Immigrant Ancestor of Miami Valley, Ohio - Quaker families
Thomas Macy was born in 1608, at Chilmark, Wiltshire, England.
     He died Apr. 19, 1682, Nantucket Island (then New York).
     Married 1639, in Mass. & she died 1706, Nantucket Island.
     Thomas and Sarah Macy came to Salisbury, Massachusetts separately before their marriage, making them the earliest immigrants of this area.  They owned property, had children, and put down roots in their new land.  In 1658, a Baptist preacher, Joseph Peasley, had developed quite a following in Salisbury.  The courts responded by ordering all citizens to attend Puritan services, and pay their compulsory tithes there.  In October, 1658, Thomas Macy was ordered to appear before the court, and to pay fines for his disobedience.
     Apparently a determined man, Thomas decided to see "if it were possible to find a place where religion was not a sin".  In February 1658/9, he began purchasing Nantucket Island.  The following summer, Thomas committed the sin of allowing transient Quakers to seek shelter from a thunderstorm under his roof.  The resulting court action against him was the last straw.  In Oct. 1659, he and his family were the first white settlers of Nantucket, then part of New York.
     John Greenleaf Whittier penned the lengthy poem entitled "The Exiles" about Thomas Macy.  Though Thomas paid for the infraction with a fine, the Quakers involved paid with their lives, being hanged for their offense.
     The family was warmly greeted by the Indians on Nantucket, and the following year, other families joined them.  But we can not by any stretch of the imagination call Thomas Macy a Quaker.  Of his children, only one son survived to have children.  John Macy Sr. fathered 4 daughters and 4 sons, all of whom lived on Nantucket.  John Macy Jr., born 1675, was the first child of the family to unite with the Friends in 1711.  John Macy married Judith Worth, daughter of John Worth & Miriam Gardner, and their children were:
1. Miriam Macy, 1708 -1736, married Zephaniah Coffin; died Nantucket
2. Silvanus Macy, 1709 - 1719; died in Nantucket
3. Seth Macy, 1710 - 1790; died in Nantucket
4. Eliab Macy, 1712 - 1723; died in Nantucket
5. David Macy, 1714 - died in North Carolina
6. Anna Macy, 1716 -1756; married Joseph Jenkins
7. Bethiah Macy, 1719; never married
8. John Macy, 3rd, 1721 - 1795; marr. Eunice Coleman; died in North Carolina
9. Judith Macy, 1723 - 1795; married William Clasby & Abial Gardner
10. Jonathan Macy, 1725 - 1798; died in Nantucket
11. William Macy, 1727 - 1753; died in Nantucket
12. Sarah Macy, 1729; married Richard Gardner.
13. Abigail Macy, 1731 - 1763; died in Nantucket.
     In 1850, 95% of the Macys in the U.S. census were descended from this family.
     It is said that Thomas the immigrant had a brother George Macy, who married Susannah Street, d/o Rev. Nicholas Street, and bought property in 1638 at Taunton, Mass.