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 25
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the same class that had emigrated to Virginia and the Car- olinas. In this way Kentucky and Tennessee received the influence of Presbyterianism that has made an indelible impression upon the character of their citizens.
During this period of the history of the county, the state of society was not very good, and a few of the old records of the court that are now extant show that licentiousness and drunkenness prevailed to a considerable extent among the lower classes, most of whom were indentured servants or redemptioners. The records of New Castle Presbytery con- tain but very few references to matters of this kind, which, inasmuch as the Presbyterians were very austere and also rigid disciplinarians, leads us to believe that few breaches of decorum were committed by their membership.
Slavery prevailed to some extent throughout the county, but the slaves were not numerous in that part of it north of the Elk River. Rev. James Finley had a few of them, in whose religious welfare he is said to have been much inter- ested, always having them present at family worship and catechising them with his own children. This was probably the case with the members of his and the other Presbyterian churches.
CHAPTER XIX.
Border war-Davy Evans dispossesses Adam Short-Petition of Sam- uel Brice-Arrest of Isaac Taylor and others-Agreement between the heirs of William Penn and Lord Baltimore respecting the settlement of the boundaries-Proceedings in chancery-Renewal of border war- Thomas Cresap-Order of the King in Council-The temporary boundary line-Decree of Chancellor Hardwich-Diary of Jolin Watson-Cape Henlopen-The trans-peninsular line-Death of Charles Calvert- Another agreement-Location of due north line-Difficulty of the work -Mason and Dixon-They land in Philadelphia-Latitude of that city- Account of their labors for the next five years-Re-location of the north- east corner of Maryland.
AFTER William Penn took possession of his territories on the Delaware several interviews took place between him and the lord proprietary of Maryland in reference to the adjustment of the boundaries of their respective provinces, but inasmuch as they had no particular bearing on the history of this county and were as futile as the efforts that had preceded them, it is not important that they should be noticed here.
From about the time of the disappearance of George Talbot in 1687, to the time of the death of William Penn, which took place in 1718, the good understanding between the two provinces had been maintained by a variety of temporary expedients, which were every now and then frustrated by some act of border aggression.
This was notably the case with the people living on the borders of this county. At this time there were very few settlements in Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna River, and the people living in the lower part of the penin- sula seem to have been more peacefully disposed than those on the borders of this county.
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HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
In 1721 Adam Short, who lived upon a traet of land called Green Meadows, which was somewhere on the borders of Welsh Tract, complained to the council of Maryland that shortly before he had been waited on by Davy Evans of the Welsh Tract, who was accompanied by eight or ten men, and had two horses harnessed to a log sledge, who demanded possession of his premises, which he refused to give them. Apprehending trouble he went to see a Mary- land magistrate, and found when he returned that his visitors had been so expeditious in building a log-house that they had raised it all round three logs high during his absence. He protested against their action, but they finished the house and gave possession to one Rice Jenkins. To avoid trouble Short removed to another plantation which he had on Christiana Creek, where he then resided, first securely fastening the doors of his dwelling and out-house. Returning some time afterwards to the house in which he formerly resided he found the dwelling occupied and the out-house used for a tailor shop.
On the 2d of June, 1722, Samuel Brice presented a petition to the court of this county, stating that he "had been an inhabitant of this county, on New Connaught Manor, for about nine years past, and had always quietly and peaceably paid all taxes and dutys to this county, since an inhabitant within the jurisdiction of this court. But so it is, may it please your worships, that on the 11th of this instant (May) Isaac Taylor the surveyor for the county of Chester of the Province of Pennsylvania, with others* assisting him came and surveyed close to your petitioner's fence, so as to render your petitioner's settlement altogether unconvenient for the use of your petitioner and greatly to his prejudice,and further that your petitioner is very credibly informed that Daniel Smith, George Sleyter, James Bond, John Bond, Edward
*The other persons were Elish Gatchell, William Brown, John Church- man, Richard Brown, Roger Kirk, and Isaac Taylor's son, as stated in the records of the council.
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Long, John Allen, Charles Allen, and several others, are upon complying with a Pennsylvania survey and title, although they have considerable time since complied with and allowed themselves inhabitants of this county, all which your peti- tioner conceives is not only an agrievance to your petitioner but to the public interest of this government, and his Lord- ships good rule, and loudly calls for redress."
This petition was favorably received, and the court ordered that a precept be made out and directed to the sheriff ordering him to arrest Taylor and the others for committing a breach of the peace; whereupon, William Howell, the sheriff, called out the posse comitatus and arrested Taylor, who, it is stated in Penn's breviat, was imprisoned probably in the jail at Court-House Point, but possibly at Annapolis. While he was confined in prison, Gatchell visited him, whereupon the authorities of Maryland also arrested and imprisoned him.
This outrageous conduct of Evans and Taylor and their friends was the more reprehensible from the fact that it was in violation of a compact or agreement between the governors of the two provinces made in 1718, at a meeting held at the house of Colonel Hinson. At this meeting Governor Hart of Maryland, alleged that Nottingham was in that province, and that the people thereof had often petitioned to be taken under the government of Maryland. Governor Keith re- plied, that New Munster belonged to Pennsylvania, and the people living there had asked to be taken under the protec- tion of that province. It was thereupon agreed that the inhabitants of these tracts, and all others, should be left in , possession of their land, and all other grants should be re- spected until the dispute was settled.
The arrest of Taylor and Gatchell coming to the knowledge of the Governor of Pennsylvania, he at the instance of the council, remonstrated with the authorities of Maryland, who referred the matter to Daniel Delaney, then attorney-general, who gave an elaborate opinion on the sub-
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ject, in which he took the ground that the offenders were amenable to the provincial court for conspiracy to commit a riot, they having dispossessed Edward Long, before-men- tioned, of his house and taken possession of it and part of his wheat field. The council thereupon ordered the court of this county to bind them, and all witnesses against them,. to appear at the provincial court, where they were subse- quently tried and acquitted.
This energetic action on the part of the authorities of Maryland seems to have had a good effect, and to have- overawed the people on the Pennsylvania border, who re- frained from making any more surveys in the disputed territory for some years afterwards.
Although more than half a century had elapsed since Cecil County had been invested with a legal existence, its bound- aries, owing to the dispute between the proprietaries of Mary- land and Pennsylvania, were still undetermined. And inas- much as the settlement of the boundaries of the county was. dependent upon the settlement of those of the province of which it formed a part, it is important that the reader's attention should now be directed to the efforts which at this. time were made to adjust the long pending controversy, and which resulted many years afterwards in the establishment of Mason and Dixons line. Although this line occupied a very important position in the politics of the United States- for many years, its history is very imperfectly understood, except by statesmen and politicians. Should the reader belong to that large class of citizens who have not made politics the object of special consideration, he will be more ready than otherwise to pardon this unavoidable digression.
In 1732 John, Richard, and Thomas Penn, who by the will of their father had become joint proprietors of l'enn- sylvania, entered into a written agreement with Charles Calvert, the fifth Lord Baltimore, for the adjustment of the- boundaries of the two provinces. It was stipulated by the parties to this agreement that the boundaries should be as.
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follows: First, a circle of twelve miles radius should be de- scribed around the town of New Castle. Second, a due east and west line was then to be drawn across the peninsula from the easternmost part of Cape Henlopen to the Chesa- peake Bay, from the middle of which a straight line was to be run in a northerly direction so as to form a tangent to the circular line. Third, that from the tangent point a due. north line should be run until a point, fifteen English statute miles south of the most southerly part of Philadelphia, should be reached. Fourth, that a due east and west line should be run from the last-named point as far west as the two provinces extended .* It was also stipulated that, if the due north line, beginning at the tangent point, should cut a seg- ment from the twelve-mile circle, that the said segment should belong to New Castle County. It was also agreed that each of the contracting parties should appoint within two months thereafter, not less than seven commissioners, under whose supervision the lines were to be located. Com- missioners were accordingly appointed, who met for the pur- pose designated, but owing to the indefiniteness of the agree- ment, the conference soon terminated, and with it ended all practical efforts to settle the dispute at that time. Shortly after this abortive attempt by the commissioners, Lord Baltimore applied to King George II. for a confirmation of his charter ; but it was too late, and by an order of the king in council, in 1735, the Penns were directed to institute pro- ceedings in chancery for the purpose of testing the validity of the agreement, and if it was found valid, of enforeing its provisions.
Previous to this time the partisans of the proprietors of the two provinces seem to have made use of the legal ma- chinery of the counties along the borders in their efforts to
* The west line was to begin at the tangent point, if that point was found to be fifteen statute miles south of Philadelphia ; otherwise the due north line was to be continued until a point fifteen miles south of Philadelphia was reached.
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further their own interest and that of their superiors. But. when the matter in dispute was referred to the Court of Chancery, they having had little hope of a speedy settle- ment, inaugurated a border warfare in real earnest, which prevailed for a few years on the borders of what are now Harford and York counties.
Thomas Cresap, who has been mentioned as the proprietor- of a ferry from Port Deposit to Lapidum, and who had moved further up and settled on the west side of the Sus- quehanna River, acted a very conspicuous part in this war- fare. Many Germans had settled on the disputed territory in what is now York County, under Pennsylvania titles; but in order to avoid the payment of taxes in that province, they accepted titles from Maryland and acknowledged the authority of Lord Baltimore. But becoming apprehensive that adhesion to him might ultimately prejudice their interest, they formally renounced their allegiance and sought protection from Pennsylvania. This irritated the authorities. of Maryland, and the sheriff of Baltimore County with three hundred men marched to ejeet them. The sheriff of Lan- caster County, with a large posse, came to their assistance, and induced the Marylanders to return without molesting the Germans, on a pledge that they would consult together and give an answer to Lord Baltimore's requisition to acknowledge his authority.
Shortly after this an association consisting of three hun- dred and fifty men, headed by Cresap, was formed for the purpose of driving out the Germans and dividing their lands among the associators, two hundred acres being promised to each of them.
During one of the many raids that were made at this period, an attack was made in the night time upon Cresap's house, and he shot and wounded one of the assailants, from the effect of which he died. Sometime after this hap- pened the sheriff of Lancaster County, accompanied by twenty-four armed men, crossed over the Susquehanna River
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in the night, with the intention of taking Cresap by sur- prise and capturing him the next morning. But they were discovered, and Cresap, after making a spirited resistance and defending himself, until his house which had been set on fire by his assailants, was nearly burned down, was captured and taken in triumph to Philadelphia, where he taunted the crowd that assembled to see the "Maryland Monster," by exclaiming half in earnest half in derision, "Why, this is the finest city in the province of Maryland." The Gov- ernor of Maryland immediately ordered reprisals to be made, and four German settlers were seized and carried to Baltimore County.
During this period of the border war, hostilities prevailed to some though not to so great an extent on the eastern border of the county, and two persons named Rothwell were arrested at the instigation of James Heath, some distance east of where Warwick now stands. These persons were confined for some days in a jail* which stood upon Ward's Hill, a short distance southeast of Cecilton, on the farm of John W. Davis, Esq., one of Ward's descendants.
In 1736 the authorities of Maryland presented an address to the king in council, in which they gave a comprehensive account of the troubles on the border, and prayed him to grant them such relief as to his royal wisdom should seem meet. This address had a good effect, and on the 18th of August, 1737, the king in council issued an order command- ing the governors of the two provinces to prevent the re- currence of all riotous proceedings in the future, and en- joined them to make no more grants of land in the disputed territory, nor even permit any person to settle thereon, until his majesty's pleasure should be, further signified. This order had the happy effect of ending the border trou-
* Very little is known of this jail, but it was probably used in connection with the slave trade. John Ward, who owned it, was one of the first sett- lers in Sassafras Neek, where he patented a large tract of land as early as 1665.
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bles, and in May, 1738, the governors of the two provinces entered into an agreement for running a temporary line, which his majesty allowed them to carry into effect. This line was not to interfere with the actual possession of the settlers, but merely to suspend all grants on the disputed territory until the final adjustment of the boundaries. This line wasrun in the spring of 1739 by Colonel Levin Gale and Samuel Chamberlaine, commissioners on the part of Mary- land, and Richard Peters and Lawrence Growden on the part of Pennsylvania. It commenced at or near the eastern boundary of the county as determined by Messrs. Mason and Dixon. East of the Susquehanna River it was about a quarter of a mile south of the present state line, and the same distance north of that line on the west side of that river.
The chancery suit, before referred to, was not decided until 1750, when the decree was promulgated by Chancellor Hardwick, who reserved the power to adjust any difficulties that might arise in its execution. In conformity with the decree, commissioners were appointed by the respective par- ties to the suit, who met at New Castle in November, 1750, for the purpose of carrying it into effect.
The diary of John Watson, one of the surveyors appointed by the commissioners of Pennsylvania to assist in making the survey in 1750, is yet extant and in a good state of pre- servation in the possession of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania, to which it was presented by the late William D. Gilpin, of Philadelphia, who found it among some old papers at his paper-mill. This diary shows that the com- missioners had a long controversy about the manner in which the twelve-mile radius should be measured. The commissioners of Maryland contended that it should be measured upon the surface of the carth, and those from Pennsylvania that it should be made by horizontal measure- ment, and not by following the inequalities of the earth's surface. The latter method was the one enforced by the
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court when the matter was referred to it. They also had trouble in fixing the point from which to begin the meas- urement of the radius, and Watson states in his diary that he noticed a puncture in the paper on which a map in the possession of the Maryland commissioners was made, which they stated was intended to represent the beginning of the radius at New Castle. Its location, he afterwards learned, had been determined on in this wise: "The commissioners of Maryland had constructed an exact plan of the town of New Castle upon a piece of paper, and then carefully pared away the edges of the draught until no more than the draught was left, when, sticking a pin through it, they sus- pended it thereby in different places until they found a place whereby it might be suspended horizontally, which point or place they accepted as the centre of gravity," which they alleged was the centre of the town, and main- tained that that was the right and proper place from which to commence the measurement of the radius. The commis- sioners of Pennsylvania objected to this curious method of determining the centre of the town; and the court, when the matter was referred to it, decided that the radius should be measured from the Court House. The commissioners, after spending some time in New Castle, adjourned to meet in the April following, having first agreed that the survey- ors should meet on the 20th of December, at Cape Henlopen, and proceed to run the line across the peninsula.
Bythe terms of the agreement of 1732, the trans-peninsular line was to begin at Cape Henlopen, and a controversy now arose about the true location of that place. This controversy originated in the different methods of spelling the name of the cape. The early Swedish settlers called the present Cape Henlopen, Cape Inlopen, and the exterior or false cape at Fenwick's Island, Cape Henlopen or Hinlopen, the latter of which is said to be a Swedish word signifying entering in; from which it appears that the aspirate letter H, in the Swedish language prefixed to the word Inlopen altered the.
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sense of it from the interior to the exterior cape. The matter in dispute was referred to the lord chancellor, who decided that the respective parties should abide by the agreement which fixed the beginning of the line at the ex- terior cape on Fenwick's Island.
Watson soon after the meeting at New Castle, started for Cape Henlopen on horseback. He had occasion to spend a night at a hotel in St. George's, and notes in his diary that the mill-dam at that place, was the resort of large flocks of water fowl. Watson gives an account of the difficulties and inconviences the surveyors experienced in the prosecution of their work, from which it appears that they were in im- minent danger of being drowned by the tide overflowing Phenix Island* upon one occasion, when they were stopping upon it. The cabin in which they were lodging, upon an- other occasion, took fire and they had a narrow escape from death, one of them losing his shoes, which were burned to a crisp, from which it may be inferred that their loss was a more serious affair than it would be at the present time. However, after much discussion and wrangling, they commenced the survey of the line, which they traced for a few miles, but on the Sth of January, 1750, were obliged to quit on account of the swamps and low lands being covered with ice, which made it impracticable to continue the work. Watson states that their horses were continually getting mired in the swamps, into which they sank up to the middle of their legs, and that it was in his opinion only practicable to com- plete the work in the summer months when the swamps were drier than at other times.
The work of locating the trans-peninsular line was re- sumed the next Spring, under the auspices of Edward Jen- nings, Robert Jenkins Henry, George Plater, John Ross, William Allen, Richard Peters, and Robert Holt, commis- sioners appointed to superintend the work. The names of
* Now called Fenwick's Island.
T
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the surveyors employed by them were as follows: John Emory, Thomas Jones, William Parsons, William Shank- land, and William Killen. The surveyors commenced work near Fenwick's Island, on the 29th of April, 1751, and met with nothing unusual until they had completed the thir- teenth mile of the line, when they enter in their journal on the Sth of May, that the men who were assisting them, had struck for higher wages. This caused some delay, but the surveyors being unable to procure any other assistance, were obliged to make the best terms they could with their men, all of whom agreed to continue to serve them. They lived in tents, and were often at a loss to find a suitable place to locate them, on account of the swampy condition of the country. They completed the line on the 15th of June, 1751, having traced it to the Chesapeake Bay, a distance of sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight perches from the place of beginning on Fenwick's Island.
The commissioners would probably have completed the other portions of the work had their labors not been sud- denly brought to an end by the death of Charles Calvert, the proprietor of Maryland, between whom and the heirs of Penn the agreement of 1732 had been made. Frederick, Lord Baltimore, the heir and successor of Charles, was a minor, and his guardians resisted the execution of the decree ; but in 1754 the Penns took measures to revive the Chancery suit, with a view of carrying out and enforcing the original agreement. But probably owing to the pro- verbiał delay that always prevails in that court, the parties, after waiting until 1760, entered into another agreement, which, so far as it related to the boundary lines, was a re- affirmation of the former one, from which it only differed by containing certain stipulations in reference to the grants of land already made by the proprietors of the two provinces. This agreement provided for the appointment of not less than three, nor more than seven commissioners by the respective parties who were to carry its provisions into
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effect. These commissioners met at New Castle on the 19th of November, 1760, and on the 10th of the December fol- lowing delivered their instructions to the surveyors, Messrs. John Frederick, Augustus Briggs, Thomas Garnett, Arthur Emory, John Watson, John Stapler, and William Shank- land, who were employed by them to locate and measure the radius of the twelve mile circle and a due north line from the middle point in the line across the peninsula until it reached the outer end of the radius. The commissioners seem to have had some doubt of their ability to run all the lines, for they only instructed the surveyors to run the two .before named.
The minute book of the surveyors, which contains their instructions and an account of each day's work, may be seen in the land office at Annapolis. They were directed to measure the lines with the greatest accuracy with a two, or if more convenient, a four-perch chain, the length of which they were frequently to verify by a two-foot brass sector, furnished them for the purpose; and were frequently to verify the direction of the line by the transit of the pole star. They were to keep two minute books, in which each day's work was to be entered ; and in case of failure to trace a true meridian they were to return these books to the gov- ernors of the two provinces, who were then to call the com- missioners together in order to give the surveyors further instructions. They were also to note the most remarkable buildings, waters, bridges and roads near the line or through which it might pass.
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