable that his brother John was also to be dedicated to the same work, for in August, 1658, the governor wrote to the Commissioners of the United Colonies asking assistance for "my daughter and her 6 chil- dren," and further requesting them to "find a way to keepe two of the sonnes at schoole." The Commissioners acceeded to this request for the relief of the widow and for "Keeping her eldest son att scoole to fitt him for the worke." He must have begun these studies early in 1658, as the Commissioners' accounts for 1659 contain the following item: -
To Mr. Corlett Schoolmaster att Cambridge for . . his extreordinary paines in Teaching . Mr. Mahews son about two yearęs.
The young student continued his studies at Cambridge for four or five years, as shown by the following items, which are taken from the accounts of the Commissioners of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians of New England: -
(II, 261.) September, 1661. To Mr Corlett for teaching 4 Indians and Mathew Mahew 12 00 00 To the clothing of Mathew Mahew for the yeare past. 05 00 00 To the Diett and Clothing of Matthew Mahew for one year past I3 00 00 To the Scoolmaster att Cambridge for 2 Indian youthes and Mahew 08 00 00 For clothing and diet of Mathew Mahew
(II, 277.) September, 1662.
(II, 296.) September, 1663.
A further reference shows the expectations of the Com- missioners respecting the future usefulness of young Mayhew to them in their work: --
And whereas Matthew Mayhew is devoted by his parents to the worke and a considerable charge hath for his fathers sake bin expended on him; the Commissioners expect that together with his other learning hee apply himselfe to learne the Indian Language having now an oppertunitie to attaine the same, otherwise the Commissioners wilbee necessitated to consider some more hopeful way for expending the stocke betrusted in their hands.
How long he continued as a student at Cambridge is not known, but probably not beyond the dates above quoted, showing expenditures on his account. Upon his return to the Vineyard, he devoted himself to the task of learning the
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Indian dialect, which he mastered successfully. In 1672, the Commissioners write as follows concerning him: -
One whereof is the son of that Reverend and Good man Mr. Mahew deceased whoe being borne on the Iland of Marthas Vineyard and now grown to mans estate and there settled, is an hopefull young man, and hath theire Language p'fectly.
But it is evident from our knowledge of his future career, that the ministry was not his sphere. His younger brother John inherited the saintly character of the missionary, and followed the work of his father on the island as a substitute for Matthew; and doubtless the substitution was agreeable to the inclinations and temperament of both. As Matthew grew to manhood he developed business qualifications which made him useful to the aged governor, and it was in line with family custom for the eldest to succeed to the estates and temporal management of them. That he did not, however, entirely forget his obligations to the Commissioners appears from a statement of the governor in 1675, in which he says: "I praise God two of my grandsons doe preach to English and Indians Mathew sometimes and John the younger."
His first appearance in political affairs, in which he was destined to exercise such an important role for the rest of his life, was in 1670, when he was sent to New York by his grand- father to wait upon Governor Lovelace in respect to sub- mitting to the jurisdiction of the Duke of York over the island. He was then about twenty-three years of age, and from that time he was exclusively identified with the executive manage- ment of the Vineyard and Nantucket. On July 5, 1671, when the government of the island was provided for, he was commissioned as collector of customs "in & about Martins Vineyard with places adjacent." This was the first of the offices held by him during the forty remaining years of his active life.
He was the first secretary of the General Court of the Vineyard held in 1672, and one of the assistants to the Gover- nor. He also held at different times the office of Register of Deeds (1672), High Sheriff (1683), Judge of Probate (1697), Register of Probate (1685), besides continuous service in the office of Justice of the King's Bench. In 1682, upon the death of the aged governor, he was commissioned "in the stead of that worthy Person Mr. Thomas Mayhew his (grand) father Late Deceased to be cheife supplying the Defect by
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another of the Name." While not specifically designating him as governor, his functions were identical, and he is termed in the Provincial Records as "Chief Magistrate" of the island.
His administration of the public affairs of the island was not only as vigorous but equally as tactless as that of his pre- decessor. All the elements opposed to his grandfather con- tinued their opposition to him and the Mayhew family. In particular, Simon Athearn of Tisbury renewed his assaults upon him as the representative of the reigning family, and these attacks, ranging over many years, often partook of a personal character. In these contests Mayhew was generally successful, as he could control the local courts and other tribunals through his political affiliations and family influence. When the jurisdiction of New York ceased and Martha's Vineyard became a dependency of Massachusetts by the charter of William and Mary in 1691, Mayhew was not favor- able to the change; but bowing to the inevitable, he finally accepted with as good a grace as possible, the new order of things, and on Dec. 7, 1692, was newly commissioned as Justice of the Peace with two others of his family. He thus aligned himself with "those in authority," and maintained, ostensibly, amicable relations with his new superiors. That this 'acceptance was only a matter of policy has appeared in the narration of the political relations of the island with the Massachusetts authorities, immediately following the transfer.
Matthew Mayhew was a versatile man and through his early training was probably the most cultivated person, in- tellectually speaking, on the island in his time. He utilized his leisure moments in writing the first book relating to the island, and published it in London in 1695. Thus he has the distinction of being the earliest author in the bibliography of Martha's Vineyard. This volume gives a most interesting and authentic account of the Indian tribes of the island, their manners, customs, and the progress of religion among them. It has been quoted at length in another portion of the work, and extended reference will not be made to it here. It was customary in those days for men in all walks of life with literary aspirations, to write upon a religious topic, and when Matthew Mayhew selected as his subject and title, "The Conquests and Triumphs of Grace," and had it attested by several clergymen, it does not necessarily follow that the author was a "religious man" in the accepted sense of the
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word. Indeed, we have evidence quite to the contrary within a few years of his pious references to the "success which the gospel hath had among the Indians of Martha's Vineyard" and the "state of Christianity in other Parts of New England." The following amusing statements concerning his religious, or lack of religious beliefs, doubtless let us into his real opinions, rather than the stilted sentences of his published narrative. While the information came from his ancient opponent, Simon Athearn, yet he had corroborating witnesses to the conversa- tion. The old warrior of Tisbury, under oath, made the following statements: -
That on the 16th of March, 1697-8, major mathew mayhew, & Mr. Joseph merion com to sd. athearns house, at marthas vineyard, then sd athearn asked what newse & said he heard there wase to be a publice fast this weeke - then major mayhew pulling som papers out of his pocket, said, he would read it - and reading, made a stop - & said, what a redic- olas thing is this, that thay should order a fast, for a man that thay did not know whether he was in the land of the living, or no, - sd athearn saied, you have not heard the ship is Cast away, have you? the major said no - but he did not know what security a Governor have of his life, mor then another man 1 - sd athearn said no) but hopet they were well, & said he thought the Liuetenant Governor & ye Gentillmen of the Councill did much desier his Lordship the Governor were safe a rived, and thought thay did well to pray for him - then major mayhew said, what a redicolas thing is it, when halfe the men of the Country had wrather he were hanged than ever come here to my knowledg, -
But the author of "Conquests and Triumphs of Grace" did not stop there. According to his brother-in-law, Benjamin Smith, "Major Mayhew have said viz: that ther was no such thing as fall of man for man is naturally Inclined to virtue: And that Religion is so Redicolas a thing that seaven thous- and of the wisest Gentelmen in London had declared them- selves to be athe(i)sts."
In addition to the above, Thomas Butler, then constable of Edgartown, is reported to "have said that when he would have shewed our most Gratious Kings most Royal proclama- tion, against vice and imorallity: Major Mayhew then answered & saied that he had seene it all redy And take but the Kings name from it And its fit only to
'This reference was to a Fast ordered by the lieutenant-governor for the safe voyage of the Earl of Bellomont, the newly appointed governor, who arrived in New York, April 2, 1698, from London. He acknowledged the efficacy of the prayers offered up for his safety in a letter to the Massachusetts magistrates. (Sewall, Diary, I, 477.)
"The remainder of sentence is omitted on account of its vulgarity. These depo- sitions are on file in the Suffolk County Court Records, Case no. 4605.
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Notwithstanding these imputations upon the character, loyalty, and religious sentiments of Mayhew, he had previously laid the foundations of a reputation for piety in his book, which doubtless stood him in good stead on the occasion when he had to explain these charges of "heresy and schism" before the magistrates of Boston.
He was Lord of the Manor of Tisbury from 1671 till his death. He resided in Edgartown, where he was born, and was the first citizen of the town and county for more than a generation. His home was on South Water street on the "entailed lot," but the house is not in existence. It was probably situated several rods north of the present "Old Mayhew House." He married Mary, daughter of James Skiff of Sandwich in 1674, and she died in 1690, aged forty years. He died May 19, 1710, aged about sixty-two years, leaving four surviving children.
ANDREW NEWCOMB.
Asun Rango
This settler came to Edgartown about 1676, from the Isles of Shoals and Kittery, Maine, where he had resided for about ten years previously.1 He was born in 1640, and probably was the son of Captain Andrew Newcomb of Boston, a resident of that town at least as early as 1663 until his death in 1686.2 Our Andrew brought with him to Edgartown six children by his first wife Sarah, who may have deceased prior to his coming, as he married shortly after, Anna, daughter of Captain Thomas Bayes. He bought a ten-acre lot of land, Feb. 13, 1676-7, of John Daggett, and a half share of commonage formerly granted to John Freeman.3 The death of his father-in-law, early in 1680, made him an heir to the Bayes lot on Main street, of which in right of his wife, he acquired the northern half and there made his home.
'Newcomb Genealogy; Comp., York Deeds, II, 162, which shows that he was a fisherman of Kittery in 1669.
2Boston Town Records. Captain Andrew Newcomb married in 1663, for a second wife, Mrs. Grace Rix, widow of William, by whom he had Grace, born Oct. 20, 1664. This daughter m. (1) James Butler, 1682, and (2) Andrew Rankin of York, Maine, Oct. 15, 1692, brother of Mary Rankin, the wife of Paine Mayhew of Chilmark. Cap- tain Newcomb made his will Jan. 31, 1682-3, which was probated Dec. 8, 1686.
3Dukes Deeds, I, 37.
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His other principal holding was Job's Neck. He became one of the prominent citizens of the town, both in civil and military affairs. He served as juror, 1677, 1680, 1681, 1700, 1703, 1704; constable, 1681; tithingman, 1693; selectman, 1693, 1694; lieutenant of the militia, 1691; and was in command of the province fortification that year by commission from the Duke's government.1 When the Massachusetts charter of 1692 took in the Vineyard, he was proposed for the new chief justice, but the Mayhew influences were against him and he was not appointed. He died between Aug. 20, 1706, and Oct. 22, 1708, leaving a widow and nine additional children. The sons removed to Connecticut and the Cape and the family was extinct here before the close of the 19th century.
NICHOLAS NORTON.
The ancestor of the numer- nicolas norton ous family of this name on the Vineyard was born about 1610,2 probably in England, although the place of his nativity is not known.3 It will probably be found upon investigation that he emigrated from Somerset- shire, and perhaps came from the vicinity of Batcombe or Broadway in that county, and there is some reason for in- ferring that he was one of the party of colonists accom- panying the Rev. John Hull in 1635 to New England.4 He first appears at Weymouth, Mass., in 1637, where he married his wife Elizabeth, and in which place he maintained a resi- dence for twenty years prior to his removal to the Vineyard.
That he was of a social station somewhat above the aver- age appears from the fact that he kept a servant, whose "mis- cariages" brought the subject of this sketch into trouble in 1658 with the magistrates of Massachusetts. The following
IN. Y. Col. Mss., XXXVII, 230; Edgartown Records, I, 33, 37, 39, and Dukes Court Records, Vol. I. In 1688 he was indicted for taking the life of his son Andrew but the jury found no bill It was an accidental death.
2He testified that he was aged sixty-six years in 1676. (Dukes County Court Records, Vol. I.)
$There is a will of Robert Norton of Wells, Somersetshire, dated Sept. 29, 1590, who mentions his nephew Nicholas. (17, St. Barbe.) This is too early for our set- tler, but may be a clue to the family.
4Rev. Mr. Hull brought twenty families from the vicinity of Batcombe and Broad- way, and in 1639 Nicholas Norton had some business dealings with one Standerwyck, a clothier of Broadway in the County of Somerset. In 1640 he had a suit at law with Parson Hull.
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petition explains the case as related by Nicholas Norton himself to the General Court: -
To the Honord Genll Court now assembled the Petition of Nicholas Norton humbly Sheweth :
That whereas yor poore peti'or stood engaged to the Treasurer in the sume of five pounds to bring in his servant to a County Court held at Boston to give answer for sume miscariages Comitted, which accordingly he did, at which Court yor poore peti'ors servant was also pr'sented by the grand- Jury either for the same or for some other offences, the Court was then pleased, to deferre the Issue of the Case, & to require the Coutynuatio of the sd bond of yor poore peti'or, where upon he did agayne engage him- selfe in the foresd sume to bring in his sd servant to the last Court of as- sistants, but in regard he was under a pr'sentment, expected to have him sent for by warrent & that wittnesses should also have bin sent for to prove the same as is usueall in case of pr'sentments, where upon yor poore peti'r, through Ignorance of the manner of Courts p'ceedinges in such Cases .
hath forfeited his foresd bond.
Now although yor peti'r cannot blame any but himselfe, yet is bold to Crave the favour of this Honrd Court, that the forfeiture may not be re- quired of yor poore peti'r, but thort you would be pleased (out of yr woonted tendernes in offences which p'ceed meerely out of Ignorance, to remitt the same or so much of it as in yr wisdome you shall thinke meet, hopeing you will the rather be moved hereunto considering the great loss yor poore peti'r hath sustayned in the service of the Country in Collecting of the Country rate which he hopes is yet in yor mynds, & that the delinquent is ready when required suffer the Just sentence of the Court according to the merritt of his offences, which if the Lord move yr harts to grannt it will abundantly engage yr poore pet'r ever to pray.1
The Court granted his petition providing he should bring his servant to bar.
Of his life in Weymouth but little is worthy of mention. He shared in the division of lands in 1651, and was constable in 1657, an office of some distinction in those times. Two years later he was still called "of Weymouth," and in the same year his name first appears in the records of Edgartown. This may be taken as the probable date of his removal to the Vineyard. He was chosen a referee to represent the town in its controversy with John Daggett respecting his farm at Oak Bluffs.
On Aug. 22, 1659, "Goodman" Norton was granted "a Lott of forty acres of Land" and on the same day it was "ordered by the town that Goodman Norton shall have Liberty to make use of any Pond about the Ox Pond for his Trade, except the Great Ponds." It does not appear what
1Mass. Archives, XXXIX, 39.
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trade Nicholas Norton followed, but the use of ponds suggests that he may have been a tanner. Before the end of that year, he was engaged in two lawsuits as a plaintiff and a defendant. He was sued by Henry Goss in that year and was mulcted in the sum of five shillings "for charges about the cure of Mr. Gousse's child: to pay one half in Wampam current and halfe in corne and five shillings to the constable for the Tryall about the abuse of Mr. Gousse's child." The exact nature of this suit at law is not clear from the records. In that same year he sued the Rev. Mr. Cotton, missionary to the Indians. In 1661 he was one of a committee to buy land of the Indians for the use of the town. In 1662-63 and 1669, he again appears in litigation with various townsmen, and if not a pattern in this respect, his fence was deemed the pattern and lawful standard to which others were required to conform in the maintenance of boundary fences in the town.1 In 1666 he was forbidden by the proprietors of the fish weir from taking any fish at Mattakeesett Creek, the right to which he claimed by purchase from the sachem Tewanticut, "contrary to our patent," upon a penalty of £5 yearly so often as he disobeys the order.2 In 1673 he joined in the "Dutch Rebellion" with others of his townsmen, and when it had collapsed he was tried and convicted. The following is the record in the case .:-
Whereas Nicolas Norton upon Commission from the Right honorable Sr Edmond Andros Knight Governor of New York &c hath beene before the Court legally convicted of oppugning the Government established here under his Majestie wherein he acknowledgeth that he is ashamed and Sorry in his heart that he was Misled therein and hopes he shall be more careful for the future: The Court by virtue of the said Commission do adjudge the said Nicolas Norton to make a publique acknowledgment of the same at this Court and at the next quarterly Court holden at'Mar- thas Vineyard: or to pay the summe of fifty one pounds as a fine to the Country.3
In 1685 he was one of a committee "chosen to make the Govenors Rate" and this is his last appearance on the town records before his death.4
There is no consolidated record of his real estate holdings such as was entered by others proprietors. He lived on his
1Edgartown Records, I, III, 138.
2Ibid., I, 144.
3Dukes County Deeds, I, 65.
'Edgartown Records, I, 39.
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forty-acre grant situated north of the Great Swamp and south of the present road to West Tisbury. He was an early owner of land at Sanchacantackett in the vicinity of Major's Cove, where his descendants for two centuries resided and improved that beautiful estate. These purchases were made of the Indians Wampamag or "Sam" and Thomas Sisseton, both of which are unrecorded, though it is said that the original deed from "Sam" was in existence in recent years in the hands of a descendant. It is not believed that he ever resided on this property. He also held the usual proprietor's shares in the various divisions of town lands, besides a plot of meadow land at Aquampache. At the ripe age of four score years Nicholas Norton died, leaving four sons and six daughters, at least two of whom were born in Weymouth. Following is a copy of his will dated April 17, 1690: -
[Court Records, Vol. I, 1690.]
The last will and testament of me Nicolas Norton Being very weak in body but of perfect understanding and Souend memory After my death and desent Christian burial : I give and bequest my worly good as folo- eth: -
Iprimes: I give my Son Izak Norton on half Comminig as also fouer Small Shares of medow
Secondly I give my Son Benjamin Norton all my medow at Saniacan- tick as also my medow at Morthals neck beach from the Crick dug into the Great pond westward as also my now dwelling houes and all my land aioyning to my Sayd houes after the deces of my wife Elizabeth Norton as also my lots at quompasha with all my devided land Elsewhere: pro- vided my Sayd Son Beniamin deliver up his now dweling houes to my now wife Elizabeth Norton with the land aioyning to the Sayd houes: to be at my Sayd wifes sole will and pleseuer to dispose of at or before her desese. as also all that medow I have from a Creek to Izak Norton Medow
thirdly. I give Moses Cleveland the Remaynder of the Sayd medow to joyne with Weeks medow also on halfe Commonidg with all prev- leges belonging there untoo
fourthly I give my Son in law Thomas Wolling on halfe Commonidg with all prevelidges belonging to it with a pese of medow from Izak Nor- ton's medow to the Creeke abofe named.
fifthly I give my Son Joseph Norton a tract of land lying at Sania- cantacket joyning to the mill Creke which I bought of Mr Sam.
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