Lord Stirling's agent sold them in 1641 to Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682) of Watertown, Mass., and his son Thomas (c. 1616-1657) for £40, and a little later the elder Mayhew obtained another deed for Martha's Vineyard from Gorges.
The Martha's Vineyard railway (from Oak Bluffs to the south-east extremity of the island, by way of Edgartown), opened in 1874, was not a financial success, and had been practically abandoned in 1909, but an electric line from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven provides transit facilities for that part of the island.
For more than a century whale fishing was practically the sole industry of Martha's Vineyard.
It seems probable that the original form was Martin, the name of one of Gosnold's crew; according to some authorities the name Martha's Vineyard was adopted by Mayhew in honour of his wife or daughter.
In 1641 Stirling's agent, Forrett, sold to Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682), 1 of Watertown, Massachusetts, for $200, the island of Nantucket, with several smaller neighbouring islands, and also Martha's Vineyard.
