Mayhew, Matthew, 1648 - 1710

Major Matthew Mayhew (1648-1710) was the son of Thomas Mayhew, Jr., of Edgartown, Massachusetts.  Mastering the Wampanoag language, he followed his father and grandfather as head missionary on Martha's Vineyard.  Mayhew was the author of A brief narrative of the success which the Gospel Hath Had, among the Indians, of Martha's-Vineyard (1694).  He was the representative for the town of Tisbury where he was a selectman.  Mayhew also served as Chief Justice of the Dukes County Court of Common Pleas (1692-99) and Governor and Chief Magistrate of the Island (1681-1710).  Laura Arnold Leibman, ed., Experience Mayhew's Indian Converts (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008) 8.  Schutz, Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court.