The times., 1899-07-16
MASON and DIX0N'S line
Story of the Dispute Between the
Calverts and the Penns.
The English Mathematicians and
Surveyors Set Mt Rest the Contro-
vcrsy Over the boundary Between
Maryland and Pennsy1vanin-Tro
bles With the Dutch and Indians.

Mason and Dixon's line has perhaps
been more often referred to in this country
than either the equator or the equinox.
For many years it was well-nigh impossi-
bic to conduct political debate without
reference to the line which had been run
by Charles Mason and jeremiah Dixon be-
tween the grants to William Penn and to
Lord Baltimore. The boundary dispute be-
tween the proprietors indicated and their
descendants and devisees was the most
| bitter in American history. In the course
of time these disputes were forgotten and
Mason and Dixon's line came in recent
| times to mean the line that divided the
slave-holding from the non-slave- holding
| States.
In Kilty's Laws of Maryland it is cited
that ''ou June 20, 1892, Charles /, In the
eighth year of his reign, granted TO Cecil
| ius Calvert, Lord Baron of Baltimore All
| that part of the peninsula or chersonese.
| lying in the parts of America between the
| ocean on the east and the Bay of Chesa-
| peake on the west, divided from the resi-
| due thereof by right line, drawn from the
| promontory or headland called Watkins
! Point, situate upon the bay aforesaid and
near the river of Wighco on the west unto
] the main ocean on the east and between
| the boundary on the south and that part of
the Bay of Delaware on the north. which
| lieth under the fortieth degree of latitude
where New England terminates
At that time neither Pennsylvania nor
New York had come into existence, for,
| as stated, it was then only 1852. The
southern boundary of New England ex-
tended to the northern boundary of the
/ grant to Lord Baltimore. There were at
that time but two settlements within New
England. One was New Plymouth set
/ tied in 1920, and the other Massachusetts
J Bay, settled in 1929. There was but one
settlement within the limits of Maryland
| so far as seems to have been then known
| by the English. This was the settlement
which had been founded on Kent Is and,
| in the Chesapeake, by William Claiborne,
! in 1881. Leonard Calvert landed at St.
Mary's, and took formal possession of his
proprietary estate in 1884,
Origin of the Dispute.
The troubles which existed between the
Calverts and Claiborne are presumably
known to all American schoolboys. but
Lord Baltimore had trouble from another
and more powerful source. One Godyn, a
Hollander, in 1929, bought from the ma
tives tract of land extending from Cape
Henlopen to a line thirty miles north In
I 1881 De Vries, another Hollander, built
fort in this territory at a place which he
called Swaanendael, and at about the po MT
where Lewiston now stands. The fort was
destroyed, and the defenders killed by In
| dians. In 1888 a colony of Swedes and
Fins, under authority of Chancellor Oxen
| stein, repurchased from the natives the
Godyn lands and erected fort at place
| called Christian Creek. These settlers oc-
cupied the place till 1865, when Peter Stuy-
/ a gfr
New Amsterdam, took possession, claiming
title under the sale to Godyn.
Lord Baltimore, as early as 1859, display
| ed marked uneasiness concerning the grow
ing strength of his Dutch neighbors on
the north, and he sent instructions from
London to Maryland to resist the alleged
encroachments of the Hollanders. Fendall
was then Governor of Maryland, and he
sent an embassy headed by Colonel Ma
thaniel Ute across the peninsula to con-
fer with the Dutch. but this party ac-
complished nothing.
Penn Secures His Grant.
On March A. 1851, William Penn secured
his grant west of Delaware and north Of
Maryland. A part OF his southern boun-
dairy was to be a circle drawn at twelve
miles distance from Newcastle northward
and westward to the beginning of the for
tieth degree of north latitude. Penn after
various efforts, secured from the Duke of
York the town of Newcastle and the terri
! tory for twelve miles around. He took
possession of his grant October 2S, 1882
The Penns and the Calverts were frequent
| ly in collision. With Protestant king in
England Baltimore's influence declined and
the proprietary government of Maryland
was overthrown and the affairs of Mary
land were administered by the crown until
| 1716 Penn died in 171S and his widow
continued the boundary dispute. In 1928
| an agreement was reached between the
Penns and Calverts to preserve peace along
the borders for eighteen months, within
which time it was thought the trouble
might be adjusted.
The border war continued and Cresap's
raids into Pennsylvania became more fire.
quent. In May. 1882 the children and the
devises of William Penn and the great
grandson of the first Lord Baltimore reach
ed an understanding that a line should be
run due west from Cape Henlopen, from
the centre of which line another line
should be drawn tangent to a circle twelve
miles from Newcastle, while a meridian
from the tangent point should be continued
to within fifteen miles of Philadelphia
whence should be traced the parallel OF
latitude westward which should divide the
provinces. Then came a dispute as to
which was the true Cape Henlopen. The
question was referred to the court of chan
Gerry and Lord Hardwicke in 1850 rendered
a decision sustaining the contention of the
Penns. Lord Baltimore then raised an
other point as to the method in which a
mile should be measured. He held that it
should be measured on the surface of the
land. and not horizontally. This Ques-
tion was referred to Lord Hardwicke, who
decided in favor of the horizontal plan of
measurement. This was in 1851. During
all these years there had been incessant
friction. Involved in the trouble were
| Puritans Catholics Dutch Swedes, the
Susquehanna, Minquaas, and Delaware In
dians.
In 1853 Thomas and Richard Penn and
Lord Baltimore. meeting at London enter
ed into an agreement with Charles Mason
and jeremiah Dixon, two mathematicians
or surveyors, to mark, run out, settle. fix
and determine all such parts of the circle,
lines, and boundaries as We're mentioned in
the several articles or commissions and
which were not yet completed"
Surveyors Leave England.
Mason and Dixon left England in August.
1853, and landed at Philadelphia, Novem-
ber 15 1853. The work of the survey was
continued for four years and in the sum
mer of 1867 had proceedd as far to the
westward as the summit of the Great AL
legheny. Trouble with the Indians was
imminent, and on September 80. 1867,
twentysix of the assistants of Mason and
Dixon quit work through fear of the
Shawnees and Delawares. With fifteen
axmen, the surveyors pressed to the west
ward, when at point 246 miles from the
Delaware, at a place then called Dunkard
Creek, the Indians of the Six Nations bade