The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-07-08

also a galvanizng establishment at Phila-
delphia.
The Elk Forge, on the Big Elk, was
established by Jesse Hollingsworth. Thos
May and others in 1863, and continued in
operation, making bar iron about seventy
years. There is large cotton mill now at
this place. manufacturing figured cotton
goods by the Elk Mills Company.
One of the first manufactures of broad
cloth in this country was commenced on
the Little Elk, near New Leeds, in l194
by Col. Hollingsworth and others, under
/ the name of the Cecil Manufacturing Com
pany The Rev. John Wilson, of Leeds,
England, practical manufacturers, came
over to manage the establishment, and
some handsome cloth was made. They
made a present of suit of clothes to JEFF
! ferson, in which, it is said, he delivered his
second inaugural. Robert Carter, who
purchased property on the Little Elk and
removed here from Delaware county, Pa,
about the year 1915, may be said to be the
T pioneer of paper making in Cecil county.
! He established the mill known as the Cecil
| Paper Mill, now the property of his son, l
| ID. Carter, and which has been all the time
in successful operation. He also erected a
paper mill at about 1912, which is now the
mill of the Public Ledger, and makes from
three to four tons of paper per day. He
also turned the mill of the Cecil Manufac-
| turing Company into paper mill about
| 1880, and which was carried on success
| fully by Norris Lewis until it was burned
| down about 1858. Just above this, on the
Little Elk, is the factory built by Rev. Jno.
Wilson, and now used by Harlan Il Brother
as paper mill. On the Big Elk, above
the Elk Mills, is the cotton factory of John
Brewster, formerly the grain mill of Levi
Tyson. There is a large paper mill on
the Octoraro, where Frey's forge formerly
stood. There are three wooden factories
on the Big North East, formerly known as
Johnson's factories. There is still much
unemployed water power in the county, on
the Conowingo and Octoraro, on the Elk
and North East and other streams. The
| Legislature of Maryland, as early as 17l9,
passed an act for condemning land and
power for the encouragement of iron man.
ufacture, and in furtherence of which there
were numerous writs of dd gu0d dGmnum
granted out of the Provincial Chancery Of
Maryland.
MASON AND DIXoN's LINE.
| A passenger in the cars from Elkton to
Newark, may notice in a field to his left,
about hundred yards from the railroad,
and near maple tree opposite the Yellow
House, cut granite stone with smaller
dark one on the south side of it, This is
the tangent point made by the divisional
line between Delaware and Maryland,
touching the circle of twelve miles radius
from the steeple of the Court House at
New Castle.
1t is an important point in the history OF
this county. and of Maryland, and is the
boundary which settled the long contro-
versy between Lord Baltimore and the
heirs of VIM. Penn in accordance with the
decision of Chancellor Hardwicke, and the
agreement of Proprietaries.
The grant of Lord Baltimore, which was
fifty years earlier than that of Penn, was
bounded by the Delaware bay on the east,
and on the north by the fortieth degree of
north latitude, including the whole of what
is now the State of Delaware, and also the
city of Philadelphia. During the long con-
troversy it was apparent that Penn had
more influence at Court than Lord Balti-
more, and small matters were urged with
effect against the latter. There had been
a previous grant of ten miles around New
Castle, it was said, to the Duke of York,
and the words haslenas fhculta, hitherto
uncultivated in the charter, it was alleged,
could not apply to land which had been
settled by a Christian people, and there
had been a Swedish settlement at Fort
Chriana. The ten miles around New Cas-
tie were by the decree extended to twelve
miles, and the old surveyors, Archibald
Mclean, John Lukens and Jonathan Hall,
cut an opening through the woods, and
measured the twelve miles with great care,
and set up post where the tangent stone
now stands. This measure was made from
1760 to 1868. 1t was also determined by
the decree that the due west line from Cape
IIenlopen should terminate at the thirty
four mile and three hundred and nine
perches, and from that point the division
line should be drawn straight up the PENN
sula to the tangent point aforesaid. The
land was then covered with a dense forest,
and after much labor and expense vista
was opened through the whole distance,
some eighty miles. The parties in contro-
versy bad agreed on certain commissioners
to carry out the decision of the chancellor,
and they recommended that said commits
sioners take to their aid Charles Mason and
jeremiah Dixon, two English mathemati-
CLANS and surveyors, who came over and
brought better instruments They COM
pleted the work in about four years, and
we're discharged on the Goth of December
1867. The beginning of the due west line
was by the decree to be determined by
measuring seventeen miles due south from
the southernmost house in the city of Phila-
deIphia, and then running due west until
it intersected the due north line from the
tangent point aforesaid, and at this point
the west line was to commence, and here
boundary stone was set up by Mason and
Dixon; this stone being near stream of
water, was washed out and lost many years
ago. and was replaced by commissioners
fha Stnta in
ham, of the United States Engineers, made
the necessary measures to determine the
spot, and ON digging hole to set it they
found stone that was buried under the
missing one, and of the same quality.
At the time of fixing these boundaries
there were only Maryland and Pennsylva
MIA in the controversy, three counties on
the Delaware, New Castle, Kent and Sus
sex, being part of Pennsylvania, and
| according to agreement, boundary stones
were prepared in England, and sent over
to be placed at the distance of a mile from
each other, every fifth stone being of a
larger size, and having the arms of
Lord Baltimore on one side, ahd those
of the Penn family on the other, and on
the intermediate stones the letter NJ on the
side next Maryland and p on the side next
Pennsylvania. The commissioners ran the
| line due west 23S miles, and were prevented
by the Indians from going further.
AUTHOR OF MEcKLENBURG DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE.
For number of years previous to the
Revolution, there was a considerable immi-
grafton from Cecil county to North Caro-
lima; and the fact that these immigrants
were the active men in getting up that cele
brated instrument, the Mecklenburg De
claration of Independence, is deserving of
notice in connection with the subject be-
fore us to-day. This declaration was more
than year before that by Congress, and
in several important expressions, the Ian
guage is identical. The existence of this
document does not seem to have been gen.
orally known until about 1920. Then there
was an interesting correspondence between
Adams and jefferson on the subject, in
which the latter derived all knowledge of
such paper. Afterwards a committee
was appointed by the Legislature of N. c.
to collect and arrange all the evidence on
the subject. Their report establishes the
| uanninenesS of the declaration and its de-