Experience Mayhew (1673–1758) was a New England missionary to the Wampanoag Indians on Martha's Vineyard and adjacent islands.
Experience was born on January 27, 1673, in Quansoo, Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, the oldest son of Rev.
[2] At the age of 21, Experience Mayhew began to preach to the Wampanoag Indians in a one-room meetinghouse built by his father in Chilmark.
"[4] In 1707 he published Ne kesukod Jehovah kessehtunkup, a translation of a sermon by Cotton Mather into the Massachusett language.
The 1709 Massachusett Psalter is the first appearance of any book of the New Testament printed in North America in the English language.
Mayhew's version of the Psalms and Gospel of St. John is based upon Eliot's, but the spelling varies considerably and there are other revisions in the verses.
[7] Mayhew published Indian Converts in 1727, which covers the lives and culture of four generations of Wampanoag men, women, and children on Martha's Vineyard.
The purpose of the book was neither to raise funds nor to brag about Mayhew's success, but to emphasize the sincerity of the practicing Christians on Martha's Vineyard, and to humanize and normalize the Indian community living alongside the English.