Apostle to the Indians); Thomas Mayhew (who was already ministering to the natives); and, three generations later, Eleazar Wheelock, who established "Doctor Wheelock's Academy for the promotion of Christianity and civility among the savage Indians of this continent" (now known as Dartmouth College). In 1657, the younger Thomas Mayhew was drowned when a ship he was travelling in was lost at sea on a voyage to England. Mayhew's three grandsons Matthew Mayhew (born 1648), Thomas (born 1650), John (born 1652), and other members of his family assisted him in running his business and government. Transcription of Watertown marker: "HERE BY THE ANCIENT FORD THE LANDING AND THE WEIR WAS THE HOMESTALL OF THOMAS MAYHEW: A LEADER IN WATERTOWN AFFAIRS FROM 1635 TO 1645. AFTERWARDS WITH HIS SON, THE REV. THOMAS MAYHEW, HE LABORED AMONG THE INDIANS AT MARTHA'S VINEYARD." Colonizing Dukes County In 1641, while engaged in business ventures in the vicinity of Boston, Mayhew succeeded in acquiring the rights to the islands that now constitute Dukes County and Nantucket County: Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands. He bought the County for 40 pounds and two beaver skin hats from William Alexander, the 2nd Earl of Stirling. To resolve a conflicting ownership claim, he also paid off Sir Ferdinando Gorges, thereby acquiring a clear title. Mayhew established himself as governor of Martha's Vineyard in 1642 and sent his son, Thomas the Younger, with about forty families to settle there. He himself followed four years later. Together he and the younger Thomas established Martha's Vineyard's first settlement and called it Great Harbor, now Edgartown. Relations with the natives Mayhew and his fellow settlers found a large and economically stable native population of about 3,000 living in permanent villages, led by four sachems (chiefs). Relations between the first settlers and their Wampanoag neighbors were peaceful and courteous. Under the leadership of his son, a minister, they instituted a policy of respect and fair dealing with the Wampanoag natives that was unequaled anywhere. One of the first of Mayhew's orders was that no land was to be taken from the native islanders, the Wampanoags, without their consent or without fair payment. From this time forward, the colonial settlers and Wampanoag lived without the bloodshed that marked the history of European colonies elsewhere in the New World. From the beginning, Mayhew had worked to preserve the original political institutions of the native population.