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 20
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
These few references in the records of the county to North East show that it was a place of some importance as early as 1720, and most likely it was of much greater importance then than it was half a century afterwards. Charlestown was not then built ; perhaps it was not even thought of, and the iron works which, as we have seen, were located here as early as 1716, added much to the importance of the place.
In 1722 Stephen Onion & Co. leased from Ebenezer Cook, (the agent of the lord proprietary) two tracts of land, called Vulcan's Rest and Vulcan's Trial. The former tract joined Dutton's mill-dam on the south, and probably extended down the river some distance below the present limits of the town. The annual rent for this tract, which contained one hundred and fifty acres, was 15s. 6d., sterling and two fat capons. The rent for Vulcan's Trial, which was still further down the river, was 4s. and two capons. The lease for this tract, which contained thirty-seven acres, contained a covenant obliging the company (which at that time con- sisted of Stephen Onion and Thomas and William Russell) to plant an orchard of forty apple trees. Two days after this, on the 31st of May, 1722, they leased a tract of two hundred acres in Susquehanna Manor, called " Diffidence." It was on the north side of the main branch of the North
234
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
East. On this tract they were to plant an orchard of two hundred apple trees. The annual rent was 20s. and two capons. This seems to indicate that the proprietors of the North East iron works were not a part of the Principio Company at this time, though Onion is mentioned as one of the latter company in the purchase of a mill on Back Creek (now Principio Creek) the same year, and Joshua Gee, Joseph Farmer, William Russell, and John Ruston are mentioned as the other members of the Principio Company. The large tract of Geoffarison, which was no doubt so called in honor of Mr. Gee, was purchased in 1722 by Onion & Co., it having been patented in 1721. The probability is that Onion was a member of each company, and that they were afterwards united. The Principio Company was one of the first companies organized in the county for the manufacture of iron. The father and brother of General Washington had an interest in this company, which some of the family retained till after the close of the Revolutionary war. At what time the Washingtons first became connected with the company is uncertain, but it was probably after the settle- ment of Samuel Gilpin at Gilpin's Rocks, which was in 1733. The Gilpin and Washington families had inter- married in England and were intimate at this time, which may serve to explain why the Washingtons became inter- ested in an enterprise of this kind in Cecil County. For a long time after the erection of these works they were sup- plied with iron ore obtained in the neighborhood.
The forges used at that time, and till a comparatively recent period, were very rude affairs. The blast was made by means of a curious circular bellows, which was operated by means of a water-wheel, very little machinery or gearing being used. So rude were these forges that there was a water-wheel for each bellows and hammer, consequently one forge building often contained several water-wheels.
In 1744 William Black, who was secretary of the commis- sioners appointed by the Governor of Virginia to unite with hose of Pennsylvania and Maryland in treating with the 1
235
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
Six Nations of Indians at Lancaster, visited this place in company with the commissioners of Virginia and Maryland. While on their way to Philadelphia to join the commission- ers of that province, he says: "We sailed up the bay and landed at Turkey Point, and I never saw a country so over- grown with woods. About sundown we came to anchor before North East town, which is composed of two ordi- naries, a grist mill, baker house & two or three dwellings. Notwithstanding we were lying before a town, the commis- sioners and all the rest of the company chose to be on board, as the place by its appearance did not promise the best of entertainment. The next morning we went on shore and breakfasted at the public house, where I drank the best cask cider for the season that ever I did in America." After visiting the Principio Company's iron works, which were then in charge of Mr. Baxter, which he says were thought to be as complete works of the kind as any on the continent, they started on horseback towards Philadelphia, and were met at the State line by the high sheriff, coroner, and under- sheriff of New Castle County, with their white wands, who accompanied them to Chester, where they were met by the officials of Chester County. He does not mention Elkton, but speaks of dining at Ogletown, and says he drank some more good cider there.
So great was the desire of many persons in England and Ireland to emigrate to Maryland, that in the early days of the colony many of them entered into contracts with people in England, who owned plantations in Maryland, to serve them as servants or laborers in the new country for a term of years, in consideration of their transportation and main- tenance. Many of the early settlers who afterwards became distinguished in the history of the State, reached the colony in its carly days in this manner. Some time later in the his- tory of the colony, the captains of vessels engaged in the transportation of passengers, would effect arrangements to transport them to America, for which service they would bind themselves to serve any person who would pay the
236
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
captain the price of their passage, until such time as the debt was liquidated. This custom prevailed until the time of the Revolutionary war. The emigrants imported in this way were called " Redemptioners." For some time before this system of emigration was discontinued, it was customary for the captains of the passenger vessels to dispose of large lots of the Redemptioners to a class of persons called "Soul- drivers," who marched them through the country and dis- posed of them to the farmers. As late as 1795 this practice prevailed in Chester County, and it no doubt prevailed in Cecil quite as long. An amusing story is recorded in the history of Chester County of a shrewd Irishman, who, by a little good management, contrived to be the last of the gang. His master, the Soul-driver, and he stopped all night at a tavern, and the next morning he arose early and sold his master to the landlord, pocketed the money and made his escape, telling the landlord that though clever in other respects, he was rather saney and a little given to lying. That he had been presumptuous enough at times to endeavor to pass for master, and that he might possibly represent himself as such to him! Like most persons held in bond- age, either voluntary or enforced, these servants, in many cases, gave their masters much trouble.
The minutes and records of the court that are yet extant show that much of its time was spent in hearing and set- tling disputes between masters and servants. The servants would run off and give their masters trouble in other ways; and the records of the court show that many of them were not as virtuous as they should have been, and that the morals of the people of the county were by no means well- developed. Matthias Van Bibber, who was at one time chief justice of the county, complained to the court in 1724 of his servant Garrett Bonn ; that he was unruly; that he set him at defiance, and would do nothing but what he pleased. It appeared that Bonn came to the colony in 1722 without being indentured, and the cause of the quarrel appeared to be in regard to the time he should serve. The court sent
237
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
the constable, Daniel Huckle, after Bonn, and ordered that he should serve his master five years from the time the ship which brought him over landed in Virginia, and that the sheriff take him to the whipping-post and give him twenty- five lashes well laid on upon the bare back. In 1729 Nathan Phillips presented an account and petition to the court about his servant George Williams, who had ran away and was absent four times. His master had found him at Welsh Tract once, twice at New Castle, and once at Chester. He had absented himself twenty-nine days from his master's service and put him to an expense of £3 Ss. 3d. The court ordered Williams to serve six months additional to re- imburse his master. These servants were bought and sold somewhat after the manner of slaves, as shown by the peti- tion of Ephraim Thompson, presented to the court as late as 1784. Ephraim had purchased one Timothy Rouck, a 'four years servant." Timothy proved to be a bad invest- ment, and he shipped him on board of a sloop, the property of Thomas Wirt, to be sent to Virginia and sold. Upon the return of the sloop he learned that he had not been sold, and he waited upon the skipper Isaac Vanlaman for the indentures of the said servant; when it appeared that some time during the voyage to Virginia, Rouck had stolen the indentures, and the skipper, for want of them, was unable to dispose of him. Mr. Thompson prays the court to take the premises into consideration and grant him such relief as it thought right.
As early as 1695 there was a public ferry across the Sus- quehanna at or near Watson's Island. The great thorough- fare between the north and south then as now crossed the Susquehanna River at that place.
In 1715 the legislature of the colony took the matter of absconding debtors and runaway servants into consider- ation, and enacted a law obliging all persons who intended to leave the province to give three months' notice of their intention to do so by affixing a notice to that effect upon the door of the court-house in the county where they lived
238
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
after which, if no persons objected, they were to be furnished with passes. The act recites the fact that " Whereas several ill- minded people, inhabiting and residing at the head of the bay, have commonly set persons over the head of the bay and Susquehanna River, being either felons, debtors or runaway servants from the more remote parts of this prov- ince, for some small advantage they have in buying or get- ting such money, goods or apparel, as such persons so absenting or flying from justice aforesaid have with them generally money, goods or apparel, by them feloniously purloined from their masters and other owners," therefore it is enacted "that no person shall be allowed to transport any one not having a pass over the said Susquehanna River or head of the bay north of the Sassafras River unless they have a certificate from two of the justices of the county where they formerly resided certifying that they were free- men." This is the first enactment in reference to the under- ground railroad that was made in the legislation of the colonies. The servants referred to were generally white servants, and it was not till many years after this, when slavery was abolished in the Northern States, that the slaves of Maryland and the Southern States availed them- selves of its use.
It is probable that the ferry at the mouth of the Sus- quehanna was the only one on that stream at this time. A few years afterwards Thomas Cresap was proprietor of a ferry near where Port Deposit now stands ; this for a long time afterwards, in contradistinction to the one at the mouth of the river, was called the Upper Ferry. In 1727 Richard Touchstone was proprietor of Mount Ararat; he states in a petition, presented to the court in that year, that he was then seventy years of age and had served the coun- try forty-three years. He no doubt is the man whose wife, tradition says, supplied George Talbot with food when he took refuge in the cave, which was at the base of Mount Ararat. He certainly was in the county at the time that Talbot was in the cave, and the tradition is not improbable.
239
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
In 1731 the inhabitants of Susquehanna upper ferry petitioned for a road from the ferry toward Philadelphia. They say the ferry was much used by the lower inhabitants of this province, and there was nothing but small paths by which to reach it. They, therefore, prayed for this road to " extend towards Philadelphia as far as the jurisdiction of this court doth extend." The inhabitants of the county about this period became much interested in the subject of roads, and many of the most important ones in the county were laid out. This was especially the case with the people along the Susquehanna.
The same year some of the uppermost inhabitants of Cecil County on Susquehanna River presented a petition, which sheweth "that a ferry is kept at a place called the Upper Ferry and merchants' mill near by, at a place called Rock Run, which place being the nearest navigable water that any vessel of any considerable burden can come up to, to which place they were obliged to roll their tobacco, in order to be shipped off;" they therefore prayed for a road from Peach Bottom to the said Rock Run mill, and from there to the said ferry place. The petition was granted and Randall Death was appointed overseer of the road. Many of these people resided several miles north of where Mason and Dixon's line was afterwards located. Wagons and other wheeled conveyances were scarce in the early days of the colony ; indeed, ox carts, which were quite common a few years ago, were very rare and scarce at the time of the Revolutionary war. For want of a better method the early settlers were in the habit of rigging their hogsheads in such a manner that they could hitch a horse to them and roll them to the landings on the navigable streams, from which they were transported to Europe. Many references are made to this custom in the petitions for roads which were presented about this time. In many cases they are called rolling roads. This method of transportation prevailed to some extent in North Carolina and Virginia until quite recently.
CHAPTER XVI.
Hundreds -- Hotels-Charles Rumsey-Trials by jury-The Justices" court-Rules of the court-Removal of county seat from Jamestown to Court-house Point-Court-house and jail-Town at Court-house Point- Elk ferry traditions-Quarrel among the justices of the court-The lawyers.
CECIL COUNTY was at first divided into five hundreds ; of these, South Sassafras, as its name implies, and Worten Creek were south of the Sassafras River. North Sassafras Hun- dred included that part of the county between the Sassafras and Bohemia rivers. Bohemia Hundred included the ter- ritory between the Elk and Bohemia rivers, while that part of the county north of the Elk River was called Elk Hun- dred. In the course of time, when most of the land in the county was taken up and the population had increased, it became necessary to divide these hundreds for the conven- ience of the inhabitants, for each hundred had its constable, who in addition to the business now done by officers of that name, had to make an annual return of the taxables in his hundred and to collect the tax. The constable also had to look after the negro slaves, and suppress any riotous or tumultuous assemblages of them that came under his notice. There is reason to believe that cach constable re- ceived an annual allowance of tobacco in consideration of the services of this kind he might be called upon to per- form, for there are several certificates to be found among the papers appertaining to the levy of 1763 and other years, certifying that certain gentlemen who held the office, "to the certain knowledge of the writers, had gone out of nights several times to negro quarters and other places, in order to hinder and suppress their tumultuous
241
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
meetings." The constables were appointed by the justices' court, and were commissioned by the county clerk for one year. The justices' court (or the court of many duties, as it might have been properly called) also appointed one or more overseers of roads in each hundred, whose duty it was, under an act of Assembly heretofore mentioned, to "make the heads of rivers, creeks, branches and swamps passable for horse and foot." The overseers were commissioned for one year; and their commissions, like those of the con- stables, contained a clause requiring the holder to return it to the justices at the next annual meeting, and stating that if they failed to do so, they would suffer the penalty of being continued in office another year. To the credit of most of the constables and overseers, their commissions show that they returned them with the names of some of their neighbors indorsed on them, with a recommendation that they be appointed as their successors. It has been aptly remarked by a modern statesman, when speaking of a cer- tain class of officials, that none of them resigned and very few of them died, and probably nothing so well illustrates the difference between the officers of the present day and those of a century ago than the curious clause that we have just mentioned as being in their warrants. That which was a penalty then would now be considered by most office- holders as a fee simple deed or patent, and probably not one of ten thousand commissions like those issued a century ago would now be returned. No record of the bounds of the other hundreds in the county, or the time of their erection, has been found and probably none was ever kept, except in the minute books of the commissioners' court, very few of which are now to be found, and these are so dimmed by age that the writing in them is not legible. But it has been ascertained from papers in the county commis- sioners' office, that in 1770 the county was divided into thirteen hundreds, as follows: North Sassafras, West Sas- safras, Bohemia Middle Neck, Bohemia Manor, Back Creek,
P
242
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
North Milford, South Milford, North Susquehanna, South Susquehanna, Elk, Charlestown and Octoraro.
The keeping of ordinaries, or hotels, as they are now called, was a business that seems to have possessed much attraction for many of the people of the county in the last century, and many of the most respectable families were en- gaged in it. The reasons given by many of them are curi- ous and laughable. In 1710 Charles Rumsey* presented a petition to the court, "shewing that he was a LIVER at the head of Bohemia River and that he had a wife and several small children to maintain, which to him were very charge- able, and continual passengers coming to his house, travel- lers from this province for Pennsylvania and from Pennsyl- vania to this province, and to whom he in modesty gives entertainment and lodgings, victuals, &c., without pay, which in time may amount to considerable sums of money," therefore he prayed to be licensed to keep an ordinary. Howell James lived, a few years later, at Back Creek mill, and stated in his petition that "he was much oppressed by travellers and others, he being located on the road from Head of Elk to Bohemia Ferry." He, therefore, applied for license to keep an ordinary. The court in those days, and for a long time afterwards, not only licensed ordinary-keep- ers, but the law obliged them to require the persons so licensed to give bonds that they would keep well regulated houses. The law also obliged the court to fix annually the price of meals, lodging and liquors, a list of which was to be exposed to view in the public part of the licensed premises. The rates for liquor fixed by the court in 1717 are as follows: "Rum, per gallon, 10 shillings, or 120 lbs. of tobacco; punch, per gill, with three parts rum, 4 shillings, or 48 lbs. of to- bacco; flipe, per gill, with three parts rum, 4 shillings, or 48 lbs. of tobacco ; cider, per gallon, 1 shilling, or 12 lbs. of to- bacco; quince drink, per gallon, 1 shilling, or 12 lbs. of tobacco; beer, per gallon, 1s. 4d., or 16 lbs. of tobacco."
* Sce sketch of Rumsey family in last chapter.
243
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
It was also the duty of the justices' court to appoint a proper person for ferryman at each of the public ferries in the county and to fix the rates to be charged for the passen- gers and stock and vehicles of all kinds. In addition to these regular rates, the county gave the keepers of the ferry a subsidy of tobacco, probably because the amount of busi- ness was not sufficiently large to properly remunerate the proprietors.
Parties who thought themselves aggrieved by the decisions of the justices' court had the right of appeal to the provincial court, which was held at the capital of the colony. One Thomas Hitchcock, who was convicted of stealing a horse from Owen Hughes in 1700, and was sentenced to pay him fourfold and stand two hours in the pillory, appealed to the higher court, which affirmed the judgment. The following order may be found among the minutes of the court for the year 1689 : " Ordered by the court that all accounts arising upon issue be henceforward in this court tried by a jury, and that the attornies of this court are enjoined to take notice thereof." This is the first reference to trial by jury that has been found in the records of the court. It is prob- able that prior to that time all causes were tried before the court. A few of the old minutes of the court are yet extant, and contain much information in reference to the doings of the gentlemen who composed the courts. In 1688 two of the justices refused to sit with the others unless they would send for Matthew Pope, to answer the charge that James Wroth, who was one of the justices, had prepared against him. This the justices refused to do, and for want of a quorum the court was forced to adjourn.
The Wroths are one of the oldest families in the county. They came to Maryland somewhere between 1659-60. They were a distinguished family in England, John Wroth being high sheriff of London in 1351, and lord mayor of that city in 1361. Sir Thomas Wroth, another one of the same family, was "groome of the stole " to Edward VI. Elizabeth
1650
244
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
Wroth was a woman of martial spirit and attended her husband in King William's campaign. She died in 1718. The Cecil branch of the family intermarried with the Walmsleys, Penningtons, Rothwells and Morgans of Sas- safras Neck.
In 1720 the General Assembly passed an act empowering the county courts to make such rules and regulations for the government of the officers of the court and those having business to transact before it as they should think requisite, and under such sums as they should think fit, not exceeding one hundred pounds of tobacco. By virtue of the authority contained in this act the court, on the 7th day of September, 1701, promulgated the following " Rules of Court, made to be observed by all suitors and others that shall have any business at court :"
"Firstly. When the justices meet together at the court- house to hold a court one of them shall order the crier to stand at the court-house door and make three 'O yeses,' and say all manner of persons that have any business this day at His Majesty's court draw near & give your attendance, for the court is now going to sit; God save the King, &c.
"Secondly. That the Sheriff and Clarke meet the court day in the morning, or sooner, before the sitting of the Court, and the Clark make out his Dockett, that the court may not be delayed, on the penalty of 100 lbs. of Tobacco for every default therein adjudged by the court .*
"Fourthly. That all declarations be filed with the Clark of the Court within twenty days after the return of the writ, and that all pleas be filed with the Clark within fifteen days after the days as aforesaid, and all Demurrers, Replica- tions, Rejoinders & all other answers and issues made up to come to trial, the morning before the trial at farthest, except otherwise ordered by the court, on the penalty of 100 lbs. of Tobacco.
* Thirdly does not appear in the original.
245
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
"Fifthly. All actions to come to trial the second Court of (after) the return of the writ except the laws direct other- wise and the Court order.
"Sixthly. That the Clarke call the actions in course, as they are on the Docket entered, except the Court order it other ways, on the penalty of 100 lbs. of Tobacco.
"Seventhly. That the plaintiff's Attorney standing up and Direct himself to the court & then to the jury if any, and open his client's case, after the Clark's reading the Declara- tion & other papers in course relating to it, & pleading to it, and when done he to sitt down and then the Defendent's Attorney to stand up and answer him as aforesaid & not to speak both together, in a confused manner or undecently, nor to interrupt one another in their pleadings, in the penalty of 100 lbs. of Tobacco, to be adjudged by the court then sitting.
" Eighthly. That no man do presume to speak in court to another man's business, except leave of the Court first had, on the penalty of 100 lbs. of Tobacco adjudged by the court.
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.