The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-08-03
Historical Researches that Quilp Made
rs Bohemian.
CHAPTER NNNlI
CiiiRI.EsTOwS.

CONDITION OF THE COUNTY ~ l.i2-KrN.
SONS FOR EUIIpI.G CHAELESTowN-TnE
TALroTs AND susQUEHANNA MANOR
CuAHL%>TowN LAID oUT-THE PAIRS
INTRODUCTION OF TEA AND CuFFEE-
rEpDLERs RUS-TRADDuCK DEFEAT
WAREHOUSE CHARGES CAREIAGES-r uI.
ULATIuN-RIvAL TOWNS.
The Principle Iron Company. of which
Stephen Onion and John and Thomas Rus
sell Were prominent members, was no
doubt formed about the time that the
North East forge was pat in operation,
which was probably as early as 11lJ. In
l.l", the General Assembly passed an act
fur the encouragement of iron manufac-
turcrs, and from that time to the present,
except few brief intervals. the manufac-
turc of iron has been continued in this
county. Robert button, one of the first
lot holders III Nottingham, as we'll as the
Browns and Churchman's Of that township,
were interested in the Principle and North
East iron works, and at 4 later date in the
old forge, Just below the State line, on the
Octoraro. The Principle Company at this
time were in possession of several thousand
acres Of land in Susquehanna and North
East Mauors much of VIII ich is now in the
possession of the Mccullough Iron Com
pany and the proprietor OF the present
Principle Iron Works.
The first settlers in the northeast Part of
the county, as we'll rs those in Nottingham.
which was considered to be part OF Penn
sylyania till after the Revolutionary war
were in the habit Of disposing of their sur
plus produce at Christiaua Bridge and
New Castle, both OF which were then places
of commercial Importance. Cen.ltown, on
the Bohemia, had been 4 failure, for the
land upon the Manor and in SassairaS
Neck, though naturally the best III the
county, had been impoverished 10y the con-
iinual cultivation Of tobacco, which nj the
time it was laid ont. was beginning 10 de-
cline, and there was not commerce enough
to give it vitality. The cultivation of to-
bacco, we have reason to think, was now
confined to that part Of the county south
OF the Elk river ard Back Creek, for the
old Bohemia Ferry and Frederick town
were the only places provided for its in
spection at this time. The Quakcrs at
Nottingham no doubt were as industrious
and thrifty then As now, and the Hoilings-
worths and others were largely interested
in the milling busincsS on the E!ks. and
shipped their Hour to Philadelphia, via
Christiana Bridge.
At this time, Annapolis was the center Of
refinement aud faShion-the Paris OF Amer
lea. Baltimore had only been founded
thirteen years, and was in its infancy: and
beside this, the Principle Ccmpauy's forgCs
and furnaces at Principle and North East
were in the full tide Of successful opera.
zion, and the company was shipping the
iron it manufactured to England. No
doubt the enterprlsing citizens of the coun-
ty felt the want Of 4 town, and thought
they might well have one of their OWE.
SO they obtained the necessary legislation
in ZAP, and founded Charlestown. The
enterprise was rather more plausible than
the erection of Ceciltown, but the hopes of
those that inauguratcd it were never real
lied. But it was owing TO no fault of it's
founders that il failed, for they used every
cxcrtion TO make it success. aud only
succumbed to the force Of circumstance
when convinced that II was impossible to
divert the trade of the northern part of the
county from the towns along the Delaware.
The land upon which Charlestown stands
is part of Susquehanna Manor, which,
the reader will rccollect, was granted To
George Talbot, in 1850. When the town
was laid out, in I7i2, this Manor belonged
to the Lord Proprietary and had been in
charge of benjamin Tasker, his agent, for
4 number of years. Talbot disappeared i'll
1857, and though the writer has made every
eNeEtion he has been unable to learn any
thing of his subsequent history. Castle
Rooney, in which he lived before he came
to America, has also disappeared and no
trace of it can now be found, though it
continued to be the residence of the Tai
bots as late rs l1l0. And strange to say,
the records of the county contain but one
deed given by him for land in Susquehanna
Manor. How came it, the reader will ask,
to revert to the Lord Proprietary We
will give our opinion and the reasons for
it. In lsi0, we find that James Talbot.
then living at Castle Rooney, in Ireland,
authorized Charles Carroll to sell tract
of land, at Perry Point. And in III, the
records of the county show that Abel Van
Burkaloo, who was then Sheriff of Cecil
county, was ordered to take possession of
the property of James Talbot, in Cecil
county, he having been attained of high
treason for completely in a rebellion IN Ire
land in the interest of the Pretendcr.
James III. TIE Sheriff was referred by
the Governor to Charles Carroll for infor-
nation about the property of James Talbot,
which indicates that Carroll had been his
agent and that he was probably the same
man who owned the land at Perry Point.
From these facts we are of the opinion
that George Talbot returned to Ireland
about the year 1851, and very probably
lost his life in the service Of King James,
and that Susquehanna Manor descended to
James Talbot, who was his heir. This
Manor was in the possession OF the Lord
Proprietary, at the beginning of the Revo
lutionary war, and if it was ever taken
possession Of by the Crown, under the act
of Parliament that coniiscated it. may
afterwards have been bestowed upon the
Lord Proprietary on account of t:le good
feeling then existing between him and the
King, the fourth Lord Baltimore having
joined the Established Church and taken
much pains to conciliate his royal master.
The British army, when they left Court
House Point, in l71s, carried all the land
records away with them. to New York.
where some of them wers afterwards found
in damaged condition. These books were
brought back To the county and transcribed.
consequently very few OF the original
books are now extant. 1t is probable that
tho RritiSh officers who vara ,x.u inform