MS96 Macy Family Papers, Folder 48 Thomas Macy, Item 1

MS96 Macy Family Papers, Folder 48 Thomas Macy, Item 1

Author: Macy family.

Year: 1855

In 1659, Thomas Macy was among the first Englishmen to purchase land on Nantucket. He, his wife Sarah Hopcott Macy, and their five children became the first European settlers on the island and his descendants would contribute to local government, whaling, manufacturing, and Nantucket history. This collection includes correspondence, diaries, deeds and land records, estate papers, business and financial records, and other materials of various members of the Macy family including Obed Macy (1762–1844). Subjects in both series include the manufacture of soap and candles, salt trade, fishing, whaling, real estate, the Coffin School, banking, local history, ships, shipbuilding, shipwrecks, the War of 1812, weather, Quaker meetings, Native Americans, and medicinal cures. Of note are the 6 volumes of journals kept by Obed Macy in which he recorded daily details of island life, as well personal opinions on national and international events. "Book of Nantucket Mosses", 1855 a book of pressed specimens of mosses from Nantucket. Materials in this collection were digitized with support from Connie and Tom Cigarran.