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A collection of ancestors who developed Nantucket Island. The purpose is to view how these families have spread across the world and influenced the development of America into a successful and kind nation.
I began this venture when I went to a DAR tea, and one of the women noted how my facial features reminded her of the Coffin family. I was not aware that I even had any Coffin relatives. Then I learned more about the Nantucket history. I wondered how many other cousins I have out in the world today through this development. The starting famiiies are as follows: The "nine original purchasers" were Tristram Coffin, Peter Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain and William Pike. Seamen and tradesmen began to populate Nantucket, such as Richard Gardner (arrived 1667) and Capt. John Gardner (arrived 1672), sons of Thomas Gardner (planter). (Wikipedia)
Other information can be found on the Nantucket project.
Interesting: (more from Wikipedia) Beginnings[edit] The earliest French settlement in the region began on the neighboring island of Martha's Vineyard. Nantucket Island's original Native American inhabitants, the Wampanoag people, lived undisturbed until 1641 when the island was deeded by the English (the authorities in control of all land from the coast of Maine to New York) to Thomas Mayhew and his son, merchants from Watertown, Massachusetts, and Martha's Vineyard. Nantucket was part of Dukes County, New York, until 1691, when it was transferred to the newly formed Province of Massachusetts Bay and split off to form Nantucket County. As Europeans began to settle Cape Cod, the island became a place of refuge for Native Americans in the region, as Nantucket was not yet settled by Europeans. The growing population welcomed seasonal groups of other Native Americans who traveled to the island to fish and later harvest whales that washed up on shore.[9]
English settlement[edit] Nantucket's settlement by the English did not begin in earnest until 1659, when Thomas Mayhew sold his interest to a group of investors, led by Tristram Coffin, "for the sum of thirty Pounds...and also two beaver hats, one for myself, and one for my wife". The "nine original porchasers" were Tristram Coffin, Peter Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain and William Pike. Seamen and tradesmen began to populate Nantucket, such as Richard Gardner (arrived 1667) and Capt. John Gardner (arrived 1672), sons of Thomas Gardner (planter).[10]
In his 1835 history of Nantucket Island, Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony, a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers.[11] This event started the Nantucket whaling industry. A. B. Van Deinse points out that the "scrag whale", described by P. Dudley in 1725 as one of the species hunted by early New England whalers, was almost certainly the gray whale, which has flourished on the west coast of North America in modern times with protection from whaling.[12][13]
Herman Melville commented on Nantucket's whaling dominance in Moby-Dick, Chapter 14: "Two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is his; he owns it, as Emperors own empires." The Moby-Dick characters Ahab and Starbuck are both from Nantucket.
Whale weathervane atop the Nantucket Historical Association Whaling Museum By 1850, whaling was in decline, as Nantucket's whaling industry had been surpassed by that of New Bedford. The island suffered great economic hardships, worsened by the "Great Fire" of July 13, 1846, that, fueled by whale oil and lumber, devastated the main town, burning some 40 acres.[14] The fire left hundreds homeless and poverty-stricken, and many people left the island. Another contributor to the decline was the silting up of the harbor, which prevented large whaling ships from entering and leaving the port. In addition, the development of railroads made mainland whaling ports, such as New Bedford, more attractive because of the ease of transshipment of whale oil onto trains, an advantage unavailable to an island. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Description The Founders Burial Ground is a small plot of land located off Cliff Road and overlooking Maxcey's Pond and contains two markers. It is unknown if more stones have been buried through time.
The main memorial, with the names of some of the island's first male European settlers, is situated on the plot. The text of this memorial reads:
ERECTED A.D. 1881. BY A DESCENDANT OF THE FIRST SETTLERS OF NANTUCKET IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHOSE REMAINS ARE BURIED ON THIS HALLOWED SPOT WHERE STOOD THE FIRST CHURCH GATHERED HERE IN 1711, SINCE REMOVED TO WHERE IT NOW STANDS AS THE VESTRY OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
1609 - TRISTAM COFFIN - 1681 1598 - THOMAS MACY - 1682. 1604 - EDWARD STARBUCK - 1690 1617 - PETER FOLGER - 1690. 1624 - JOHN GARDNER - 1706 1664 - JOHN SWAIN. JR. - 1738. 1644 - JOHN COLEMAN - 1715. 1626 - RICHARD GARDNER - 1688. 1598 - CHRISTOPHER HUSSEY - 1686. 1640 - WILLIAM BUNKER - 1712.
Also on the site is a replica of John Gardner's stone; the original was replaced in 1881 when Tristram Coffin raised funds to have a replica made. The original resides with the Nantucket Historical Association.
http://www.nha.org/library/cemeteries/infofounders.htm _____________________________________________________________________ Early settlers of Nantucket : their associates and descendants search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=19279 Ancestry.com Inc. Original data: Hinchman, Lydia Swain Mitchell.. Early settlers of Nantucket : their associates and descendants. Philadelphia: Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., 1896.
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