Early Days on Nantucket 41 



Macy remembered some of his friends in his 

 former home men who were lawless enough to 

 give shelter to Quakers adrift in a storm and 

 sent Starbuck back to tell them what was to be 

 found on Nantucket. This mission was so well 

 executed that several families agreed to emigrate. 

 The whole company thus formed united to pur- 

 chase the island from Mayhew, who, after reserv- 

 ing one-tenth of it for himself, sold the remainder 

 to Tristam Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher 

 Hussey, Richard Swayne, Thomas Barnard, Peter 

 Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swayne, and 

 William Pike. Mayhew and the nine men here 

 mentioned are known in Nantucket annals as 

 "The Ten First Purchasers." Each of the ten 

 afterward took a partner on equal terms and 

 thus the "Twenty Purchasers" were organized. 

 To omit mentioning the "Ten First Purchasers" 

 and the "Twenty Purchasers" in any account of 

 Nantucket would be, in the eyes of Nantucket 

 people, like a history of the United States with 

 no mention of the Declaration of Independence. 



On emigrating to Nantucket, the "Twenty 

 Purchasers" bought "the right of the Indian 



