I have two documents that have been in my family for some time. The first is a seaman's certificate for one Franklin Mayhew of Chilmark, MA, issued in 1822 when he was 17 years of age. The second is a letter from Franklin to his brother Zephaniah written in March 1825. I had always assumed that either Franklin or Zephaniah were my great-great-great grandfather, however, I have recently discovered that my great-great grandfather was Harrison Mayhew who was born on Martha's Vinyard in 1801.

I am attaching copies of the Certificate, the letter and a text file transcription of the letter to this post. If anyone can help identify them or find out what their connection with Harrison Mayhew is, I would appreciate it.

Franklin would have been born in 1804 or 1805 and Zephaniah was probably three years younger - 1807 or 1808.