It is a fact unknown in history, except perhaps to a few local antiquarians, that the island of Martha's Vineyard, located just south of Cape Cod and now a part of the Common wealth of Massachusetts, was at one time under the jurisdiction of the Province of New York, and constituted one of its first three county governments. Martha's Vineyard, together with the Elizabeth Islands, Nantucket, and No Man's Land, was incorporated November 1, 1683, by the Provincial Assembly of New York, as Duke's County, coincident with the creation of King's County (now Brooklyn), and Queen's County (long Island), but for twenty years before that date it had been an integral part of the Province of New York.