According to the book, THOMAS TUPPER AND HIS DESCENDANTS:

"After the decease of Thomas Mayhew, Jr., in 1657, remittances from England were suspended, "his widow and seven children of tender years were left in poverty," and reports to the society in London from its agents in New England in 1659 state "that the work of caring for the spiritual needs of over a thousand natives in the islands had been taken over by the old governor who was an ancient man with barely sufficient for his own necessities, unable to provide for his only son's large family, who must have immediate relief as there is no way they can make a livelihood but are dependent upon kin in Sandwich with whom some of them are now sojourning."

"The society thereupon renewed paying an annual stipend to the Mayhews of Martha's Vineyard, increasing its amount. The daughters of Governor Thomas Mayhew visited back and forth with the Tuppers at Sandwich, as did his grandchildren. On the 27th of December 1661 Thomas Tupper, twenty-three years of age, married Martha Mayhew, nineteen, at Sandwich, and Martha, the first of their many children, was born there 13 October 1662."

Joseph Wing was a young twenty-two years old when he married Jerusha on April 12, 1672...Jerusha was only eighteen years old. Jerusha lost her father, the Rev. Thomas Mayhew at an early age. She was only seven years old when her father died at sea in 1657. Her grandfather, the notorious Governor of Martha's Vineyard, continued the missionary work with the Indians that her father had begun. The Mayhew's were as used to controversy surrounding their grandfather as the Wing's were concerning their grandfather, Rev. Stephen Bachiler. It seems likely that whether their marriage was arranged or not there was approval on both sides of the family. Both Joseph Wing and Jerusha Mayhew were the products English families of gentle birth and their union was surely blessed by all.

Governor Mayhew immigrated to Massachusetts in 1631/32 when he was an agent for a London merchant. It is said that he quickly entered into prominence in the political and business life in the early years of the Puritan immigration. By the 1640's he had acquired the title to Martha's Vineyard which had already been settled by his son, Rev. Thomas Mayhew. While Governor Mayhew is still referred to as "The Governor" on Martha's Vineyard, in reality he was a man that ruled the island with singular authority and nepotism. He also entrenched his political authority on the Island when the lands of Martha's Vineyard were transferred to the Duke of York in 1663 by petitioning the Duke and once again being granted sole authority on the island. Surviving, at the age of 81, a rebellion against his autocratic rule by over half the population of the island in 1673, he left firmly established family control of Martha's Vineyard to his grandson, Matthew Mayhew.

According to the book "New England Frontier Puritans And Indians 1620-1675" by Alden T. Vaughan:

"It has long been customary for accounts of the Puritans missionary effort to give almost exclusive attention to John Eliot and the Bay Colony, leaving the impression that the Puritan story and the Massachusetts story are synonymous. While John Eliot and his colleagues did make notable progress in propagating the Gospel in their colony, other missionaries contributed importantly to the spread of Christianity among the native of New England. This was particularly true of the Mayhews on the offshore island, and of Richard Bourne in Plymouth. Their historical reputations have suffered partly from comparison with the indefatigable Eliot, and partly from the paucity of literature that survives to sing their praises. Mayhew and Bourne, however, were as truly a part of the Puritan missionary effort as were the apostle and Daniel Gookin.'

‘Although Martha's Vineyard was at times under the authority of Massachusetts and at times under New York during the quarter-century before Philip's War, the island enjoyed a virtually autonomous status. It also experienced unparalleled success in its missionary efforts. By 1651, only about four years after Thomas Mayhew had begun exhorting the natives, he claimed 199 converts. The next year the figure was up to 283, not counting young children. He added, according to his own account (and his reputation for modesty makes exaggeration unlikely), fifty converts in one glorious day. So many professing natives wanted to attend religious services that Mayhew was forced to divide his attentions between two congregations, though each also had an Indian preacher of its own. It appeared that nothing short of a disaster could keep Thomas Mayhew from converting the entire island population, then estimated at about 1500 persons, to the Puritan faith.'

‘But in 1657 disaster did strike. Mayhew took ship for England in November of that year, accompanied by one of his most impressive converts. They and the vessel were never heard of again. The Puritan colonies received few setbacks more damaging to the their missionary program. "The Lord hath given us this amazing blow to take away my brother Mayhew," John Eliot wrote sadly. But while others added their voices in mourning, another Mayhew was already taking up where the lost missionary had left off. This was Thomas Mayhew, senior, who until his son's death had lived on the island but had shown somewhat less interest in the missionary project than the younger Thomas - at least his name is rarely mentioned either in the writings of the other Puritans or in the records of the New England Company. Now with encouragement from Eliot and a stipend from the Commissioners of the United Colonies, the elder Mayhew carried on his son's work with exemplary energy, particularly for a man who was then sixty-five years old. As a layman, he was unable to act in exactly the same capacity that his son had, but the elder Mayhew nevertheless became the mainstay of the Puritan effort on the islands and proved a useful aid to the Indian clergy. Eliot paid him occasional visits, during which the Roxbury pastor assisted with baptism, the ordination of elders, and conversion. John Cotton Jr., also preached on the island from time to time."

Another interesting extract from the book mentioned above:

"Several factors seem to have fused providentially to insure rapid conversion of the natives. First was the character of Mayhew, a man of unusual tact, superior skill, and abundant energy. Morever, good fortune seems to have attended his efforts from the beginning. His first convert was Hiacoomes, "a man of a sad & a sober spirit," who proved a loyal and effective worker. Hiacoomes began his conversion in 1643; by 1649 he was delivering two sermons to the natives every Sunday. His progress toward Christianity seems to have been furthered when a local sagamore who had been his chief tormentor was hit by lightning in 1644; and when a "universal sicknes" visited the island the next year, "they that did but give the hearing of good counsel, did not taste so deeply of it, (and) Hiacoomes and his family in a manner not at all." All this led the natives to serious second thoughts, and before long the ranks of the Christian Indians were swelled by new accessions. More converts followed when a local sagamore who had befriended the missionaries almost miraculously escaped death at the hands of an assassin. Other special providences included Mayhew's curing of an old man whom the powwows had given up for lost, and a similar revival of a sachem's son, who survived not only his illness but also the extensive bleeding that Mayhew applied as a remedy. In addition to these fortuitous events, Mayhew's efforts were undoubtedly aided by geography. The island setting gave him a captive audience; once he had converted the most influential Indians, the rest fell into line with barely a murmur. By 1650 he claimed twenty-two converts to Christianity and many more in preparation. His converts, however, were not church members in that they had not yet covenanted themselves into a holy congregation; that final step in the Puritan's theological progression did not come for another decade. In the meantime, Mayhew's Christian Indians continued to explore the mysteries of the Puritan faith."

This then was the environment that Jerusha Mayhew was born into. A world that was populated by Indians and some of the most intelligent white men alive in the colonies at that time. The sermons that were led by the glorious, high-minded Puritan teachings of the day by her father, Rev. Thomas Mayhew must surely have been attended by his own family. The work he started and was so successful at, would be carried on, not only by his father, but eventually by his own son, Matthew Mayhew, Jerusha's older brother.

It seems a natural conclusion to believe that Joseph Wing met Jerusha Mayhew through her Aunt, Martha Mayhew Tupper. While the Gov. Thomas Mayhew was elderly and barely able to support his own family, there is every reason to believe that Jerusha was subject to her grandfather's guardianship in matters of courtship and marriage. However, it is also possible that Thomas Tupper took on the paternal guardianship and promoted or at least supported the marriage of Joseph Wing and Jerusha Mayhew. John Wing, Joseph Wing's father was a respected member of his community and his brothers, Daniel and Stephen Wing had established themselves as respected men who contributed to their community.

It is known that in 1661, four years after Rev. Thomas Mayhew was lost at sea, his sister, Martha Mayhew, married Thomas Tupper of Sandwich, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. Thomas Tupper was the son of Captain Thomas Tupper and this was probably an advantageous match that certainly pleased the Governor, Thomas Mayhew. Unfortunately, because she remained in the shadow of her husband and her father-in-law, little is known of what happened to Jerusha's mother, Jane Paine (Payne). At this writing I don't even know when Jane died. At any rate, it seems perfectly natural that Jerusha would visit and stay with her aunt, Martha Mayhew Tupper at Sandwich for extended periods of time. This may have been when Jerusha met the young Joseph Wing, son of John Wing and Wife Unknown (Elizabeth Dillingham?). In fact, Jerusha's brother, Thomas Mayhew, Jerusha's brother, met and married Sarah Skiff of Sandwich, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. So, there is ample evidence that the grandchildren of Gov. Thomas Mayhew were spending a great deal of their time at Sandwich, Masschusetts.

There is some difference of opinion as to where the marriage between Joseph Wing and Jerusha Mayhew took place. Some contend that the marriage took place in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts and others believe it took place on Martha's Vineyard. The records at Yarmouth record that Joseph and Jerusha were married on August 12, 1676, but the records have been altered to read "1672". Following this is a record of the birth of John Wing, son of Joseph, born 6th of June, 1676. The date of the year is again erased and the following words added, "7 yrs old next Jany, '90." That last entry does not make any sense either. The clerk must have meant "7 yrs old next Jany, ‘80". Joseph Wing was struck and killed by lightning on May 28, 1679, so there is no possible way that John Wing could have possibly been born four years after the death of his father.

The other possibility is that John Wing would have been 17 in 1690 and the clerk might have accidentally written 7 instead of 17. These records may have been changed when John Wing, son of Joseph Wing and Jerusha Mayhew died. It is believed that John Wing died young because he is not mentioned in his step-father's will, which was written in 1689. We need to bear in mind that by the year, 1689, when Thomas Eaton, Jerusha's second husband, wrote his will, there were six or seven other John Wing's living in or around Sandwich, Massachusetts. Perhaps someone wanted to make sure that the records were set straight because of the legality of the will that Thomas Eaton made in 1689.

Either way, it is generally accepted that Joseph Wing and Jerusha Mayhew were married in August of 1672 and that their son, John Wing, was born in June of 1673. Joseph and Jerusha had two other children besides John. They had Jane Wing, born about 1675, who grew up and married John West. Their last child together was Joseph Wing, born before 1679, who would later marry Ann Lippencott.

If it is no mystery of how Jerusha met and married Joseph Wing, we must wonder how she happened to meet Thomas Eaton, the man who would become her second husband and the step-father of her children. Thomas Eaton was originally from Portsmouth, Rhode Island and was living at Shrewsbury,Monmouth Co., New Jersey when he married the widowed Jerusha and moved her and her children there after their marriage. Jerusha did not remarry for four long years after the death of her husband, Joseph Wing. Four years of widowhood in those days was a long time. It appears that the second time around Jerusha was concerned enough to marry a man who was established and had some considerable estate to insure a comfortable future for herself and her children by Joseph Wing.

It appears as though Thomas Eaton, Jerusha's second husband may have died without descendants or heirs of his own, although Jerusha was pregnant by him at the time he wrote his will:

Page 13, Unrecorded Wills and Inventories Monmouth County, New Jersey

WILL of THOMAS EATTON, of the town of Shrewsbury, Mon. Co., "Being fick of body." Dated 11th of 9th mo., Commonly Called November, "in ye sd fhrewsbury," 1688. Proved by dec. of Judah Allen, Thomas Hillborn and Samuel Dennis, before John Hance, Shrewsbury, Mon. Co., 13th of 10th mo., Called December, [no year].

[On back of the will is the following: "Proved 14 Apl., 1712."]

Gives: "to my Loving wife Jequisah [?] Eatton all my Farm both Upland & Meadow Lying in fhrewsbury and all "housings, orchards & the Mill thereunto belonging together with all other Appurtenances ... Untill the Child that "fhe now goes with fhall Come to ye Age of Twenty-one Years if a boy, if a Girl to the age of Eighteen Years or at the "Day of her Marriage ..." "When the Said Child fhall Come to the age afore mentioned then the sd farm and all ye "Premises ... to be Equally Divided between the sd Child and its Mother During her Naturall life and after her "Decease to Return to the Sd Child & his or her heirs ... if the faid Child fhall Dye before is Shall Come to the age "aforementioned then I give ... my faid farm and premises ... to my wife and her Children to them & to "their heirs ..."; "to my fon in la -- Joseph Wing all yt m (???) Acres of Upland and me -- in the new pur"chase near George Keith lying between Jedidiah All -- and francis Borden to him and his heirs ... The faid Meadow "Lyes in the Great Meadow near ye fd the sd land Lying for three acres and an half"; "to my friend John Dennis his heirs "... the fon of Robert Dennis Living at portsmouth on Rhoad Island all my two tracts of Upland and Meadow Lying "in the town of Dartmouth in New England Lying ... upon a Neck there Commonly Called Norkint neck the one "Tract Containing fixty four Acres with fix acres of Meadow belonging to it Lying in the Great Meadow as also another "tract ... lying in the aforesd Neck Containing forty acres of Upland wth feven Acres of Meadow ... Lying "upon the Island Called ye Cedar Island together with all my Right ... to one half fhare of Undivided land Lying "... in the sd town of Dartmouth ..."; "unto my Loving Mother Mercy Cariway Living in the town of Good"hust in the County of Kent in old England ye full & whole ballance of two bills due to me from Arthur Cook If my faid "Mother be living, but if Deceased then I give ... ye sd ballence of Money Due on the faid Bills to all her Children "to be Equally Divided between them ...."

Residue of estate "to my loving wife Jequisah Eatton whome I make my whole & sole Executrix."

Wits.: THOMAS EATTON

Judah Allen

Thomas Hillborn

famuel Dennis