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 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
In 1694 the number of taxables in the parish was 337, and the amount of tobacco raised for ecclesiastical purposes was 13,480 pounds.
Previous to this time the congregation worshiped in an old meeting house, the location and history of which is entirely lost ; but in 1696 the vestry concluded that it was absolutely necessary to purchase some land in a more convenient loca- tion and build a church thereon. They accordingly pur- chased 100 acres of William Ward for 5,000 pounds of to- bacco and agreed with Casparus Hermen to build a church of brick or stone 25x35 feet, the walls of which were to be two feet thick at the foundation and eighteen inches above; walls to be twelve feet high; to have four windows, a fold- ing door, six feet wide, etc., for 18,000 pounds of tobacco. Still there was no minister in the parish, but in 1697 the
209
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
vestry ordered that Robert Cook be allowed 800 pounds of tobacco for the accommodation and funeral charges of one Mr. William Davis, a certain minister of the gospel, who, having newly come to tender his services to them, was taken sick and died.
In 1697 the taxables had increased to 346. A year had now passed away and still the church was not built, and the vestry questioned Casparus Hermen why he had not ful- filled his contract, to which he replied: First, that the building of the State-house took longer than he expected; secondly, that he was prevented by unseasonable weather and losing a sloop load of material; and thirdly, being a delegate to the General Assembly he had to attend to public concerns, by order of his Excellency the Governor. This year the vestry purchased two hundred acres of land as a glebe, for 7,000 pounds of tobacco, so that it now had three hundred acres of glebe land.
This year the Rev. Richard Sewell, who had been sent to Maryland by the Right Rev. Henry Compton, Lord Bishop of London, was appointed or presented to the two parishes of North and South Sassafras by Thomas Nichol- son, governor of the province. The last General Assembly had provided for paying the expenses of clergymen coming over to the province, and the treasurer of the Eastern Shore was ordered to pay Mr. Sewell £20 for that purpose.
In 1698 the taxables numbered 329, yielding 13,160 pounds of tobacco. At the March session of the General Assembly Mr. Sewell had preached before it, and it was cus- tomary for the General Assembly to make an appropriation to pay for such service, but on this occasion the lower house refused to do this, and when asked by the other house the cause of this refusal, they replied that Mr. Sewell did not give that satisfaction to the country that was expected of him. The other house, and his Excellency, the Governor, thought they were as good judges of the merits of the case as the lower house, and said that he ought to be paid.
N
210
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
There had been some talk of building a chapel of Ease a year or two before this time (1698), and the vestry this year agreed for the building of one by the Elk River, to be of wood, twenty feet square and ten feet in height, to have two windows, a pulpit and reading-desk, large door, etc., and were to pay for the building of it 2,600 pounds of tobacco. They purchased an acre of land on which to build it from Peter Clawson, for 400 pounds of tobacco. There is no doubt that this chapel, if it was ever built, was upon St. John's Manor, in Elk Neck, for the records of the county show that the next year Peter Clawson sold a hundred acres of land which is described as being part of St. John's Manor, on the west side of Elk River. The land is described as lying upon Church Creek, which no doubt was so called because the chapel was near to it. If the land that was bought upon which to build the chapel had been on the other side of the Elk River, the vestry must necessarily have bought it from Casparus Hermen, for no other person owned any land there. In 1698 Hermen having died without building the church, the vestry agreed with Matthias Hendrickson and James Smithson for the building of a church (about the same size of the one Hermen was to have built) for 18,000 pounds of tobacco. In 1699 the taxables of the parish amounted to 352.
In 1701 the inhabitants of North Elk and Bohemia Hun- dreds presented a petition to the upper house of Assembly, complaining that Mr. Sewell had neglected them, and the matter was referred to Col. John Thompson, but there is no record of his report. The parish at this time was quite large, embracing the territory included by the present boundaries of the county. The reverend gentleman had married the preceding year, so it is no wonder that he failed to visit the northern part of the county, which George Talbot twenty years before had called " that desert and frontier corner of the province," and which was probably but little improved at the time of which we write. In 1703 the church floor, gallery, etc., were agreed to be made for £20 sterling and
211
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
5,000 pounds of tobacco, being equal to about $225. In 1704 it was ordered that eight gallons of rum be paid for, it hav- ing been used for drams in the morning while the workmen were building the church. The people of that day used rum, and for many years afterwards it was customary to allow in the levy for a gallon or two of rum and some sugar to sweeten it upon the occasion of a pauper's funeral, the expense of which was borne by the county.
On March Sth of this year Matthias Van Bibber was made a vestryman. The church was not dedicated until 1705. It was called St. Stephen's, which name it still bears, and which has also long been applied to the parish, the legal name of which is North Sassafras. In 1706 North Elk Par- ish was constituted. It embraced all that part of the county north of the Elk River, and lessened to that extent the size of North Sassafras Parish.
Shrewsbury, or South Sassafras Parish, which now is in Kent County, was erected, as before stated, in 1692. The names of the vestrymen in 1695 were William Pearce, William Harris, Edward Blay, William Elms, Edward Skiddimor, and George Shirton. The records of Cecil County show that this vestry obtained a deed from Charles James, in 1700, for 1S1 acres of land, for which they had paid 7,000 pounds of tobacco to Charles James, the father of the grantor, then deceased. This land is described as being near a valley at the head of a branch of Churn Creek.
In 1702 one Richard Lugg was indicted for disturbing public worship at Shrewsbury Parish Church, and found guilty and fined one hundred pounds of tobacco. In 1695 the taxables in Shrewsbury were 350, thirteen more than were assessed in all the other parts of the county. The total population of the county at this time was 2,852, that is, on the theory that the taxables were equal to one-fourth of the people. During the few years that this parish was under the jurisdiction of this county, it was under the care of the rectors of North Sassafras, except for a short time in 1702,
212
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
when the Rev. Stephen Boardley, the rector of St. Paul's Parish, adjoining it on the south, served it one-third of his time.
In 1714 the taxables in North Sassafras, which now em- braced the country between the Elk and Sassafras rivers, had increased to 520; and in 1721 they numbered 726. In 1723 Dr. Sewell resigned the charge of North Sassafras, having had charge of it more than twenty-six years. In 1724 the parish was vacant, and Thomas Parsley was appointed reader by the vestry, and was to put up the greens in the church at the usual time. He was to have 2,000 pounds of tobacco for his compensation.
In 1723 the governor of the province inquired of the com- missioners of the county how many parishes there were in it and the number of taxables in them, and they replied that there were two parishes, and that St. Stephen's (North Sassafras) was thirty miles long and sixteen miles in breadth, and contained 1,011 taxables; that North Elk was about twenty miles long and was about the same width, and con- tained 569 taxables; and that St. Stephen's Parish had a glebe of 310 acres.
In 1724 the Rev. John Urmston was inducted into the parish. He was an intemperate man, and the records of the parish show that, upon one occasion, he was " so over- taken with liquor in the church that he could not read the service, so that the people went out." So they complained of his bad conduct, and some of the neighboring rectors and other officials of the adjoining parishes tried him on a libel exhibited against him by the church wardens for many wicked and immoral actions, which were proved before the said commission. The crimes for which he was deposed were so glaring that the reverend gentlemen did not think fit to appeal from the decision of the commission that tried him, but being instigated by the Papists, as was alleged by the presiding officer, he sought legal advice, and was about to bring suit for the recovery of his salary and also to pros-
1
213
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
ecute the president of the commission that tried and deposed him for acting without a commission from his Majesty, the king, when he, in a drunken fit, as was supposed, fell into the fire and was burned to death. A sad but fitting end for one who had disgraced the holy office, and had probably as- sumed its duties in order to prostitute it to his own aggrand- izement. The vestry considered the parish vacant and petitioned the governor to appoint another rector, and in response he sent them the Rev. Hugh Jones, who took charge of the parish in 1731. He was a graduate of the University of Oxford, and came to Maryland in 1696. He was then in the twenty-sixth year of his age. He had been engaged in the ministry in Calvert County, Maryland, and also in Virginia. He was a zealous churchman and was much annoyed by the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Jesuits and Quakers who were residents of the parish. In 1733, an act having been passed by the General Assembly for the purpose of raising the requisite funds, the vestry agreed with John Babenhime and James Bayard for the building cf a new church at or near the place where the old church stood for 75,000 pounds of tobacco. The vestry also bought from Benjamin Sluyter two acres of land on the Manor upon which to build a chapel, and agreed with him for the build- ing of one 30x50 feet, with a semi-circular chancel with a radius of ten feet. This was the old St. Augustine Church which was standing at St. Augustine when the Hessians, under Knyphausen, visited the Manor in 1777. It is worthy of remark that when the building of the church was con- templated four of the vestrymen voted for it to be built at Newtown, which probably was the name then given to Cecil- town, at the mouth of Scotchman's Creek, which had been laid out in 1730.
The following extract from a letter from Hugh Jones to the secretary of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel, shows the character and zeal of the man in an admirable manner, and for that reason is inserted here :
214
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
"ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH, in Cecil county, Md., July 30th, 1739.
" May it Please Your Reverence :- To excuse the presumption of me and my vestry in making application to you for the donation of a library to this parish; for though this place belongs not to any of your missions, yet it may have as just a claim to partake of your pious favors as any, being the chief mark at which the virulent darts of the Pennsylvania deists, Quakers, Presbyterians, &c., are aimed, we being al- most surrounded by them and having continual trade and intercourse with them. You are no stranger to the cunning and diligence of these people in perverting their neighbors, especially the licentious and the ignorant. So that I need only to mention that I am obliged to be continually on my guard to defend my weak but large flocks against their attacks in one quarter or other, in which, with God's help, I have hitherto well succeeded. But this being a populous and very growing place, 'tis feared that, without the aid of a competent number of books to be lent out on all occasions, their insinuating wiles will seduce many in a small time. Since the Jesuits in my parish with them they favored and settled in Philadelphia seem to combine our ruin by propa- gation of schism, popery and apostacy in this neighborhood, to prevent the danger of which impending tempest 'tis hoped you will be so good as to contribute your extensive charit- able benevolence, by a set of such books of practical and polemical divinity and church history as you shall judge most suitable for the purpose, but especially the best answer to Barclay's apology, the independent Whig, and all the other favorite books of the Quakers, Deists, Presbyterians, Anabaptists and Papists, with books of piety and devotion and vindication of the doctrines and discipline of our Es- tablished Church against all sorts of adversaries."
In this letter Mr. Jones speaks of his ministrations at Appoquinimy, and states that many of the people there were his auditors when he was officiating in his other church.
The petition book for the year 1731, which is yet extant among the records of the county, contains a petition from Hugh Jones to the court, which is also characteristic of the
215
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
man, and shows the state of society at that time. "The petition of Hugh Jones, clerk, humbly shewetli that, Where- as, the road now running by your petitioner's door was for- merly moved that way, before the minister's house was built, for the convenience of the marsh plantation (the marsh plantation was probably the free school land on the Bohemia, east of Scotchman's Creek), which very much in- commodes the settlement at the glebe by rendering the habi- tation of the incumbent public, which ought to be private and retired, and turns the pasture into common, and ex- poses your petitioner and his family to the troublesome com- pany and insults of many drunken, swearing fellows, and makes us unsafe in our beds, and gives opportunity for thievish negroes and ordinary people, who continually pass that way, to corrupt and hinder our servants, and to pilfer anything that is left out at night-nay even to break open doors that are locked, as I have already found by experience." Therefore he prayed that the road might be moved to its for- mer track, at some distance from the house, which was granted.
In 1743 the taxables in this parish had increased to 1,443. The next year the northern part of the parish, including all of it between Elk River and Little Bohemia, was erected into a new parish, under the name of St. Augustine. In 1755 there was much fear of a Popish plot, as before intimated, and the manuscript history of Mr. Allen contains a letter from David Wetherspoon* to Major John Veazey, then com- manding officer of the county, calling his attention to the French and Irish Papists, and begging him to bestir him- self in behalf of the rights and liberties of the people and the interests of the Protestant religion. Mr. Jones this year preached a sermon called a protest against Popery, which was published in the Maryland Gazette at Annapolis.
* David Wetherspoon was a native of Londonderry County, Ireland. He was probably the founder of Middletown, and died April 7th, 1763, aged fifty-eight years. His grave may be seen at Middletown.
216
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
Mr. Jones was a firm friend of Lord Baltimore, and was aceused by William Penn's lawyers of inducing him to re- fuse to carry out the agreement for the settlement of the boundary, for the reason, as they alleged, that he feared it would lessen the extent of his parish. Under his rector- ship the parish reached the highest degree of prosperity that it ever attained as an Episcopal parish.
In 1757 Mr. Jones bought 480 acres of land in Middle Neck from Matthias and Henry Van Bibber, for which he paid £882, from which it is plain that he had found time to acquire some of this world's goods. The record of his deed . shows that it was written upon stamped paper the duty upon which had been paid. He died September Sth, 1760, at the great age of ninety years. His will is recorded in this county. He left his beloved godson, Edward Pryce Wilmer, his lot in Charlestown, one silver half pint can, one silver soup spoon, and four hunting pictures then hanging in his parlor. The residue of his estate he left to his nephew, Rev. William Barroll. His remains are interred at St. Stephen's, and a marble slab erected to his memory by his nephew, William Barroll, marks the site of his grave.
Mr. Jones had resigned the rectorship of St. Stephen's be- fore his death; at least it is stated in his will that his nephew, William Barroll, was then rector of that parish. William Barroll was a native of Wales, or of Hereford, on its borders. He was ordained by the Bishop of London for Maryland, March 4th, 1760, and came to Maryland shortly afterwards. This year the small-pox prevailed in the vicinity of the church to such an extent that the vestry feared to meet on Easter Monday to transact the usual business of filling vacancies, choosing church wardens, etc. This dis- ease appears to have been very prevalent about this time, and the records of the county show that in many cases al- lowances were made to people who had nursed poor per- sons who were afflicted with it. The rector and vestrymen of North Sassafras therefore petitioned the General Assembly
217
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
to confirm the action they took at a subsequent meeting. Owing to the increase of population in the county the General Assembly at the session of 1706 passed an act erecting the parish of North Elk, which embraced all that part of the county north of the Elk and east of Susquehanna River. Though the legal name of this parish is North Elk, it has been called St. Mary Ann's Parish since the erection of the church at North East, which is called by that name. The early history of this parish is involved in obscurity, from the fact that all the records previous to 1743 were 'many years ago destroyed by fire. It is stated, however, in Dr. Ethan Allen's manuscript history of this parish that some time during the first nine years after it was erected the vestry sent a petition to the Bishop of London, under whose care the Established Church in Maryland had been placed, praying for the services of a minister and a donation of books for the use of the parish. They state in the peti- tion that they had erected a church and that the revenue of the parish was about £40 per annum; that the population was a mixed one, and all sorts of religion prevailed among the people. The petition was signed by Nicholas Hyland, Joseph Young, Samuel Vans, Samson, George, Francis Mauldin and John Curer. It was probably in response to this petition that Queen Anne presented the vestry with a large Bible, which is used in the church at this time (1881). The good bishop was unable to comply with their request, and it was not till 1722 that they obtained the regular service of a minister. In this year the vestry presented a petition to the court praying for a levy of tobacco " to finish the church and repair sundry things relating to it." This petition was signed on behalf of the vestry by William Howell, who was the first clerk of this parish that is alluded to in the records of the county. In, 1724 the vestry, by Richard Dobson, who was register of the parish, petitioned the court for a levy of five pounds of tobacco per poll to enable them to finish an addition to the parish church.
218
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
There being no rector for a number of years after the organization of the parish, there was no legal method of obtaining the much-sought-for tobacco, only to levy it for the repair of the church ; and year after year the same old petition appears upon the records, and the same old story of needed repairs is rehearsed, and never rehearsed in vain, for the tobacco was always granted.
The churchmen of that time seem to have been very zealous, for we find a petition of John Hamm to the court in 1721 stating that he had stood godfather to a child whose father had since died, and the child was then kept among Roman Catholics, " contrary to the Intention of his Baptism ;" he therefore prayed that he might be removed to where he might be brought up in the "Church of England religion." The court ordered the child's mother to bring it into court, but the record tells nothing more of the case.
The Rev. Walter Ross appears to have been the first Episcopal minister that regularly labored in this parish. He was a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,* and had been at New Castle some time pre- vious to the year 1722, when he commenced his labors here, still continuing his work at New Castle. The Rev. Walter Hackett was inducted into this parish in 1733, though Mr. Ross still continued to serve it. It is probable that this anomalous condition was caused by the efforts of the pro- prietors of the respective provinces to extend their juris- diction.
The controversy between the heirs of Penn and the pro- prietary of Maryland was raging at this time, and no doubt Lord Baltimore thought it both wise and politic to give the parishioners of North Elk a rector. At this time Rev. Hugh Jones was in charge of North Sassafras Parish, and Mr. Hackett was probably quite as strong a partisan as he. It
* This Society was organized in London, and was under the control of the bishop of that city.
219
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
was probably owing to the efforts of Mr. Ross that the chapel near Port Deposit was erected. This chapel was east of that town and not far from Battle Swamp. It was built upon part of nine acres of land (which was no doubt a gift of the lord proprietary), near a fine spring of water, which was known as the Indian Spring. Every vestige of this chapel has long since disappeared, but the land is still in the pos- session of the vestry of the parish, and is now overgrown with briars and bushes. A very few ancient tombstones mark the site of the graveyard. One of them bears the date of 1742, which indicates that the chapel had not then fallen into the neglect that has since overtaken it. It is worthy of remark that Mr. Hackett stated in his first report to the Society "that his baptisms were numerous, one of which was an Indian and four others colored persons."
Mr. Hackett, who died in 1735, was succeeded by the Rev. William Wye, who took charge of the parish in 1736, and under whose administration the venerable old church now standing was built. The parish now seems to have been in a prosperous condition and contained 928 taxables.
The reader must remember that the eastern and northern boundaries of the county were still in dispute, and that Not- tingham was claimed by Penn and the inhabitants of that township, and those of Welsh Tract were not included in the above number.
In 1742 an act was passed authorizing a levy of £800 to be made to enable the vestry to erect a church and vestry- . house, and in 1743 they entered into articles of agreement with Henry Baker for that purpose. The names of the vestrymen were Captain Nicholas Hyland, Captain Zebulon Hollingsworth, Henry Baker, Edward Johnson, Thomas Ricketts, and John Currer.
The church stands on or near the site of the first one and is a well-constructed brick building, of the same style as the old Baptist church on Iron Hill, which was built four ycars afterwards. Very probably the brick used in its con- struction were brought from England.
220
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
The following inscription is distinctly legible on the cor- ner-stone of the church :
RD WYE: HB: NH: DEI: ZH: TR: IC: 1743.
This inscription, as the reader will see, begins with the name of the rector. The initials, except the letters DEI, are those of the vestrymen of 1742.
There is reason to believe that Henry Baker employed Samuel Gilpin to do the carpenter work of the church and vestry-house ; for the vestry-book shows that in 1751 Gilpin was ordered to have the vestry-house finished as soon as possible.
The church seems not to have been quite finished in that year, for Baker was ordered to deliver to the sexton a dozen bolts for the church windows.
In 1752 one Dominie Fanning was allowed to keep school in the vestry-house, Robert Cummings becoming surety that he would not injure it.
It was customary for many years after this church was built to tar it, that is, to apply tar to that portion of the wood-work and roof that was exposed to the weather. This custom was in vogue in 1763. In that year John Neal con- tracted with the vestry to make a ladder thirty feet long, and to tar the church and vestry-house.
In 1743 the vestry agreed to purchase a tract of land con- taining two hundred and fifty acres from Robert Cummings, then in possession of it, for £250. He to have the use of the Pot House and wood for the same for two years. This land was intended for a glebe; it was near the church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.