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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Those Places Thursday -- Where an Ancestor Lived

Whenever I travel to a distant town, state or an island, I always check my genealogy records to see if an ancestor had ties to that location. So I was delighted when I discovered that my ancestor Thomas Mayhew (large wikipedia article*) was an early settler of Martha's Vineyard (island) in Massachusetts.


Many of the photos will be shown on my Flowers From My Area blog, but a few new ones are below. Naturally, the houses were not there in 1647, when Thomas moved from Watertown, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts to Martha's Vineyard. But, I believe he probably saw the bluffs.


*"In 1641, Thomas secured Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Elizabeth Islands, and other islands as a proprietorship from Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Lord Sterling. This enabled him to transfer his business operations there. With the help of son Thomas, a settlement was established. Farming and whaling enterprises began."