Mayhew, Thomas, Sr., 1593 - 1682

Baptized in Tisbury, Wiltshire, England in 1693, Thomas Mayhew was the husband of Anna Parkhurst and the father of two sons, Thomas and Robert.  After an apprenticeship, he became a mercer in South Hampton.  

The family left England during the Great Migration and settled at Medford, Massachusetts, where he owned and operated a mill.  He served as a deputy to the General Court from Medford (1636) and from Watertown (1637-1644), where he became a merchant. After Anna's death, Mayhew married Jane Gallion and had four daughters, Hannah, Mary, Martha, and Bethia.  

In September 1641,Mayhew secured the rights to Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands from Ferdinando Gorges and the Earl of Stirling.  Sending his son Thomas to the Vineyard with forty English families to settle among the Indians there, he followed four years later, becoming the "governor" of the island.

Mayhew maintained rather good relations with the Vineyard's Native population, allowing the local sachems to maintain their distinct political institutions.  While he began efforts to Christianize the Island's Indians, the missionary work fully developed under the guidance of Thomas, Jr. with financial support of the New England Company. After the early death of his son in 1657, Mayhew continued his son's ministry for the next twenty-five years.

Wikipedia.