He was evidently impressed favorably by what he saw and heard, for, when he returned to Salisbury, Mass., a company was formed, and the purchase of the island determined. In the autumn of 1659 Thomas Macy, Edward Starbuck, James Coffin, Isaac Coleman and some of their wives and children sailed in an open boat for Nantucket, where they arrived safely, and spent the winter of 1659–60 on the island.
In July, 1660, Starbuck returned to Salisbury and Amesbury, and induced a number of families to accompany him back to Nantucket, and as time went on the little colony received numerous additions.[7]
[7] Most, if not all, of the English settlers came from Salisbury, Mass., and its neighborhood.
Each of the original colonists was permitted to name an associate, so that the island was primarily divided into twenty shares, and as these were anxious to add to their number, and to induce artisans and mechanics to come among them, the number of shares was ultimately increased to twenty-seven, these including the entire island, with the exception of the “common” land, and that reserved by Mr. Mayhew for his own use.[8]
[8] For copies of Mr. Mayhew’s deeds Vide Macy’s History of Nantucket.
During the next hundred years—say from 1664 to 1774—the records contain the many transfers of lots of land deeded by the Indians to the English, until, indeed, the entire island became the property of the white settlers.
Before the legal purchase of the island could be ratified, it was necessary to secure the sanction of the representative Indian chiefs and this was duly obtained as appears from the following deed, dated May 10th, 1660:—
SACHEMS’ DEED OF NANTUCKET.