166 THE ISLAND OP NANTUCKET. 



And in witness hereof I have hereunto sett my 

 Hand and Seale this second Day of July, sixteen hun- 

 dred and fifty-nine 1659. 



Per me, 



Tho: Mayhew. 

 Witness : John* Smyth. 



Edward Seale. 



This quaint old document will compare very favora- 

 bly with more modern ones, whose meanings -are too 

 often hidden in a mass of verbiage. The meaning of 

 the one just quoted can scarcely be misunderstood, 

 and it ought to set at rest forever the question as to 

 whether there were any " associates " previous to 1659. 

 The substitution of one word for another leads often 

 to serious mistakes. 



It seems that as early as February, 1659, arrange- 

 ments had been made with Thomas Mayhew for the 

 purchase of the island of Nantucket. The deed, 

 however, was, as has been shown, not executed until 

 the succeeding July. In September or October of this 

 year, Thomas Macy, one of the purchasers, thinking 

 it a good opportunity to carry out a long-contemplated 

 plan," embarked at Salisbury in a small sail-boat, with 

 his wife and children and such household furniture as 

 he could conveniently carry, and in company with 

 Isaac Coleman and Edward Starbuck set sail for Nan- 

 tucket." (Macy Genealogy, page 22.) 



Wm. C. Folger, Esq., is authority for the statement 

 that James Coffin also accompanied Macy and the rest, 

 and spent the winter of 1659-60 on the island. And 

 again an old document, in speaking of Tristram Coffin, 

 says : — 



