The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-04-20

VlQeQ INTO eighteen several divisions OIL
one thousand acres each, three of which
the proprietor reserved for his own proper
use. The choice of the several divisions
was to be disposed of by lot. The warrant
directed the surveyor to begin at the north,
ern barrens, between the main branch OF
North East and OtterarOe creek, and further
specified that the southern boundary was
to be an east and west line parallel with
the southern line of the province, and that
the eS were to be paid within one year
after the date thereof. 1t also provided for
the payment of an annual quit rent of one
shilling sterling for every one hundred
acres, or, in case of failure to pay the first
sum, they were to pay two bushels of good
Winter wheat for every one hundred acres,
to be delivered at some navigable water OF
landing place on the Delaware river. Fol
lowing the record of the certificate of sur
vey is a plat of the township, accompanied
by a certificate certifying that it is COM
General of Pennsylvania. The plat shows
the tract to have extended two and a halt
miles east of the common on which the
meeting house was built, from which it
ran due west nearly nine miles. West of
the common for distance of three miles
it was three and quarter miles wide, for
three miles further west it was three miles
wide, while from the southwest corner there
extended a paraielogram mile and quar-
ter long and half mile wide which proba
bly, embraced part of what is now known
as Vinegar Hill. the whole township con
tanned thirty lots, the most of which were
a mile and half long and half mile
wide. which shows that the instruction in
the warrant, authorizing the surveyor to
sions of one thousand acres each, had been
disregarded. The names of Robert Dutton
and Samuel Litter appear upon each of the
lots Immediately east and west of the meet
ing house, while the names of John Church
man and Randall Janney are found upon
the lots Immediately north and northwest
of it. Andrew Jobs name appears on the
lot at the southeast corner of the tract
and those of Edward Beeson and Henry
Reynolds upon the two most westerly lots
The lots are separated by what seems to be
intended to represent road, but which,
by the scale accompanying the plat is an
eighth OF mile wide. 1t is worthy of re-
mark that the lines of the plat are due east
and west, which, if it is correctly drawn,
shows that the instruction in the warrant
had not been very rigidly adhered to. The
lots as before stated, were to contain a
thousand acres each; including the road,
they did actually contain. as shown by the
timated in the warrant that the four per-
sons that were to have five hundred acres
each, We're to divide a thousand acres be-
tween them; this accounts for the town
ship being divided into thirty instead Of
eighteen lots, as directed in the warrant.
The plot also shows that several of the
persons who were to have thousand acres
each took up two of these five hundred
acre lots, aud that, in some cases, they
were several miles apart.
The reader will recollect that Talbot's
grant of Susquehanna Manor, which was
made twenty years before by Lord Balti-
more, include the whole of nottingham
ana extended some miles north of it into
Pennsylvania; but the reader must recol-
I'LL, i
tainance and extension of the authority of
Baltimore as far north aud east as circum
stances warranted him in believing it was
possible to extended it. Although his manor
of Susquehanna extended many miles above
the mouth of the Octoraro. he probably
had little hope of maintaining his title to
it, and probably extended it northward
simply to acquire claim and to hold it in
behalf of Lord Baltimore. He saw with
what tenacity the settlers along the Della
ware maintained possession of the land
there, though it was covered by Baltimore's
patent, and he resolved to profit by their
example. This explains why, in 1858, he,
with view CT extending Baltimore's grant
eastward, ran line from the mouth of the
Octoraro to the mouth of Mammals creek
on the Delaware. This line was perpetu-
ated by a line of marked trees. which was
the customary method at that time. Years
afterwards, just previous to the settlement
of the long and memorable controversy
between the proprietors of the two pro-
viuces, much evidence about this line and
other matters connected with the dispute
was taken by PENIS attorneys and sub
mitted 10 the court of chancery. This docu-
ment was called PENIS Breriat From it
we learn that this line from the mouth of
OctorarO to the mouth of Naaman's creek
is the line referred to by the Commission
ers of Penn in their warrant of survey as
the southern line of the province.
The religious and political difficulties
that prevailed in England in the reign of
James the Second Lad disastrous effect
upon the prosperity of Lord Baltimore,
His misfortunes were increased by the eff
forts his kindness prompted him to make
in behalf of his kinsman Talbot, in order
to shield him from the consequences of the
murder of the unfortunate Rousby. He
was "a Catholic and the Puritanica spirit
that ragged in the time of Cromwell was not
yet extinct. William of Orange and Anne
owed too much to the Protestants of Eng
land to be disposed to look with much favor
upon the claims of Baltimore, created as
they We're by a prince of an exiled family
and 9 member of the church which they
drspised. Talbot the courageous and ire.
pressible Talbot. whose brilliant career in
Cecil county atoues for its shortness, had
long since disappeared, and the proprietor
of Maryland, shorn of every thing but the
nominal possession of his right in the soil
of his splendid domain, langulshed in neg
lect and obsourity.
These were the reasons why the princely
domain of Su>quehanna Manor was cut in
twain by the Commissioners of Penn. Had
George Talbot been alive aud at the head