The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-09-07
Historical Researches that Quilp Made
IL i bohemian.
CHAPTER XNIN.
ST. SrEpuEN.S PARISH

RLV- JOHN YEo-THE FIRST PARISHES LAID
uuT-rETEK sLUYTER-THE FIRST vEs-
TKYMEN-NUMRER OF TAXABLEs IL 1893
THE BISHOP OF LONDON PRESENTS
THE PARISH WITH soMr BOOKS, &c
CAsPAECs HrWMAN AGREES TO BUILD
CnuRCH-THE GIL EE-R!v. MIR. sEwEIL
THE VESTKY AGREE FoE TuE EUILD-
ING OF CHAPEL IL ELK NECK-THE
PEOPLE or NORTH Tx AND BOHEMIA
HUNDREDS COMPLAIN THAT MIR sEwEI.I.
HAD NEGLECTED ms DUTY--CHUECH
FINISHED --sHEEwsEuKY PAEIsH-EEv.
WILLIAM EAEKoII..
We will now cndeavoI to trace the his
tory of the Established Church in the cpun.
y. Lord Baltimore, the founder of the
state, was a Roman Catholic, and under
his administration all religious sccts had
been tolerated. but in 1859 lac had been de-
pfivcd OF tie rights and franchises granted
ia the chatter for the province, and only
left in enjoyment Of his right in the soil.
Herman aud probably many OF his cotem-
ppraricS who settled on Bohemia Manor
were members OF the Reformed Dutch
Church. George Talbot. George Oldiield,
and maus If the first settlers along the
Elk and SasIuchanna rivers were Catho-
lies; aud the Labadists. as We have seen,
had faith peculiar to themselves. These
various sccts lived in harmony and peace
. -, ,.,-r r.
the province as administered 10y the first
Lord Baltimore and his successors. Even
the then prosecuted and despised Quakers
! found an asylum III the province, and were
/ permitted to enjoy their peculiar belief in
| peace and quietness.
The first clergyman of the Church of
I England, of whom we find any account III
the history of the early settlements i'll our
/ county, is the Rev. John Yeo. whom, it is
/ stated in Hazards Annals Of Pennsylvania,
came from Maryland to New Castle in 1877,
where he exhibited his credentials as
| licensed minister of the Church of England
aud was well received by the court. In
| 1876. he had written letter to the Arch.
bishop Of Canterbury, from Pautuxent,
| Mary land, in which he gives a sad account
OF the religious condition OF the province.
| III this time there were only three minis
tiers of the Established Church of England
| in the province of Maryland.
Mr.. Yeo seems to have exercised the
duties of his calling at New Castle for
year or two, for in 1879 he presented
petition to the court, in which lac prayed
| to he remuneratcd for preaching the gospel
and for baptiZng children, marrying peo-
tile and burying the dead. The court re-
fused his request, and we hear no more OF
HIM till lGSl, when he was tried At New
Castle " for mutinous expressions against
the Duke of York then proprietor of that
province, the town, the court" ,Sc, for
which he was tried before jury and ac-
quilted. John leo had, no doubt, been
attracted to bohemia Manor by the pros
pcrIty OF the people there and by its close
ness to New Castle, near which he after.
wards settled, which was at that early
day 4 town of much importance. He was
probably the first clergyman of the Estab-
lished Church that visited Cecil county.
Ia 1862, just after the revolution in Eng
land, which resulted in the expulsion OF
the Stewards and the firm establishment of
the Protestant religion, under William aud
Mary, the legislature Of the province.
which was thoroughly Protestant, passed
" an act for TIE Service of Almighty God
and the establishment Of the Protestant
ralig ion in the Province" This act was
passed previous TO the 9ih of June, 1862,
aud on the @2nd Of the November follow
ING, the Commissioners OF this county,
Capt. Charles James. Col. Casparus Her
man, Mr.. Humphrey Tilton, Mr.. William
Ward, Mr.. Henry Rigg, Mr.. John James
aud Mr. William Fins, with some of the
principal fgeehoders Of the county, in PUT
| suancc and compliance with the Act of As
Scmbly, laid out aud divided the county
into two districts or parishes, that Is to
say. one parish for Worten and South Sas
SafIax hundred and the other for North
| >issrfrrr, Bohemia and Elk hundreds
| The Rev. Lawrence Nanderbush was then
| officiating in ;he parish and had probably
been here FOR some time, for it is a matter
! Of record that he administered baptism
or the End OF July previous and during the
| year he baptized eighteen others. But
/ little more j. known Of his history, only
| that he died in 1886, at which time he was
also in charge Of South SassafEas Parish.
About this time. Peter Siuyter seemed to
! think that the scepter he welded as
about to depart from his hand. and so he
! petitiored the Governor for license or au-
! lhority to perform the rite Of marriage.
! No doubt he feared that the organization
Of these parishes and the settlement of
ministers near him would lessen his au
thority, which was already beginning to
wanc, and deprive him of influence over
his followers. His petition was granted
with the proviso that he was only to marry
people of his own denomination.
The first vestrymcn OF North Sassafras
Parish were CaspaTus Herman, William
Ward, John Thompson, Edward Jones,
Henry Rigg, Henry Jones and Matthias
Nanderhuydcn. The taxabeS in 1893 were
32l, which was the number of persons then
assessed within the present limits of the
county, and are supposed to have been
equal to one fourth of all the inhabitants
III the county, which, 10y this estimate.
then contained population of PSI. At
a meeting Of the vestry, the next year, it
was ordered that the II, $40 pounds of to-
bacco collected that year should be dis
posed of as follows: To the minister, :, 900
pounds: to the sheriff for receiving il, GEO
pounds to Thomas Pearce, clerk, 500
pounds; the residue, 3,0lS pounds, to be
lodged in the hands of Edward Jones for
the deirayiug of some necessary charges in
fitting and repairing the present meeting
house (which we have procured for the
present till God shall enable us to build a
church,