On (12/24/02 8:30:33 AM MST), Christopher Gray ([log in to unmask]) asked,

"Recently I wrote that Queens was "named in 1683 when the province of New York
was  divided into 10 counties."  This is also the version given in the
Encyclopedia of New York, referring to "the colony of New York" (in the entry
on Queens).

But  I. N. Phelps Stokes' "Iconography of Manhattan Island", quoting from the
original 1683 colonial law, notes that "the province of New York" originally
consisted of (or was claimed to consist of) Cornwall and Dukes counties.
Other apparently standard sources indicate Cornwall County was surrendered to
Massachusetts in 1692 (and became part of Maine in 1819) and Dukes County was
surrendered to Massachusetts in 1686.

Is it correct to assume that the Stokes' version is accurate?  >>>Or is there
some obscure nomenclature issue concealed here, waiting to trip me up?<<<
(My concern is heightened because I cannot find the entry in the Encyclopedia
of New York which relates to "New York State", if there is one.)"

Neither version is correct: there were 12 counties and Dukes and Cornwall
County remained part of New York until October 7, 1691.

And, here begins a very interesting story  ...

.........................Long Island's Original East End,
.......................and its connection to New England

This is the story of the Island of Martha's Vineyard and the 300+year old
tradition that followed Martha's Island through 3 name changes, 2 states and
a typographical error in a legislative bill.

On November 1, 1683 when the first General Assembly of Freeholders
established the first 12 counties of New York and created the office of
Sheriff in each county, Martha's Vineyard was known as Martin's Vineyard and
was in Dukes County in New York.  The other  original counties were Albany,
Cornwall, Dutchess, Kings, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk,
Ulster and Westchester.

The effect of these laws was to combine the separate jurisdiction of the
Vineyard and the Island of Nantucket and to add another office or two to the
civil list, which was promptly filled by Matthew Mayhew, of Martin's
Vineyard, who seemed to feel that nothing was too small for his attention
from chief magistrate down to register of deeds.  Prior to this, Nantucket
had been conducting its own affairs under a local autonomy subject to a
certain suzerainty of the Mayhew proprietary government.

Martin's Vineyard becomes Mathew's Vineyard at or before a meeting of Dukes
County officials meeting at Nantucket on September 21, 1686 to discuss the
establishment and timing of when the Court would meet on each of the main
islands of the county.

On October 7, 1691, by the Charter of William and Mary, Dukes as well as
Cornwall County leave New York and become counties in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.

However, with the passage to Massachusetts, the good people of Nantucket,
after several tries, were finally successful in their attempt to separate
from the grip of the Mayhews on what is now (and forevermore) Martha's
Vineyard. On May 28, 1695, the General Court (Assembly) of Massachusetts
allowed Nantucket to secede from Dukes County, but the enacting legislation
permanently changed the name of Dukes to "Dukes County" by inadvertently
putting the word "County" after Dukes in the bill.

Cornwall County later becomes part of the State of Maine when Maine secedes
from Massachusetts in 1820.  Cornwall County included Pemaquid and its
dependencies, comprising what is now a considerable part of the coast Maine.