The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-07-20

did all in his power to sustain his au.
thority and aid him in maintaining his
claims. 1t was probably owing to the
efforts of MIR. Ross that the chapel neal
Port Deposit was erected, as we have seen
elsewhere, about the year 1923. This
chapel is east of that town and not fan
from Battle Swamp. 1t was built upon
part of nine acres of land (Which was, nc
doubt, gift of the Lord Proprietary near
a fine spring of water which was known as
the Indian Spring. Every vestige of this
chapel has long since disappeared, but the
land is still in the possession of the vestry
of the parish, and is now overgrown with
briers and bushes. A very few ancient
tombstones mark the site of the graveyard.
One of them bears the date of 1742, which
indicates that the chapel had not then
fallen into the neglect that has since over
taken it. This chapel was constructed of
logs, and the writer recently found a
venerable old lady Miss Archibald) still
living, who went to a school that was kept
in it, when she was a child. MANY years
ago (she was unable to fix the date) the
Bishop of the Diocese held service at this
place in tent that was pitched near the
site of the old chapel, with view of re-
susctating the church there, but his efforts
were not successful. 1t is worthy of re-
mark that MIR. Hackett stated in his first
report to the society that his baptisms
were numerous-one of which was an In
dian, and four others coored persons.
Mr.. Hackett, who died in 1885, was sue
ceeded by the Rev. William Wye, who
took charge of the parish in 1876, and
under whose administration the venerable
old church now standing was built. The
parish now seems to have been in pros
porous condition and contained 92S taxa
bles.
The reader must remember that the east
ern and northern boundaries Of the county
were still in dispute and that Nottingham
was claimed by Penn and the inhabitants
of that township and those of Welsh Tract
were not included in the above number.
or the leading men of the parish and the
vestry under whose auspices the church
was erected we know but little; the records
of the church were destroyed by fire, a
number of years ago, and owing to the
fact that for number of years prior and
subsequent to the Revolutionary war, but
but little interest was taken in religious
matters by many of the residents of the
town. Even tradition affords no informa-
ton about their history.
The following inscription is distinctly
legible on the corner stone of the church:
RD WYE: lib: NH: DEL: III: TR: &c:
1743.
lnasmuch as this inscription begins with
the rector's name, there is little doubt that
the initials that follow are those of the
vestrymen, H. B. being the initials of
Henry Baker; N. H. those of Nicholas
Hyland, and z. II. those of Zebulon Hol.
lingsworth, each of whom were prom nent
men at that time and had been on the COM
mission that laid out Charlestown year
before. Thomas Russell and Joseph Cou-
den were probably the other vestrymen.
Whose name the initials cd. E. l." are
intended to represent we are unable to
even conjecture, and if any of the readers
of The WING can inform us the information
will be thankfully received.
The church stands on Or near the site Of
the first one and is well constructed brick
building. of the same style as the old Bap-
fist church on Iron Hill, which was built
three years afterwards. Very probably the
brick used in its construction were brought
from England.
1t is very probable that the old church
that stood in the graveyard, in the Ninth
district, on the road from Kinks Mills to
Bay View, was built about this time. Ira
6ition indicates that it was built by the
Episcopalians, but its history is still more
obscure than that of the old chapel near
Battle Swamp.
MIR. Wye died in 1874 and was buried,
it is said, at the Wye chapel, in Queen
Anne's county. The Wye river was most
likely so called because his family resided
near it. He was succeeded the same year
by the Rev. John Bradford, who died in
1746. His successor was the Rev. John
Hamilton, who had charge of the parish
from 1746 to 1918. Nothing remarkable
occurred during his rectorshp, but we
mention as matter of interest that in
1854 the taxables had increased to 1,02O,
and the return for 1865 shows an increase
of 81 during that year. For the ensuing
five years the taxables in this parish varied
and in 1862 only amounted to Lib. The
decrease in population was caused by emf
grafton, many of the inhabitants of the
parish being attracted to North Carolina
by the more genial climate of that province
Others of them removed west of the Sus-
quehanna and settled in the rich valleys
along its tributaries, that part of the State
of Pennsylvania at this time being the
ultama thule of civilization. 1t is worthy
of note that during Mr.. HamiltOn's incum,
bency the church was robbed of the CON-
munion service and that destructive fire
occurred in Boston, to the sufferers from
which this parish contributed e37 1t was
also during the rectorship of Mr.. Hamilton
174S) that the vestry purchased one hun
dred acres of land part of "Clayfall ny
from John Curer for ESQ, for glebe
They continued to hold this land till 1884,
when they sold it to jeremiah Baker for
e6O5.
In 1744, William Black, who was secre-
tary of the commissioners appointed by
the Governor of Virginia to unite with
those of Pennsylvania and Maryland in
treating with the six nations of Indians at
Lancaster, visited this place in company
with the commissioners of Virginia and
Maryland. While on their way to Phila
delphia to join the commissioners of that
province, he says: "We sailed up the bay
and landed at Turkey Point, and never
saw country so overgrown with woods.
About shutdown, we came to anchor before
North East town, which is composed of
two ordinaries, grist mill, baker house &
two or three dwellings. Notwithstanding
L., l.