The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-10-20

B
about two hundred and forty. four years
ago. 1t is the intention of the writer to
trace its history, as well as the scanty data
that the ravages of time have left will
afford him the means to do; to tell of the
bold and daring men, whose courage and
enterprise led them to these shores, and
whose industry and perseverance have made
our county one of the foremost in the State
permit, their early struggles and the hard
ships they met with; to speak of their
manners and customs, and note the changes
that education and refinement from time to
time wrought in them. Neither shall he
be forgetful of the various religious sects
that have tlourished within the limits of
our county, but will devote portion of his
labor and his time to the development of
their history.
In order that the reader may have bet
ter understanding of that which is to fol
low, we must now pause for moment and
take glance at the settlements on the
Delaware river. The early history of the
settlements on that river and the history
Of Cecil county are SO closely connected,
that history Of the latter cannot be made
ineligible without a knowledge of the
former.
Many of the original grants of land
made to the first settlers of our county ex-
tended beyond its present bounds into both
Delaware and Pennsylvania, and the terri
tory covered by the patent of Lord Balti-
more embraced the whole of the State of
Delaware, and extended north to the 400
of north latitude, which is above the mouth
of the Scnuylklll river. The Dutch are
believed to have had settlement at Hoore-
kill NOW Lewes, Del, as early as 1921, but
the Indians murdered the settlers there,
and some of their countrymen from New
Amsterdam coming up the Delaware few
years afterwards, found only their bones
bleaching in the sun. These and the ruins
of their fort was all that was left to mark
the site of the first Dutch settlement on the
Delaware. Two years afterwards, in 1923,
another small colony settled on the east
side of the Delaware, and built fort called
Fort Nassau somewhere near Gloucester
Point in New Jersey. Both of these settle
ments were made by emigrants from the
Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam now
New York.. The Dutch had liberty to
enjoy their possession on the Delaware
(which they called the South river, in con-
tradistinction to the North river, at the
mouth of which was located their principal
town of New Amsterdam, till 1858. In
that year a colony of Swedes, under the
leadership of Peter Minuit, landed near
the mouth of the Christiana creek, and
tiana, which was within the present limits
of the city of Wilmington. This Peter
Mnuit had spent some years of his life at
New Amsterdam, in the service of the
Dutch West India Company, under whose
auspices the settlement at that place was
made. He appears to have become offended
or dissatisfied, and to have returned to Hol-
land, from whence he went to Sweden, and
river. This colony of Swedes is said to
have been composed of convicts and out
laws, and there is no doubt that many of
them were persons of bad character, for
they are accused Of selling guns and ammu-
milton to the Susquehannock Indians when
they were at war with the Marylanders,
and of hiring three of their soldiers to
instruct them in their use. Many years
deserted, and they and many other outlaws
from along the Delaware river, took refuge
in the wilderness of Maryland, south of
the Elk river, and along the Sassafras.
This Swedish settlement continued to exist
upon the Delaware, notwithstanding the
Dutch claimed the country there and pro-
tested against the occupation of it by the
Swedes till 1865, when the Dutch under
Stuyvessant forced them to capitulate.
1t would perhaps be neither interesting
nor profitable to further pursue the history
of the various settlements on the Delaware
at this time. We will state, however, be.
fore leaving the subject, that after much
quarrelling between the Dutch and Swedes,
the English in Maryland always protesting
against the rights of both of them, the
quarrel assumed new phase in 1862, when
VIM. Penn took possession of Delaware,
under a deed from the Duke of York
Owing to the fact before stated, that the
State of Delaware, and the country as far
north as the 400 of north latitude, was
included in Lord Baltimore's patent, this
grant to Penn led to the long controversy
between him and Lord Baltimore and their
heirs, which was not settled for nearly a
century afterwards.
1t is probable that the Swedes from New
Castle and vicinity were in the habit Of
visiting the head of the Elk river very early
in the history of our county. Indeed
McSherry states in his history, that the
county was first settled by them in 1910.
1t is true that the landing place at Elkton
was called Swedes Landing, at one time,
and Cedar Point, opposite the mouth of
Little Elk, was at one time called New
Castle Back Landing, which would indicate
that the Swedes were here at very early
date. The Dutch from the settlements on
the Delaware, in the early days of the set
Element at St. Mary's, were in the habit of
trading with the Maryland colonists there,
and they no doubt carried on this trade
and made their journeys from Wilmington
and New Castle to St. Mary's and Kent
Island by passing up and down the Elk
river We find that license was granted
as early as 1859 by the Council of Mary
land to one Andrews, to trade with the
Swedes, but it would seem that he was in
the habit of going round by sea and ascend
ing the Delaware for this purpose. 1t is
not probable that the rout via the Elk river
was adopted for long time afterwards
Many of the early Swedish settlers on the
Delaware, after they were conquered by
the Dutch, disliking the government of
those people, had left the settlements there
and boldly struck out into the wilderness