USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 35
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Now, after making all the allowance that may be demanded for the ignorance, carelessness or preverseness of court clerks, church scribes, scriveners, conveyancers and attorneys, who seem to have written the name according to no law nor custom, but according to the fancy or whim of each, these details are sufficient to show that, from the very first the orthography or orthoepy was as variable and uncertain as at present. They also show that the law of priority, as giving precedence or preference to a name, is here of no value, for it does not appear that any one name antedated another, but that all the names were used in or about the same time. To be sure, if we take the date of the
3 March was the first month of the ancient Roman year till the adoption of the Julian calendar which was followed by the Gregorian. It so continued in England till 1752. The legal year before that date beginning on the 25th of March.
THE OLD THIRD HAVEN MEETING HOUSE NEAR EASTON, BUILT 1684.
THE OLDEST WOODEN HOUSE OF WORSHIP NOW STANDING IN THE UNITED STATES
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THIRD HAVEN
first appearance of this water course in the court records of the county as describing the question of priority, the name should be Tred Avon: but from the fact that this was not repeated when next there was occa- sion to employ it, indicates this use to be a mere accident. But it must be confessed that the early and frequent use of some form of modification or corruption of Tread Avon gives countenance and sup- port to the opinion that this, or an appellation something like it, is the original name and that Third-Haven, and all the terms which embrace the word Haven was a subsequent denomination, the result of a rational- izing in a matter of nomenclature, or an attempt to reduce a name, which is too commonly arbitrary, to something intelligible and appro- priate.
The second criterion of the correctness of a geographical name is usage. Usage may be regarded as of two kinds, each of which has its value. These are, common usage and critical usage or popular and learned. Of common usage among the people, it may be said, there is unfortunately no such uniformity in pronouncing or writing the name of this water course as to place any one style beyond cavil or question. The name is written and spoken now, as it has always been, most va- riously. But undoubtedly at the present time it is more common to hear and to read of Third-Haven than Tred Avon, or Tread Haven or any other of the variations of the name that has been mentioned. Usage requires no justification. It is itself a law. In this case, however, there are some circumstances which account for the greater prevalence of the name Third-Haven. Among these may be mentioned that it is sufficiently old to have received sanction; it is perfectly intelligible, whereas some of the others have no meaning but sound foreign and archaic; it is compounded of familiar words that come readily to the mind and tongue, and finally it is appropriate. The people therefore have adopted pretty generally this simple name, and have rejected or relegated to the precisians the other appellations. It is rare to hear any other except among those who affect purism or research. Of critical usage, it may be said that there have been few to interest them- selves sufficiently about the subject to make such inquisition into the origin of the name as to qualify them to use it with exactitude. Mr. John Leeds Bozman, the historian, who has left behind him an incom- plete and unpublished account of Talbot, his native county, particularly of its geographical features, calls this water-course Third-Haven. It is not known that this gentleman interested himself with the matter of determining the correctness of names when no historical facts were
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
involved; but it is hardly probable that he who was aware of the uncer- tainty that hung around the name of a creek, upon one of the branches of which he lived, as had his ancestors for generations, and who was familiar with the early settlement of the county, having carefully and critically examined all the records both in Easton and Annapolis, would have used a corrupt or a perverted name in a paper intended for publi- cation, and one of a character demanding precision in this regard. On the contrary, Mr. John Bozman Kerr, who has given much attention to our local antiquities, in a deed bearing the date of 1845, and written with exceeding elaboration of detail, more for the purpose of perpetuat- ing certain facts concerning our topography, than of describing the property conveyed, seems to incline to the name Tred Avon or Tred- Haven, for he employs both terms. It must be said, however, that in using these forms, he appears to be quoting from the ancient copy of the survey of Oxford, referred to above, then in his possession, but now in the hands of Jas. Ll. Chamberlaine, Esq., of Cecil county. Mr. Kerr in this does not certainly indicate his own preference for one or the other name. Among the geographers and chartographers may be mentioned Mr. Joseph Scott, the compiler of a Gazetteer of the United States, a Geographical Dictionary, and other works of like character. In his book entitled "A Geographical Description of the States of Mary- land and Delaware," published in 1807, he designates this water course as Third-Haven river. He may have adopted this as the popular name, without making any examination or special inquiry into its correct- ness. On the contrary Dilworth who compiled the first map of the coun- ty, and published it in 1858, calls it Tread Haven. Of course he assigns no authority for his use of this name. The United States Coast Survey charts, made from surveys between 1843 and 1859 and published at vari- ous times within those years, calls this water Third Haven. It is proper to say that these charts, which are so beautiful and accurate in their delineation, are not to be entirely depended upon for their nomenclature. Upon them are placed accepted or well known names, and the informa- tion the gentlemen making them received from the people was in many cases incorrect. Mr. Simon Martenet upon his map of the county published in 1866 follows implicitly the Coast Survey Charts, even to the copying of inaccuracies in the names. In the map of Maryland by O. W. Gray, published in this 1877 the name is Tred Haven, while in the map of the county about to be published by Lake, Griffing & Stevenson which has been completed with more than ordinary care, the name will be Third Haven, as the writer is assured from an inspec-
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tion of the original drafts, before engraving. References to other maps might be made if it were necessary, but they would only serve to show the same diversity as has been indicated by those already made. It would thus seem that this rule of usage, whether learned or unlearned, is of small value in determining the correctness of this or that name, though it is very clear to see that the preponderance is in favor of Third- Haven.
The last criterion for determining the correctness of a geographical name is fitness or propriety. That is to say, when a name seems appro- priate, it is reasonable to think it is the proper name. Names would not appear to be so arbitrarily and capriciously bestowed, if the motives of the original givers could be known. There is always a reason for a name, though it may be a simple or a silly one. These motives are so numerous and varied that no mention need or can be made of them here. Settlers in a new country, however, with tender recollections of their old homes fresh in their minds are very apt to indulge in a very becoming sentiment, by the bestowal upon the places of their settlement, and upon the natural features marking them, names which have pleasant associations, and are suggestive of agreeable reminiscences of the land they have left. If it were possible to know who first gave name to the watercourses under consideration, we might possibly trace one of the names by which it is called, through its corruptions, to some beautiful stream in the British Islands, beside which the donor had spent his early years. As has been stated above, there are numerous rivers and rivulets in England, France and Scotland, and perhaps in Ireland bearing the name Avon, but there is none that carries a name that approaches to Tred Avon or Tred-Haven. It is hardly safe, then, to assert that either of these names has been transferred from the old to the new world.
The earliest explorers and settlers of Talbot must have been struck at the first sight of the beautiful estuary, now under consideration, that makes out of Choptank, by its advantages as a road stead or haven for shipping, and particularly of that part of it which extends from Benoni's to Peck's point. Here they found a natural harbor, completely land locked, large enough to admit the British Navy, and with water deep enought to float the largest vessels of that day. Here too they found a natural pier, at the point where Oxford now stands, subse- quently called Town Point, where ships might approach the shore within a rod or so, and receive their cargo. In seeking a name for this harbor was it not natural for these explorers or settlers to bestow upon
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
it some title that should be expressive of their appreciation of the trade advantages of this haven, and call it Trade-Haven? Could a more appropriate name have been given? We have seen that sometimes this water was called by this very name. But in sailing up the Chop- tank, and exploring the indentations of its shores on the North side, they found, when coming around Choptank (or Tilghman's) Island, and passing what they may have called Black Walnut Point, a deep creek making up into the mainland, which furnished a good harbor. This may have received the name of First Creek,4 and did subsequently get the name of Harris' Creek or Harrison's Creek, from one Robert Harrison (doubtless the progenitor of that innumerable family in Bay Side) who settled near its head. Going farther up the Choptank, the explorers entered another deep estuary, capable of furnishing them a harbor or haven. This they certainly named Second Creek, and as Second Creek it was known for several generations, Broad Creek being a name that came into use at a comparatively recent date. Passing on upwards, the explorers turned what is now Benoni's Point (the origin of whose name the writer has not been able to discover), and entered another deep creek and harbor, the third from the bay, and this they may have called Third Haven, for the reason that it was the third from the Bay. Now the writer in the Comet says the notion that this estuary was called Third Haven, because it was the third harbor from the Bay is founded upon a false geography-that is to say, this water is not the third harbor or haven, for there are others beside Harris' Creek and Broad Creek, between it and the mouth of Choptank, as for instance Irish Creek, and Black Walnut Cove. Strictly speaking this is true. But it is presumable that early explorers did not enter every indentation of the shore; and as for Irish Creek it may very well have been passed by in as much as its narrow mouth was partially concealed by what is now called Royston's, but originally, Aldern's or, perhaps, Yafford's Island. It is very natural to suppose early navigators making hasty voyages would regard only the large, and neglect the lesser, bodies of water. The geography that would call Third Haven Creek, the third harbor from the mouth of Choptank, or from the Bay is just such geogra- phy as these explorers would make, and it would be near enough to the truth to afford foundation for a name. If this origin of the name Third Haven, could be as clearly established as that of the name Oxford (in
4 In some old deeds, this creek is called First Creek, in a few Harrison's Creek, but in most Harris' Creek.
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England) from a ford for oxen,5 which the writer in the Comet ridicules, or seems to ridicule, there would be no longer any dispute, and this article would never have been written.
Finally: Those who have had the patience to read this long essay to- wards settling a disputed point in geographical nomenclature will have discovered that the argument is wholly inclusive; for neither of the names by which this water is known can claim indubitable priority; neither of them has come into universal use nor been adopted by all geographers, historians and critical writers; neither is so suitable and appropriate as to satisfy all objections. In other words, neither of them answers to even two of those criteria by which the correctness of a name is determined. Every one is therefore at liberty, under the circum- stances, to adopt either name, according as his taste is best satisfied, by the one or the other. As for the opinion of the writer of this article, if any one is interested in having it expressed, he would say that he prefers Third-Haven, for these simple, but perhaps inadequate reasons: it is familiar, it is comprehensible, it is easily spoken, it is appropriate, it is little liable to corruption and it has the sufficient sanction of old, common and intelligent usage.
5 Originally called Oxnaford, or Oxeneford.
THE TOWNS OF TALBOT
THE TOWN AND PORT OF OXFORD
(1882)
The Great Choptank river seems, at this date, to be destined to become again a highway of foreign commerce, and the people seated along its shores may live to see, as did their forefathers long before them, the great ships going and returning with their rich freights and numerous passengers. In anticipation of these coming ships, the town of Cam- bridge, in the adjoining county of Dorchester, is applying to be invested with the honor which her sister town in Talbot long wore, but of which she was, in her humiliation, wantonly deprived by a superserviceable public officer. A petition is now in circulation in this county to the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States, for the reestablishment of Oxford as a port of entry and depart- ure. The reasons so well set forth in this petition, both sentimental and practical, are such as should persuade every citizen of Talbot who loves and reveres the county of his birth or residence, or who is attached to it merely by the ties of interest, to affix his signature and to use whatever influence he may possess to forward and secure its purposes. The account which is now about to be presented, if it shall have no other value or merit, may at least serve to enforce the claim of the ancient "town and part of Oxford," now happily rejuvenated and restored to more than her former populousness, to be reinvested with that dis- tinction among the towns of the Eastern Shore which she at one time so creditably wore.
The town of Oxford, without doubt, owes its origin to the noble har- bor upon which it is seated. Of its founders or first settlers we know as little as of the founders of the great cities of antiquity. It is hardly conjectural that they were men actuated by no great ambition or moved by what are called the nobler motives. They came not for the purpose of serving their king and extending the bounds of this realm. There was no affectation among them of religion or patriotism-of a desire to escape persecution, or to convert the heathen. They were probably plain men simply bent upon bettering their fortunes, having no higher object, entertaining no loftier thought than pecuniary profit, or the
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THE TOWNS OF TALBOT
making for themselves and families pleasant homes. They came seeking a place where safely and conveniently they might trade with the Indians, or where they might advantageously undertake the work of planting, with facilities for the shipment of their productions. That arm of the wide estuary of Great Choptank, known as Third Haven creek, having its heads and sources near the center of the county, and its deboucheur between Benoni's and Bachelor's points, forms just above its mouth a broad, deep and sheltered bay.
Viewing this expanse of water, laughing in the sunlight; with its clean shingly beaches extending on either side for miles; with its low sloping banks covered with a magnificent growth of virgin forest extend- ing down to the very shores; with its quiet coves stretching far into the land, and suggesting to the imagination new and hidden charms; the least impressionable must have been affected by its exceeding beauty- a beauty which in large measure it still retains, after the disfiguration of a progressing civilization not yet old enough to produce its own pictur- esque effects, nor to preserve those that nature has made. The yet keener eye that is open only to pecuniary profit must have been struck at once by its commercial and economical advantages; for here stretched out before it was a capacious harbor, land-locked, deep and secure, to which ships of the largest tonnage could be admitted and vessels of the smallest measurement be protected; communicating directly with the great bay, and easily accessible to the ocean itself; approached by innumerable water ways by which the Indian trapper or European planter might transport his pelts or produce; surrounded by a terri- tory every acre of which seemed fitted for the plough, with a soil which gave evidence of its fertility by the thick growth of the noble oaks, pines, poplars, walnuts and chestnuts that everywhere lifted their towering heads to the sky, or cast their shadows over the waves that came rippling almost to their very roots. The early navigator, Indian trader, land prospector or merchant adventurer, whoever and whatever he may have been who first sailed up this bay, rounding Benoni's point made for the bold headland that lay two miles or more to the north and and east of him, and with the southerly wind after him, he weathered the point, long afterwards known as Town point, upon which the low waves were breaking, and dropped his anchor under its protection within twenty yards or less of the clean, pebbly beach, in water deep enough to float the largest ship of the British navy. Landing here, before him and his companions, the timid natives fled from their village seated on the bank, for through their having been subjugated by the warlike
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
Susquehannocks of the north, and harried again and again by the savage Nanticokes of the south, they had lost all courage and manliness-or in Indian phrase had been made women of. Here was a most fitting site for a trading post, and doubtless immediate steps were taken for its occupation. A high bank gave a suitable place for habitations and store houses, and if needs be, a stockade fort might be erected in a posi- tion that was almost surrounded by water, and that hardly admitted a surprise by a crafty enemy. These circumstances without any doubt determined that here should be established a place of trade, and thus Oxford was founded. When and by whom will probably never be known. Silently and without ceremony it was occupied. A mist as impenetrable to the historic vision as that which shrouds the origin of Troy or Thebes, veils from our sight the beginning of this little town, which, though we call it ancient, is in comparison with those great cities but of yesterday.
The land upon which the town was built was part of a tract of three thousand and fifty acres, well known in this county as the "Hier Dier Lloyd,"1 and patented to Mr. Edward Lloyd, the founder of the family of that name in Maryland, Aug. 11, 1659, according to some unauthen- ticated, but accepted documents. September 20th Mr. Lloyd conveyed four hundred and twenty acres, part of this tract, to Mr. William Stevens, and he, June 16th, 1668, conveyed the same to his son bearing his own name. William Stevens, Jr., conveyed this tract, June 15th, 1672, to Mr. Edward Roe, who dying left this property to an only daughter, Elizabeth, who intermarried with Mr. William Combes, and after his death with Col. Nicholas Lowe. Col. Lowe and his wife conveyed in 1694, portions of this four hundred and twenty acres to the Commis- sioners appointed to lay off the town of Oxford, under an Act of Assem- bly, as will appear in the sequel. The Island fell into the possession of the Bozmans through the intermarriage of Mr. Thomas Bozman with Mary, the daughter of Col. Nicholas Lowe; and from the Bozmans,
1 An attempt has been made to trace the origin and meaning of this name. A letter was addressed to Prof. S. A. Binion, of the Peabody Library, a gentleman of singular accomplishments in linguistics, requesting him to trace the words to their source, and the following is his reply: "I have consulted no less than a dozen authorities of Welsh lexicographic and patronymic works. There are no proper names in the Welsh language under Dyer-Hier or Dier-Hyer, &c. Hyer- Dyer must therefore be a misnomer. The Welsh hir or hair is equal to English long, and the Welsh word tir daira or daear stands for land or earth. Thus instead of Hyer Dyer, &c., it should be Hair Daiar Lloyd, which if rendered into proper English is the long (track of) land belonging to Lloyd."
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THE TOWNS OF TALBOT
through John Leeds Bozman, the historian of early Maryland, it came by devise, into the possession of John Leeds Kerr, Esq., the lawyer and statesman, whom many remember; since whose ownership, it has been held by the late Mr. James Stewart, his heirs and others until sold but a few weeks ago to Capt. Botts.2
The earliest record that has thus far been discovered bearing upon the erecting or establishing a town in Talbot county, unfortunately, is not so explicit as to justify a positive assertion that it has reference to Oxford, although it is very probable that it has such a reference. This record is that of a deed of gift, bearing date the 22nd of Sept., 1668, from William Stevens to the Lord Proprietary, and conveying thirty acres of land "for the settling and building of a towne in Tread-Aven Creeke in Great Choptank."3 The metes and bounds of this tract are given in the deed, and though they may have served at the time suffi- ciently to mark and designate the land, they are not such as enables us at this date to determine its exact position. That it was upon Third Haven creek, near Great Choptank river, is clear enough, and as in the second record, presently to be noted, reference is made to "town land," lying in the same region, it is a legitimate conclusion that these thirty acres thus devised were the same upon which Oxford was built. This, however, is conjectural. William Stevens, in anticipation of the estab- lishment of a port of entry and departure, may have seen his advantage in giving a part of his land for a town, and that land may have been elsewhere than at the place where the town was subsequently built.4
The second record that has been discovered is in these words: "An ordinance of the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary of this Prov- ince of Maryland for the erecting of several ports within the same."
Forasmuch as it is necessary for the good of trade that certain ports within the Province of Maryland be appointed for the lading and unlad- ing of merchandise, his Lordship doth hereby ordain, make out, con- stitute and appoint that the several places hereafter mentioned, and none other, unless by the particular appointment of his Lordship and his heirs, or his or their Lieut. or Lieuts. or Chief Governor of the said province for the time being, that is to say, in St. Mary's county, in St.
2 By an Act of Assembly of 1882 authority was given to connect this Island with the mainland by a causeway.
3 Land Records of Talbot county No. 1, p. 47. The peculiarity of the phrase- ology-"in Tread Aven" in Choptank" is that which is common in the early records of this county.
4 It will be seen in the sequel that William Stevens claimed to have a title to the land which at a subsequent date was laid out for the town of Oxford.
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HISTORY OF TALBOT COUNTY
George's river, afore the city of St. Mary's; in Charles county, in Wicomico river, as near the Town Land as ships and other vessels can conveniently ride; in Calvert county, in Patuxent river; in Anne Arun- del county, afore the town land purchased of Richard Acton, and afore Herrington in Herring creek, in the same county; in Baltimore county, afore the Town Land in Bush river and Sassafras river, in Talbot county, afore the Town Land in True haven, 5 in Choptank in the same county; in Kent county, in the creek before Morgan's plantation; in Somerset county, afore James Jones, his plantation, shall be the sole and only sea- ports, havens, stations, creeks and places of loading and unloading and departing of all and all manner of goods, wares and merchandises, &c.
Given under the great seal of the said Province of Maryland, the 20th day of April, in the seven and thirtieth year of his Lordship's dominion over the said Province, anno domini, 1669.
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