1902. Rev. Thomas MAYHEW
Jr.(755)
(756)(753)
(954) was christened about 1618.(753)
He was born in 1621 in Southampton, England. This date and place from
Conover. McCoy has birth year of 1620/162l atTisbury, Wilshire, England; McKay
has birth year of "abt 1618;" Bonnie Cushman has "about 1921"
in one place and "1920-1" in another. He died in Nov 1657 in at sea.
IMMIGRANT All the known details of his life are related in volume 1, PP.127-30
et seq. Married his step-mother's daughter. Born in England, where is not known,
and travelled with his father to Massachusetts Bay Colony in about 1631 where
his father was an agent for a wealthy trader. The wealthy trader had a big brick
house in Medford?, Massachusetts, which the Mayhews inhabited, so they lived
in high style. His father remarried when he was about fifteen and his new step-mother
brought a daughter and a son into the house from her former marriage. The daughter
was then about five or six, and would become Thomas's wife in about 1647. Savage
says, he served with his father at the Vineyard being the first minister there
before removing to Nantucket. He was on board of that ship of which Garrett was
master, from Boston to London, in Nov. 1657, with Davis, Ince, Pelham, young
scholars, the hope of the country, fellow passengers never heard of, so properly
lamented by Gookin, as in his Hist. Coll. may be read. He sailed from Boston
the same day in another ship for London. (McKay)
Occupation: Minister. Came to America in 1631. Rev. Thomas Mayhew set sail for
England, with his brother-in-law Thomas Paine, in November 1657. The ship was
never heard from again. (McCoy) (Note that Thomas Paine would also have been
his step-brother.)
"Thomas2 was among the first settlers to the Vinyard in 1642, while his
father stayed at Watertown a few more years. ... Thomas2 was an unusual person.
He had no doubt assisted his father in business affairs, but since he showed
a special gift for languages, he was given special tutoring in Latin, Greek and
even Hebrew. He was the only Mayhew son other than his ten-year-old stepbrother
and he represented his father on Martha's Vineyard, acting as the local governor
until the elder Mayhew finally came there to live permanently in 1646. Though
he was scarcely of age when he went to the island, Thomas2 led the small band
of colonists spiritually as well as secularly. The Dictionary of American Biography
calls him a Congregational clergyman. He also gave his time to the Indians and
learned their language. ... His style was not so much like "preaching"
as it was telling the stories of the Bible in their own language and discussing
with the Indians the principles found in these stories. In 1652 he started a
school to teach the Indian children to read [the first teacher hired was Peter
Folger, later to be the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin]. Thomas2 was a very
sincere and humble person and paid the expenses of his mission out of his own
pocket." His wife apparently had some problems with her inheritance from
her English father. "... it was to clear these up that Thomas2 Paine and
Thomas2 Mayhew sailed for England in November 1657. In addition to seeing to
his wife's inheritance, young Mayhew hoped to stimulate interest in his missionary
work and so took along the first Indian graduate of Harvard as well. ... Mayhew
walked across the island from Gay Head toward Edgartown, saying goodby to his
Indian friends. By the time he reached the spot now known as 'The Place on the
Wayside,' where many more waited for him, the procession had grown to triumphal
proportions. A final service was held and at the end, so the story goes, the
Indians placed white stones where Mayhew stood. ... In 1901 a monument to Thomas
Mayhew, Jr., was dedicated at 'The Place on the Wayside,' a boulder given by
the Indians of Gay Head with a bronze tablet contributed by Mayhew descendants."
(Hubbard)
He was married to Jane ____? in 1647. (Note: This was a marriage was at first
believed to be between step-siblings. See Note below.)
1903. Jane PAINE (756)(753) (955) was born about 1625 in London, England.(81) Bonnie Hubbard's narrative give birth year as "about 1628 or 9" while her pedigree chart indicates "about 1625." IMMIGRANT?? - Historian Dr. Charles E. Banks plus many others (including this lay researcher) believed that her name was "Jane PAINE", the daughter of Thomas Paine and his wife "Jane Gallion". Further, it was assumed by Banks that this Jane was the stepsister of the Rev. Thomas Mayhew. NOTE : This correction was received on 20 Aug 2012 from the Martha's Vineyard Museum's genealogist Catherine M. Mayhew: "Rev Thomas Mayhew married a woman named Jane, but she was NOT his stepsister [no such person existed] nor was she named Jane Paine. Her surname is unknown. Banks assumed [always a bad idea in genealogy] that Jane, wife of Thos Jr, was Jr's stepsister because his stepbrother Thomas Paine was called Jr's brother in law. Banks should have known that at that time the stepchild was a 'child in law' or 'son in law' and that a step brother was a 'brother in law.' Banks interpreted 'brother in law' to mean Jr married Thomas Paine's sister, a girl who did not exist. On the other hand, we do not have a surname for Jane."
After first husband Thomas' death, married
(2) Richard Sarson about 1667 in Edgartown, MA. She and Richard had two children,
Samuel and Mehitabel. (McCoy)
Children were:
i.
Mathew MAYHEW(753)
(756)(755) was born in 1648
in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co., MA. He died on 19 May 1710 in Edgartown,
Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co., MA. For details of this well known member of the
family, reference may be made to Vol II, Pp. 79-84. Annals of Edgartown. He died
May 19, 1710 and administraton of his estate was granted on August 24, 1710.
Savage says a teacher of much celebrity in the Indian cause. (McKay) He married
Mary Skiffe on 1 Mar 1674 at Chilmark, Dukes Co (or Sandwich ?, Cape Cod), MA.
They had 5 children. (McCoy)
Mary Skiffe's father, James Skiffe, "first appeared in New England at Lynn,
Mass., about 1635 and is said to have come from London. He had some association
with Isaac Allerton of Plymouth who came from London and was a passenger on the
Mayflower, 1620, and 'for his service Donn to Me Isaack Ollerton' he was granted
land in Sandwich Jan. 14, 1636/7, which place became his permanent residence.
He was representative to the General Court, beginning in 1645, for thirteen years,
and in 1656 was appointed to train the militia, and in various ways was a leader
in the public life in Sandwich." (McKay)
ii.
child MAYHEW(753)
(756) was born in 1649. Died young.
iii.
Thomas MAYHEW the 3rd(753)
(755) was born in 1650 in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co.,
MA. He died on 21 Jul 1715 in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, MA. The second son
of Rev. Thomas Mayhew, Jr., born in 1650 chose Chilmark as his home, although
he resided for a while in Tisbury, where from 1674 to 1679 he was the town clerk.
In 1680 he purchased sixty acres of land in the new settlement at Chilmark, and
thenceforth spent his life here as a resident. His birth gave him prominence
through family influences and during all of his adult life he was an office holder.
He was an associate justice of the King's Bench from 1692 to 1699 and chief justice
1699 to 1713 of the same court. The nephew, Rev. Experience, left this brief
notice of his uncle: He was long impowered in the Government of the Indians there,
and was both singularly spirited & accomplished for that service: as he was
on divers other accounts a very excellent Person. He married Sarah Skiffe (5)
who was born October 12, 1646 and survived her husband until Dec. 30, 1740 when
she passed away in the 95th year of her age. (McKay) Conover has Rev. Thomas
married to Zacheus in 1675 in MA.
iv.
Rev John MAYHEW(753)
(755) was born in 1652 in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Dukes Co.,
MA. He died on 3 Feb 1688/89 in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, MA. According
to Savage, labored all his short life in teaching the Indians chiefly on the
Vineyard. The Rev. Thomas Prince, the New England chronologist, is our authority
for the statement that the Rev. John Mayhew, the youngest son of the ill fated
missionary was called to preach in Tisbury as soon as he had reached his majority.
This was in 1673, when this young man, who more than any of his kindred resembled
his gifted father, is described as "of great worth and usefulness and fell
not short either of the eminent genius or piety of his excellent progenitors."
He had these inherited scholarly inclinations, which were early developed by
the aid of his grandfather's teaching and the benefit of his father's library.
As his older brothers, Matthew and Thomas, applied themselves to executive and
judicial duties, the way was cleared for him as one of the co-heirs of the proprietary,
to devote himself to the work of his choice. He began his ministry coincident
with the establishment of marital relations. He was married in 1672 to Elizabeth
Hilyard (or Hilliard), orphan daughter of Emmanuel Hilyard of Hampton, N.H.,
who at the time of her marriage was little more than seventeen years of age.
She was brought to Tisbury by her mother, who had become, after the death of
her husband, the second wife of Joseph Merry. With his young bride, he set up
a home for himself at Quansoo, where he ever after lived, raised a family of
eight children, the eldest of whom was the celebrated Experience, and there ended
his days. It appears that he was "mininster of the Gospel to the inhabitants
of Tisbury and Chilmark united," as testified by the epitaph on his gravestone,
and it can be readily understood that such and arrangement for a joint pastorate
would have been the antural plan for the two small communities lying contiguous...
There are no church records extant covering John Mayhew's ministry and our only
knowledge of his work, which continued until his death on Feb. 22, 1668/9, a
period of sixteen years, is to be found in scattered contemporarly documents,
from which this slender thread of facts enables us to weave an equally slender
narrative of a long pastorate... He left eight children, the eldest of which
was but sixteen Years of Age, and soon succeeded him in the Indian Service. (McKay)
v.
Jerusha MAYHEW(753) was born about
1654.
951 vi.
Jedidah MAYHEW.