Gov Thomas MAYHEW^[1]

1593 - 1682  (88 years)

• Name	Thomas MAYHEW
  Prefix	Gov
  Born	31 Mar 1593	Wiltshire, England
  Gender	Male
  Baptism	1 Apr 1593	Tisbury, Wiltshire, England
  Migration	1632  [2]
  Occupation	Governor of Martha’s Vineyard
  Great Migration Study Project	Y
  Immigrant?	Y
  Died	25 Mar 1682	Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts
  Buried	Tisbury Village Cemetery, Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts   [3]
  Person ID	I15775	Main
  Last Modified	12 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family	Jane GALLANT,   b. 15 Nov 1602, Wantage, Berkshire, England ,   d. 15 May 1666, Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts  (Age 63 years)
  Married	1634	Wantage, Berkshire, England
  Children	1. Hannah MAYHEW,   b. 15 Apr 1635, Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts ,   d. 7 Feb 1723, Edgartown, Dukes, Massachusetts  (Age 87 years)   2. Martha MAYHEW,   b. 1641, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts ,   d. 15 Nov 1717, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts  (Age 76 years)
  Last Modified	12 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F5253	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 31 Mar 1593 - Wiltshire, England  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Notes

  s/o Mathew MAYHEW & Alice BARTER m1 1620 —?— (?— bef 1635 ch: Thomas (~1620—?) m2 1634 Jane GALLION PAINE (1602— aft 1666) w Thomas PAINE, London merchant ch: Hannah (1635—?) m Thomas DOGGETT Bethiah (1636— by 1678) m1 Thomas HARLOCK, m2 Richard WAY Mary (1640—?) Martha (~1641—?) m Thomas TUPPER —— Thomas Mayhew Sr, known even to this day on Martha's Vineyard as "The Governor", immigrated to Massachusetts in 1631/2 as an agent for a London merchant. He quickly entered into prominence in the political and business life of the 'boom' years of Puritan immigration, the 1630's. In the 1640's he acquired the title to Martha's Vineyard and followed an advance settlement of that island by his son by several years. There he established a minor 'fiefdom' of his own, ruling the island with singular authority and nepotism. Following the death of his son Thomas in 1657, he continued the missionary work to the Indians begun by Thomas, establishing the basis for 5 generations of missionary work to the natives. He also entrenched his political authority on the Island when the lands of Martha's Vineyard were transferred to the Duke of York in 1663 by petitioning the Duke and once again being granted sole authority on the island. Surviving, at the age of 81, a rebellion against his autocratic rule by over half the population of the island in 1673, he left firmly established family control of Martha's Vineyard to his grandson, Matthew Mayhew. —— The likelihood that Thomas Mayhew came to New England in 1632 raises an interesting possibility, based on an Admiralty suit of that year. In the case of Mason v. Gibbs, two sailors testified that the Lyon's Whelp sailed from England in January 1631/2 and arrived at the Isles of Shoals in May 1632, and carried as its only passengers "a man and his wife, their two daughters and their man," and one of the sailors added that this nameless family "were embarked for New England on behalf of Matthew Craddock" [English Adventurers 37-38]. Thomas Mayhew is known to have come to New England as Matthew Craddock's steward [Martha's Vineyard Hist 1:117-26]. [4]

  
  

• Sources

  [S41] The Great Migration Study Project, Anderson, Robert Charles, I-III;1244. [S41] The Great Migration Study Project, Anderson, Robert Charles, I-III;1243. [S96] Find a Grave, database and images, 23423027. [S41] The Great Migration Study Project, Anderson, Robert Charles, I-III;1245.