Can you trace your lineage to Nantucket, Massachusetts?

Question

The island of Nantucket was settled in the late 1650s by English Puritans who had grown discontent with the rule of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. Surnames of these Nantucket families include: Barnard, Bunker, Coffin, Coleman, Gardner, Greenleaf, Hussey, Look, Macy, Mayhew, Pike, Pile, Starbuck, and Swain.  A brief history of Nantucket can be found on the Nantucket Historical Association’s site here:  http://nha.org/library/faq/briefhistory.html

I have spent a lot of time researching my ancestry and was able to trace one of my lines back to the founders of Nantucket.  Since it was an island, the founding families intermarried.  So if you’re related to one, you’re related to a lot of them!

Some American notables trace their ancestry to Nantucket.  Ever heard of Folger's coffee?  Macy's Department Store?

Some of us with Nantucket ancestors can also trace our lineage back to the Mayflower.  Desire Howland (c 1624-1683) was the daughter of Mayflower passengers John Howland (c 1593-1673) and Elizabeth Tilley (1607-1687).  Desire married Captain John Gorham; one of their sons, Shubael Gorham, married Puella Hussey (a Nantucket lassie!).  From this family there are connections to the Starbucks, Bunkers, Barnards, and Fitchs as well as others.

Have any Quaker ancestry?  Deep-sea whaling began in Nantucket around 1715, and for almost 150 years it was the whaling capital of the world.  During the whaling heydays of Nantucket, the island’s leadership was dominated by the Religious Society of Friends, aka the Quakers.  Many of Nantucket's first families — the Starbucks, Barnards, Coffins, Macys, Folgers, Gardners, Husseys, Colemans, Worths, and many others — Quakers all — were pre-eminent in the conduct of the whaling industry.  My Nantucket Quaker ancestors eventually moved to Guilford, North Carolina.

Other people with Nantucket connections may trace back to Major John Mason, the first chief military officer of Connecticut and famous for his involvement in the Great Swamp War aka Pequot War.  His daughter Elizabeth married Major James Fitch Jr.; their son Jedidiah married Abigail Coffin (Nantucket!) and moved to Nantucket.  Another notable of this family is James’ father, the Reverend James Fitch Sr.

I would like to start a project that would cover the original families of Nantucket.  I would want to include their ancestors (as best we know them) as well as their descendants.  I am looking for other people that also descend from any of these families that would like to be a part of the project.  I need at least four other people in order to create the project.  Can you trace your lineage to any of these families?  If so, would you like to be a part of the project?  I can get the project set up, although others interested in assisting with this would be terrific.  But even if you only want to help by identifying and improving the profiles, that would be wonderful.  Let me know if you’d like the participate, and hopefully we can move forward with it.

UPDATE AS OF 21 MAY 2020:  PROJECT HAS BEEN CREATED.  SEE THIS POST:  NANTUCKET PROJECT

Comments

I am still working on my Nantucket ancestors from time to time. Some have moved on to Kansas and other places after a long stay in North Carolina.

The mystery of my 3rd great grandmother Luzena's parentage was solved when someone kindly sent me a message telling me the names of her parents. Now Luzena has a large family.

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I have a direct family line through the Youngs and Townsends and other founding families of Long Island, including back to Great Migration ships. Long Island families intermarried like those of Nantucket.   Those Long Island lines of mine come to my great great grandmother Sarah Young, and she married John Gardner, or Gardiner.    My grandmother rejected discussing the Gardners of her family, and the ancestry of John Gardner, who was the father of Charles Gardiner, Sarah's husband and my great great grandfather, come to a bizarre dead end in which it's impossible for anyone to find any data about John Gardner.   There are only family stories that he was born in the Baltic region of Europe.  Yet he named all of his children with traditional Anglo names most of which are traditional names in the New England and Nantucket Gardner families.  My mother said the Gardners came from New England and that was all she could get out of my grandmother, who was on my father's side.  My grandmother grew up in East Hampton, Long Island, and no evidence at all connects them to the Gardiners of the island.   We also know that there was some family scandal of which we have only one small story involving a painting and two women who married the same man in succession, without any names.   I'm beginning to research Nantucket Gardner lines to figure out if my great great grandfather John Frederic Gardner was connected to them.  Thank you for reading this.  - Lost on Long Island.

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Hi 'Lost', I am unable to view your family tree on Wikitree, so don't know anything about your 2x ggf, John Frederick Gardner to try and assist.  I'm guessing he's perhaps the John Gardner that I located on FAG as being born 1850 and married to Sarah Totten.  Is that correct?  He is shown as the son of Charles Gardner and Sarah Young.  And Charles is shown as the son of John Frederick Gardner and Catherine Lansing.

There are numerous books on the Nantucket families that show several generations of descendants.  Perhaps one of those can help you.  I took a quick look through my paid ancestry subscription to see what I could locate on the above mentioned people, and I didn't see that anyone had figured out the lines . . .

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Hi Darlene,

I have direct lineage to Tristram Coffin with many Gardner’s and Starbucks running through our family. Is this still a project?

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Yes, we're always looking for people to help get the profiles entered.  The sources mentioned above are good ones to use.  Most of us, if we can get one of our lines back to one of the founders, will have linages back to at least half a dozen of the families.  I'm also a Coffin, Gardner, Starbuck, Bunker (and others) descendant. . .

Nantucket is a sub-project and therefore set up as a category.  The page with information is here

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I too am a direct decendant of Tristram Coffin, Roberts, Starbuck, Macy, etc...I'm disappointed in some of the conflicting information I find here on Wiki Tree, but I'm glad to know that everyone is trying their best to make an accurate tree and I realize all we have to go on is the records and they are conflicting as well. Sometimes the common use of names sends your head to spinning. I would love to join your project.

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Hi Susan, it would be great to have you assist with our Nantucket ancestors.  Wikitree has come a long way from when it first began, and many of us devote a lot of time to trying to 'fix' all of the erroneous data that was put on here by people uploading large gedcoms with no reliable sources.  So we have to look forward to work on correcting the wrong information.  It can get very confusing with many of these profiles, as there are quite a few children with the same names and we have to work slowly to be sure to connect the right children to the right parents and spouses!  Everything you (and others) can do to help fix the errors as well as adding the descendants will be much appreciated and a great help for future generations!

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I belong to the Folger Family Genealogy group on Facebook.  I'm sure they would love to increase their membership.  Find them at www.facebook.com/groups/854828518210455.  We're sharing all kinds of Folger and Macy information and would love your input!

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I too trace back to the Nantucket Founders and carried the name down to my 4th GGM, Mary Starbuck Folger (Orr). As mentioned by another user, we have established two groups on FB, a private research group, “Folger Family Genealogy Group” that connects all the families and a public page “Folger Family from Nantucket and Beyond” that traces these same families with an emphasis on Peter Foulger, the Puritan Minister and Native American Interpreter who is also the grandfather to Benjamin Franklin. My line also connects through a long line of Gorhams to John Howland. Join us on FB to collaborate. I have been asking our users to help out on Wikitree as it benefits all of us!  I will gladly contribute the massive database that I been building! Cheers!

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It would be terrific to have both of you (and any of your FB members) participate in Wikitree.  We are fortunate to have some good sources available for the Nantucket founders and descendants for several generations.  I have joined your Folger family group on FB.  Like you, Gary, I also connect through the Gorham line to John Howland.  If you don't yet have the U.S. project badge, let me know and I will award it to you.  I hope you'll join us and add your name on the project members page with your interests.

Answer 1

I have no early American Nantucketeers in my ancestry but this sounds like a project that's needed here.

What would be the main go - to source for it ?

Comments

Maggie, I think they call them Nantucketers.  We don't want to mistake them with Mouseketeers!  

I'm willing and would like to have a discussion to determine the primary sources.  I think we should use The Barney Genealogical Record. as well as the 'Vital Records of Nantucket to the Year 1850.'

One problem we have is with Quaker records.  Many times genealogists have transcribed them wrong.  I've been guilty of that myself.    Sometimes when you see 'sixth month', you think June, when in fact prior to 1753 it meant August...

Because of the Quaker custom of not using standard names for months there is some modern confusion when referring to pre-1752 Quaker records. The following table should be of assistance.                    
                                                                                
    OLD STYLE                              NEW STYLE                            
    (Before 1753 the         QUAKER        (After Jan 1, 1753)                  
    year began                                                                  
    in March)                                                                   
                                                                                
March (before 1753)        1st Month            January (after 1753)            
April                      2nd Month            February                        
May                        3rd Month            March                           
June                       4th Month            April                           
July                       5th Month            May                             
August                     6th Month            June                            
September                  7th Month            July                            
October                    8th Month            August                          
November                   9th Month            September                       
December                  10th Month            October                         
January                   11th Month            November                        
February                  12th Month            December  

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The Barney Genealogical Record is online with a searchable database: http://www.nantuckethistoricalassociation.net/bgr/BGR-o/surname_index.htm

as are the Vital Records to 1850:  http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Nantucket/Nantucket/

Who could ask for more?!  

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My GG Grandfather is Alexander who migrated to NZ in the 1800's. His daughter Lillian my G Grandmother married Alfred Reeve, and had 8 children, Elsie Reeve my Nan looked after me from when I was 18 months to five years, where I joined my brother and sister in an Orphanage, The Leslie Childrens home, run by the P.S.S.A. I have been trying to find my heritage. Find this very interesting.

Answer 2

I have copies of the Starbuck bible (marriages into the Coffin and other Nantucket families).  Interesting project!

Comments

Lorri,
How many generations of marriage does the bible record?
Thanks!

Answer 3

I have many Nantucket ancestors including Coffins, Gardners, and Starbucks! would love to participate.

Answer 4

I've got the project started.  You can read about it and join it here:  http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Nantucket_Founders_and_Descendants

Comments

Looks like you have my ancestor Reuben Beard. Looks like you're missing his father Richard Beard who was also born on Nantucket. Richard Beard was married to Eunice Macy

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Hi Raymond I'm not sure which profile you were looking at.  We indeed have Reuben Beard, and he is attached to both of his parents.

Answer 5

Hi Darlene,

This was on today's genealogy feed.

I have a Nantucket name from the 1700's, they're not in my direct line. It is the first husband if my g.grandmother. They had one child together and she remarried after he died in the Civil War. His name was Daniel A. Youngs. Daniel never saw his son named Daniel LEWIS Youngs. This line died out and I knew that no one would research it, so I did.

Long story to tell you that this family line connects back to the family LUCE (as opposed to Lewis) of Nantucket. I think that without her husband, my g.grandmother may not have realized that the name was incorrect.

I didn't dig deeply because there are so many unfinished direct lines, but this was the source of my information:

Title: The American descendants of Henry Luce of Martha's Vineyard

Author: M.J.F. McCourt

It's available through Open Library and I found this thread which discusses that source:

http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/124663/henry-luce-from-martha-s-vineyard-genealogy-book-question

I didn't want those folks left out of the family tree just because there are no more descendants. I just wanted my g.grandmother's first husband and descendants remembered.

Is that what you wanted? The Nantucket line should be surname: LUCE.

Thanks, & sorry for the long story,

Barbara

 

Answer 6

Hello Darlene,

My name is Paula Riggs.  I live in Houston, Texas.  I am a descendent of the Starbucks.  My great grandmother was Ruth Ann Starbuck born in Indiana.  She was the daughter of Jesse Starbuck.  I have both Gardner and Starbuck in my family tree.  You can find more information on my branch by looking at Ancestry.com at the "Jaddatz" famiy tree.  They ended up in Michigan where Ruth Ann Starbuck married Charles Williams in Olive, Michigan.

Comments

Hi Paula!  Glad to hear from another cousin.  I have Gardners and Starbucks in my lineage as well.  Most of us that trace back to Nantucket will be related!  I can't see if you have entered your family information on here to trace back to the Gardner and Starbuck lines in Nantucket.  If not, I hope you will do so.

Answer 7

Hello Darlene,

Though I’m very late to this conversation, I would be proud to participate in this project.

I have very recently discovered that I am the 9th great grandson of Thomas and Robert Barnard, Thomas Macy, and the 10th great grandson of Tristram Coffin. Additionally, I am related to the Folgers and Gardners through direct lineage and the Swains, Starbucks, Greenleafs, Fitchs and Husseys through marriage.

Eventually, the Barnards to whom I’m related, moved to California in the 1850’s and settled in the SF Bay Area  

My research thus far is rather limited, but if you’re still out there, please get in touch.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kyle Thornton

Comments

Hi Kyle, I'm still here!  I share most of the same Nantucket families as you.  My paternal great-grandmother was a Barnard.  I've done a lot of research on the various lines and am happy to share what I have. Additionally, there are several good books on Nantucket families with a lot of information.  Feel free to send me a PM. For some reason, I can't get to your Wikitree profile...

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Hello Darlene,
It’s likely we’re cousins. My paternal grandmother, Marian, was a Barnard. Her father was Alloron Barnard. His father was Matthew Starbuck Barnard, who came to California in the 1850’s, perhaps with his father Matthew Sr. I’m trying to find out a bit more about those two. 
Matthew Jr. married Lucy Lillie once he was in California. Matthew Sr. Was married to Mary Macy. 
I’m actually not on WikiTree; just happened upon it this morning while researching the Barnard connection to Mayflower families. 
I’ve downloaded several books about Nantucket families also. 
Best regards,
Kyle 

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Kyle, if you trace to Nantucket, we're definitely cousins (albeit distant ones).  If you decide to join Wikitree, we'd love your help!

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Most likely, if you connect to anyone of these early Nantucket settlers, we are related since they all married within the dozen or so mainstay names of the island.

Answer 8

Seeing this go by in my G2G feed recently, I thought I would add my name to the list of those interested. I have a line that goes back to Eunice (Macy) Beard (Macy-312), and through her to the Starbuck, Coffin, Gardner, Macy and other founders. I've added cites to the Barney Genealogical Record and other sources to a number of profiles and would be happy to do more.

Comments

Hi John, it would be great to have you assist with the Nantucket profiles. You and I share a lot of ancestors!    The Barney record is a wonderful source.  Everyone interested in assisting can find further information here:https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Nantucket_Founders_and_Descendants

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Thanks, Darlene--it's a good group to work on, with more complete sources than a lot of areas have and quite a few interesting cousins

Answer 9

Let me know if I can be of any assistance. I have Coffin, Starbuck, Swain, Gardner, Paddock, Austin, Macy, Folger, Hussey, Bunker, Beard, Barnard and many more from Nantucket. I have many many DNA connections to others that have taken a DNA test through ancestry.com. Practically the only settlers that I can't trace is Greenleaf and Pike to me tree.

Comments

Hi Raymond,

There is plenty of things to be done if you would like to assist.  I suggest that you start with your immediate family and connect yourself into the Wikitree.  Then you can work your way back to Nantucket ancestors.  Many people that trace back to Nantucket find that they have connections to the bulk of the founding families (due to intermarriages).

You can find information on the Nantucket Project here.  There are several sites that have research on the families (mentioned on the project page).

Answer 10

I'm correcting some flagged errors among relatives who have an incomplete project box, by replacing it with a Sticker from the list.  There is a spouse of a founder on the error list, whom I have left untouched for now, as she doesn't descend from the founders.  If you would like for me to join the project, I would search for my ancestors who descend from these founders.  I've seen confusion as to whether the STARBIRDs of ME would qualify as STARBUCK descendants. Few of my ancestors stayed long in Nantucket, so this would be relevant only if you want stickers on down the lines.

Comments

Hi Tim, you are welcome to join the project.  If you aren't yet a member of the U.S. project, let me know and I can award you the project badge (the Nantucket project is a sub-project of the U.S. project and thus doesn't have its own project badge).

I'm not familiar with the Starbird line of Maine.  Do they descend from Edward Starbuck?

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Darlene.

Thanks, I'm not a US project member.

The assumption that Thomas b. 1646 is a son of Edward doesn't appear to be based on sources.  Searches return a jumble of Starbuck and Starbird/Starboard sources, but I don't find a documented connection. My Nantucket ancestors showing up in the error list are Barnard; I have a few others which don't have stickers or project boxes.  It took me quite a while looking up sources for those under-documented Barnards.

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I've awarded you the US project badge, Tim.  Thanks for your interest in adding/improving Nantucket profiles.  The Barnards are one of my 'near and dear' families.  It was through researching my great-grandmother Mary India Barnard that I first made my connection to Nantucket.  I located a will of what turned out to be my 3rd great-grandfather's brother at the state archives where he named his four nephews.  And bada bing -- I had my Nantucket connection.

Answer 11

Hi Darlene, While tracing this line in my son’s and daughter’s tree (all on ancestry) I found that both my daughter AND her boyfriend, whose lineage I’ve been tracing as well (Dudley) share direct ancestry to Tristram Coffin/Dionis Stevens and Edward Starbuck/Catherine Reynolds. It’s a small world after all! We have Gardners, Macy’s, and Worths as well. The Barney Genealogical Record helped me establish this. Their lines ended up in North Carolina and Texas. I’m new on wikitree so just learning my way around as far as adding family but what people have added so far is a goldmine of info! Love the historical details added in addition to names and dates.

Comments

Hi Suzanne!  Welcome to Wikitree!  It's a fabulous site.  And the Barney Genealogical Record is wonderful.  We are fortunate to have so many great records for these Nantucket ancestors.  I was really excited when, about 25 years ago, I tracked down a will at the state archives that proved my Barnard connection, which took me back to the majority of the founding families of Nantucket.

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Thanks, Darlene! It certainly is a lot easier to do this research than it used to be. We’re fortunate to be able to find the info that many others found through old-fashioned legwork. But I’ll bet it was exciting to go through those archives. Looking forward to learning more.

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Seeing (and many times handling) the documents of your ancestors is pretty neat.  I started going to archives when I was in my late 20s to do research.  I was amazed that they let you handle wills that were sometimes 200 years old.  It also was great, at one county archive, to look through the records and see the penmanship of my 3rd great-grandfather, who served for many years as the clerk of the court (and thus wrote all of the records in the deed and will books).

Answer 12

I have run into confusion as to whether my Coleman, Gardner, and Starbird ancestors were related to Nantucket families.  The evidence is unconvincing, likewise the evidence as to whether some were Quakers.

As to dates, I find plenty of mistaken translations of Puritan dates in NEHGR quotations.  This went on for centuries.  A family genealogy used Quaker numbered months up to 1888, which are frequently misquoted with a 2 month offset.

Comments

Hi Tim, I'm not certain, but I've not seen a reference to the Starbird family being related to the Nantucket Starbucks.  As to your Colman, if you're referring to [[Colman-371|Pamela Atkins (Colman) Howard (1825-1900)]] , Wikitree at present has her linked back to the Colemans of Nantucket, but I haven't reviewed the lineage to see if it is accurate.

Answer 13

Yes!  Starbuck, Coffin and Hussey.  I've just recently read Nathaniel Philbrick's Away Off Shore, which I highly recommend to everyone.  It may change your perception of life on Nantucket...It wasn't exactly the idyllic little environment where everyone gathered in the evening to sing "Kumbya".  But it still remains that studying our history is important to our future.

Answer 14

Yes, I am related to many of the surnames listed - Barnard, Bunker, Coffin, Gardner, Macy, Starbucks. I am the 9th great-granddaughter of Tristram Coffin and the 8th great-granddaughter of Thomas Macy. Thomas' male line in my family ended with my grandmother, my father's mother.

Answer 15

Yes I can!