USA > Maryland > Cecil County > History of Cecil County, Maryland, and the early settlements around the head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with sketches of some of the old families of Cecil County > Part 12
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After laborious and patient investigation it has been ascer- tained that Talbot returned to Ireland and took part in the struggle between James the Second and the Prince of Orange.
After the downfall of the house of Stewart he joined the Irish Brigade, in which he was commissioned as an officer, and with it entered the service of the King of France, where he was afterwards killed.
Castle Rooney for many years has been in ruins. There is some reason to believe that a relative of George Talbot owned land and resided for a time at Perry Point,* below Perryville; for in 1710 James Talbot, of Castle Rooney, in the kingdom of Ireland, sold a tract of land which is de- scribed as being upon that point.
* So called from having been owned by Captain Richard Perry, of London, in the early part of the last century.
CHAPTER XI.
New Munster-Its metes and bounds-The Alexanders-Society-Cecil Manor-Charles Carroll-Fair Hill-The Scotch-Irish-Christiana Pres- byterian Church-Rock Church-The English Revolution-Its effect on the Colony of Maryland-Nottingham-The Nottingham Lots-Original grantees-Reasons why the grant was made-The first Friends' meeting- house -- The Little Brick or Nottingham Friends' meeting-house-Pop- pemetto-West Nottingham Presbyterian Church-Treaty with the Conestoga Indians-Thomas Chalkley visits them-Account of some of the first settlers of Nottingham-The Welsh tract-Its boundaries-The Baptist church on Iron Hill-The Pencader Presbyterian Church -- Rev. David Evans-Rev. Samuel Davies-Iron Hill.
THE certificate of survey of the New Munster tract, which may be found in the old colonial records at Annapolis, is as follows: "Surveyed for Edwin O'Dwire and fifteen other Irishmen by virtue of a warrant from his Lordship, dated 7th of August, 1683. Laid out for him and them a certain tract of land, called New Munster, lying and being in Cecil County, on the main fresh of Elk River, on both sides of the said fresh, beginning at a marked poplar on a high bank over the west side of the said main fresh, and about a pistole shott to the mouth of a rivelett, called the Shure, and run- ning west, ... containing and now laid out for six thou- sand acres more or less, to be held of the manor of Cœcill, which is hereby humbly certified to your Lordship, this 29th day of August, 1683, by- GEORGE TALBOT,
" Surveyor-General."
The poplar tree mentioned in the aforesaid certificate stood upon the west bank of Big Elk Creek, a short distance above where the stream originally called the Shure, but now called Fulling Mill Run, empties into that stream. The Shure was no doubt called by that name because it was
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not easily affected by drouth. It is a pretty little stream that rises near Fair Hill, and flows in a southeast direction thorugh a section of country most of which, until quite recently, was thickly covered with forest trees, which pre- vented the evaporation of the water from the earth, so that the springs that fed it flowed nearly as strongly in the sum- mer months as in any other season. It still sustains its ancient reputation as a Shure and reliable stream, and once supplied enough water to turn two mills that stood upon its banks. The poplar tree that marked the place of the beginning of the survey has long since disappeared, but the place where it stood is marked by a rough, undressed stone, with the letters W. S. on its south, the letter B. on its east and the. letters N. M., and underneath them the letters N. I. on the north side, rudely chiseled on comparatively smooth places on its otherwise rough surface. What these initials mean we are unable to say. Their meaning, as well as the history of those who placed them there, is lost. But the water of the babbling stream still dances down its rocky channel, as if it was impatient to join the larger and quieter stream that flows so placidly at the base of the rugged declivity, midway up which this stone was planted in the long ago. There can be no doubt that the stone is near the place where the poplar stood, because the configuration of the country is is such that the course of the streams must necessarily be. . nearly the same now as they were two hundred years ago.
Without attempting to give the accurate courses and dis- tances of the boundary lines of New Munster, it is sufficient to state that the southern line, which started from the poplar tree, ran about a mile west until it reached the southwest corner of the tract, and then ran northwardly for about five miles until it reached the northwest corner, which was about a mile north of Mason and Dixon's line, where the northern line commenced and ran in an easterly course, and crossed the Elk a short distance above Mackey's (now Tweed's) mill, which is the first mill on that stream in
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Pennsylvania above the State line. The northeast corner was nearly two miles east of Big Elk and a little south of a direct line joining the aforesaid mill and the village of Strickersville, in Pennsylvania. The east line ran south from the last-named corner until it reached the southeast corner of the tract, which was about a mile east of the place of beginning, from which the southern line ran west to the poplar tree that marked the beginning of the survey. The tract was about five miles long and two miles wide, and consequently contained about ten square miles. The Big Elk divided it into two nearly equal parts. Within the limits of the tract are some of the best water-powers in the county, no less than five of them being on the Big Elk.
Edwin O'Dwire, to whom the patent for New Munster was granted, sold it to one Daniel Toas, of Chester River, in Maryland, when, we have no means of ascertaining, for the deed is not on record, who died and left a son (John Toas), who inherited it as his heir and devisee. This John Toas, it would seem, was not a very thrifty nor a very well-to-do man, for he induced one " Robert Roberts, of Queen Anne's County (glover), to become bound for ye sd. Toas for ye sum of £200 and upwards, which the said Robert Roberts was obliged to pay and did pay, the said John Toas ab- sconding himself from justice, for which there did an act of Assembly pass and was confirmed, thereby empowering the said Robert Roberts, by virtue of the same, to make good and valuable sale and absolute title of inheritance in fee simple of, to, and in four thousand five hundred acres of the New Munster tract." By virtue of this act of Assembly the said Robert Roberts sold to Daniel Pearce, of Kent County, 407 acres of the said tract for 6,000 pounds of tobacco, the deed for which is dated the 4th of September, 1713. This 407 acres was located in the southwest corner of New Mun- ster, and contained the site of the mill near the mouth of the Shure, now owned by Howard Scott. Roberts also sold to Thomas Stephenson, of Bucks County, Pa., nearly three
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thousand acres of the same tract, a large part of which was cast of the Big Elk, for the sum of £300 current money of Maryland. The deed from Roberts to Stephenson is dated April 1st, 1714.
On the 18th of May following, Stephenson sold the tract on the east side of the Big Elk, containing upwards of 1100 acres, to Mathias Wallace, James Alexander, farmer, Arthur Alexander, farmer, David Alexander, weaver, and Joseph Alexander, tanner. The deed recites the fact that the tract of land then conveyed to Wallace, and the Alexanders "had for some years last past been improved and possessed by them, and had been by them divided among themselves, each man according to his holden, and that he, the said Stephenson, being minded to sell the said traet of land, thought it most equitable, honest and right, that they, the said possessors thereof, should have the first offer to buy or purchase each man his holden or division of ye same." There is no doubt, judging from the facts recited in the deed from Stephenson to Wallace and the Alexanders that they were part of the "15 other Irishmen " mentioned in the cer- tificate of survey, and that they located upon New Munster many years prior to the time at which they obtained the deed to their farms. The first deed from Stevenson to the Alexanders contained a covenant that the grantor, Stephen- son, would make them another and better one if they de- manded it any time during the next seven years ensuing after the date of the first deed. In accordance with this covenant, Stevenson, by eight deeds, each of which is dated August 15th, 1718, reconveyed his interest in nine hundred and three acres of the New Munster tract to Joseph, James, David, Arthur, Elijah and Mary Alexander. This woman, Mary, was the widow of James Alexander, deceased, who probably was the son of one of the other Alexanders before mentioned. By two other deeds of the same date he also conveyed certain parts of the said tract to John Gillespie and Mathias Wallace, Jr. The land conveyed to the colony
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of Alexanders embraced the northeast part of the New Mun- ster tract and extended from a short distance north of Cow- antown to the extreme northern boundary of New Munster, which, as before stated, was about a mile north of the State line, as it was located by Mason and Dixon fifty years after- wards. It was bounded on the west by the Big Elk and the west branch of Christiana flowed through it for about a mile, near the northeast corner of that part of it that is now in Maryland.
In 1701 James Carroll took up a survey of 2,104 acres of land west of New Munster, and in 1713 conveyed his interest in it to Charles Carroll. The tract was called "Society," and the deeds given shortly afterwards for certain parts of it, recite the fact that the survey, which was unfinished before, was completed in the latter year by Henry Hollings- worth, who was then deputy-surveyor. Morgan Patten, John Bristow, Joseph Steel, and Roger Lawson were among the first purchasers, and there is every reason to believe they were the first settlers upon this tract of land, which then, 1718 and '19, no doubt was covered by the prime- val forest. "Society," like New Munster, was to be held of the manor of Cecil. This manor was just west of Little Elk, and extended from near the head of Elk River some miles northward. It was probably several miles wide, and like some of the other manors is believed never to have been surveyed or bounded. The southeast corner of " Society" was about a mile north of the southwest corner of New Munster, and the western boundary of the latter formed the eastern boundary of the former. The tract probably ex- tended as far north as New Munster did. The deed from Carroll to Lawson warranted to defend his title " against all persons claiming title, or pretended title, under ye govern- ment of Pennsylvania or ye territories thereunto belong- ing." This was because the long and bitter controversy between the Penns and Baltimore about the boundaries of their respective provinces was then raging.
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The Charles Carroll who owned Society was judge and register of the land office, and also agent and receiver of rents for Lord Baltimore. A part of this tract remained in possession of the Carroll family till 1805. In that year Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, sold 184 acres of it to Alex- ander Jackson for £183.
Fair Hill, which originally extended to the east side of Little Elk Creek, was taken up about the same time that Society was settled. New Castle at this time was a town of considerable size and much importance; then and for many years afterwards, it was probable that more Irish emigrants landed there than any other port on the eastern seaboard of the colonics. These people found their way to New Ire- land and the southern parts of Chester and Lancaster counties.
The Alexanders, and probably most of the other original settlers on New Munster and the parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware contiguous to it, were Scotch-Irish ; and as this class of settlers acted a conspicuous part in the early as well as in the subsequent history of the county, a short account of them may be interesting and profitable.
During the reign of Elizabeth, the people of Ulster, a province in the north of Ireland, rebelled against the gov- erment of England; and, as was always the case with the people of that country, they were subjugated and subjected to a vigorous and severe regime. Though they were obliged to submit to the English government, they did so with reluctance, and were ever ready for revolt. Though the fire of their patriotism was apparently extinguished, it was not wholly quenched, and soon after the accession of James I. another conspiracy was entered into between the Earl of Tyrone and the Earl of Tyrconnel against the English gov- erment. It was soon suppressed, and the two earls were forced to fly. Their estates, containing about 500,000 acres, were confiscated. A second insurrection soon after- wards gave occasion for another large forfeiture, and nearly
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six entire counties in the province of Ulster were confiscated. This large territory of confiscated land was nearly depopu- lated by the efforts of the English in reducing its inhabit- ants to obedience. It soon became a favorite project of the English sovereign to repeople this depopulated territory with a Protestant population, hoping they would be more peaceable, and consequently less likely to rebel. Many in- ducements were held out to the people of England and Scot- land to settle in this vacant territory in Ireland. The principal emigration, however, was from Scotland. Its coast is near the coast of Ireland, and the emigrants had only a short distance to travel to reach their new homes. The Scotch emigrants brought with them their habits of industry, and their strong Calvinistic faith and rigid adherence to the Presbyterian religion. This was the first Protestant population that settled in Ireland. The first Irish Presby- terian church was established by the Scotch-Irish in 1613. But owing to the unstable character of the House of Stewart, these emigrants were destined soon to undergo a fiercer and more cruel persecution than the Catholics whom they had succeeded. The persecution of the Scotch Presbyterians which soon afterwards took place, in which Claverhouse and his dragoons won for themselves an eternal infamy, drove many of the persecuted Scotch to take refuge in the secure retreats of Ulster.
This is the origin of the Scotch-Irish, a race that has been noted in the history of the United States for their love of religious and civil liberty ; a race to whose exertions, sacri- fices and valor we are much indebted for the successful issue of the Revolutionary war and the establishment of our present system of government. Their forefathers had been taught in the school of adversity and many of them had sealed their faith with their blood. When the long course of oppression and cruelty practiced by the arbitrary govern- ment of Great Britain upon the people of the colonies had culminated in the war of the Revolution, these Scotch-Irish
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l'resbyterians, whose forefathers had long before proved the truth of the adage that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," so in like manner did their sons attest their faith in the justice of the cause that they almost uni- versally espoused, and hesitated not to shed their blood in maintaining it with the sword upon many a sanguinary field. Emulating in civil affairs the example their fore- fathers had set them in ecclesiastical matters, many of them became martyrs in the cause of liberty.
This race did not intermarry with the native Celtic popu- lation, and to this day, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, is as distinct as when the pioneer settlers first immi- grated to Ireland. They were called Scotch-Irish simply because they were the descendants of Scots who had taken up their residence in the north of Ireland. The wretched policy of the House of Stewart, which had an unlimited capacity for tyranny and oppression, soon drove these peo- ple to seek an asylum in the wilderness of America. Here the ancestors of many of the members of the Presbyterian churches in the northern part of Cecil County settled in the early days of the history of our county. They brought with them their habits of industry, self-denial, frugality and economy that are yet retained and practiced by their de- scendants.
The Alexanders and the other Scotch-Irish settlers upon New Munster and the surrounding country were the founders of the old Presbyterian churches at "Head of Christiana " and " The Rock."
It is a singular fact that the first meeting-houses in which these congregations worshiped were outside of the boun- daries of Maryland ; the former being on the triangular part of Pennsylvania that extends south of Mason and Dixon's line, and only about two hundred yards east of the duenorth line which, for all practical purposes, is considered as forming the boundary between Maryland and Delaware. The latter was located in the "old stone graveyard " in
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Lewisville, Chester County, and is about the same distance north of Mason and Dixon's line. Whether this was the result of accident or design is not known, but inasmuch as Maryland was a Catholic colony, and the interests of the first settlers in New Munster were identified with those of the people at New Castle, it was probably the result of the latter. The Presbyterian church at the head of Christiana was organized some time previous to 1708, by a few persons who had previously worshiped in New Castle. The first house of worship, which stood in the graveyard north of the present house, was probably built about the time of the organization of the church.
The first pastor of this church was Rev. George Gillespie. He was born in Scotland, in 1683, and was a son of the Rev. George Gillespie, a prominent member of the Westminster Assembly of divines. Among the names of the first elders of this church, which were equally divided among the three States, are those of David Alexander and Andrew Wallace, of Cecil County. David Alexander was no doubt one of the original settlers of New Munster, and there is little doubt that Andrew Wallace was a relative of Mathias Wal- lace, another of the original settlers upon the same tract. His grave is marked by a headstone, which shows that he died on ye third of March, 1751, aged 79 years. Many of the graves of the Alexanders are marked by headstones in a good state of preservation, which show that they generally lived to a good old age.
The Rock Church was founded in 1720, by members of the Head of Christiana living in the northern part of New Munster, and in Society, who wished a church nearer to their homes. For a short time this congregation was sup- plied by Rev. George Gillespie and other ministers of New Castle Presbytery, until in 1724 the congregation secured the services of their first pastor, Rev. Joseph Houston. He, like most of the early Presbyterian ministers, was a native of Ireland. The original name of the congregation was the
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Church Upon Elk River. Theophilus and his brother, Amos Alexander, both elders of the Rock Church, are buried at Head of Christiana. They lived in the northeastern part of New Munster and were much nearer the churches at Lewis- ville and Sharp's graveyard, which is a short distance north of Fair Hill and near the site of the second church build- ing, than they were to the old church at Head of Chris- tiana, where they at first worshiped.
It is not within the scope of this work to give an extended account of the Revolution in England that resulted in placing William and May on the throne of that kingdom but inasmuch as it had a great effect upon the history of Mary- land, and particularly on the history of Cecil County, it has been deemed important, in order to properly understand the latter, to call the reader's attention to it.
The liberality of the charter of Maryland had excited the cupidity of James II., who contemplated instituting pro- ceedings to wrest it from Lord Baltimore, and who, had he continued to wield the sceptre of England, would most likely have found means to have wrested the rights and franchises which it conferred upon Lord Baltimore from him, and appropriate them to his own use. But it was not so ordered by Providence, and the Proprietary of Maryland escaped this ignominous treatment from the tyrant James, only to be made to endure it from his successor. He was in Eng- land when William and Mary were proclaimed, and at once gave in his adherence to them and sent orders to Mr. Joseph, who had succeeded George Talbot as President of the Council and chief Deputy Governor, to proclaim the new sovereigns in Maryland ; but unfortunately the messen- ger died on the way and the council hesitated to act on their own responsibility till the new sovereigns had been proclaimed in most if not all the other colonies.
The Protestants of Maryland thereupon inaugurated a revolution on their own account, and in April, 1689, formed " an association in arms for the defence of the Protestant
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religion, and for asserting the rights of King William and Queen Mary to the province of Maryland and all the English dominions." John Coode was placed at the head of this association. But little more was done till the following July, when the revolutionists marched upon the city of St. Mary's, which was then held by the council which remained loyal to the Lord Proprietary. The revolutionists were the stonger party, and the others evacuated the city without firing a gun. Whereupon Coode issued a declaration of the reasons which had actuated him and his party to usurp the government. In this declaration they speak of the tyranny and injustice of Lord Baltimore, and refer to the obstacles thrown in the way of the collection of the king's tax and the murder of Rousby " by one that was an Irish papist and our chief governor," etc., at great length.
The authorities of Calvert County alone made some op- position to the revolutionists; but they soon surrendered without bloodshed, and the others became masters of the province. They celebrated their triumph by sending an ad- dress to their Majesties in England, in which they reiterate the charges against Lord Baltimore in a more covert way than in the declaration, and seek to justify, or at least to palliate, the course they had pursued. The revolutionists, feeling secure, issued writs in their Majesties' names for an election of delegates to a convention to be held at St. Mary's in August, to which the people of Calvert County objected, and issued a declaration of their objections to choosing del- egates. They also met with opposition in other parts of the province; notwithstanding which the convention met, and on the 4th of September drew up an address to their Majes- ties, which is remarkable only for the cunning method in which they seek to justify their own revolutionary proceed- ings by the laudatory way in which they speak of their Majesties' achievements of the same kind. This address was accompanied by others from Kent, Somerset, Talbot, St. Mary's, Charles, Calvert, Cecil, and Baltimore counties, some
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of which were numerously signed, and a few of which speak well of Lord Baltimore and his illustrious father. The citi- zens of Cecil County sent a petition which was signed by nineteen of the inhabitants, of none of whom anything is known at this time, except George Oldfield, Casparus Hermen, William Nowell, and York Yorkson. George Oldfield has already been referred to; he was an attorney, and a few years later refused to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, from which it is inferred that he was a Catholic and still adhered to the House of Stewart. He re- moved to Pennsylvania, as it was then called, where he probably still owned land, he being one of the landholders in St. Augustine's Manor as early as 1682, in which year William Penn addressed him and some others upon the sub- ject of the dispute between himself and Lord Baltimore. Cas- parus Hermen was at that time lord of Bohemia Manor, having succeeded his brother Ephraim George, and in ac- cordance with the provision of his father's will had assumed the name of Augustine.
William Nowell was a lawyer. Ile refused to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, for which the courts stopped him from practicing ; but probably readmitted him for the minutes of the court show, as before stated, that he promised to remove the cause of disability. York Yorkson, there is reason to believe, came to this county from the Swedish settlements on the Delaware. He was probably a Swede or Finn. Some years after this time he leased a few acres of land on the north side of Bohemia River just east of the ferry. He is designated in the lease as innholder, and was probably the first person who kept an inn at Bohemia, ferry. The addresses of the Protestants of England were not without effect upon King William, and he thought seriously of depriving Lord Baltimore of his charter. Legal proceedings were instituted for that purpose; but the facts upon which his advisers relied were not susceptible of proof, and Lord Baltimore was allowed to retain the charter
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