Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-12-20
WARE is ALONE.
No Other State Retains the Ancient
Institution "The Hundred"
A Relic OF Old A.glo-saxon Days
Corresponding To the Town
ship Of Early New
England.

Delaware is the only state IN IN
union to retain that ancient Teutonic
institution, "the hundred"
There are, to be sure, hundreds set
down here and there on the map OF
Maryland, but they are not true po-
litical entities, for the lowest subdivi-
sion OF the county in Maryland is the
district.
Even in Delaware the hundred has
lost many Of the powers and functions
that belong to the hundreds of England
in Anglo-Saxon days, but it is still a
local division Of unusual interest.
If there is no longer a hundred court
there are hundred assessors and road
commit toner's. and within the sub
division a large survival of local self
government.
The Delaware hundred corresponds
as nearly as may be to the New Eng
land township, though there is no hun
dred meeting like the town meeting,
for pure democracy has died out of
Delaware save in the school district,
where there is an annual school meet
ing, at which the people may enact
school laws, levy school taxes, and elect
school officers,
Even here. however, pure democracy
makes a poor showing, for in many
school districts only a handful Of per-
| sons attend, and the school officers have
10 elect themselves oyer again year
after year.
The hundred differs from the town
shin in another respect, and that is in
being a district of large area-from -
to 80 square miles.
Political activity in the hundred
shows no sign of decreasing, but the
importance of the hundred has been
somewhat lcsscncd by some provisions
%! the new constitution.
Before the adoption OF this consti-
tuition each county elected it's delega-
ton TO the legislature on a general
ticket, the French scrutin de- listc, but
party custom REQUIRED that in making
nominations the party managers
should see TO il that candidates were
eouitably distributed among the hum
drcds. Now. however. the counties
have been divided into representative
and senatorial election districts. and
these districts are not hundred, What
ever party custom may do in the mat
ter. Representatives will stand, not for
hundreds but for districts, and so sem
atOrs.
Hundred names in Delaware are in
tcrestirg and significant. Many hun
drcds are named for their bounding
creeks, as Mill Creek, White Clay
Creek. Duck Creek. North West Fork,
Murdcrkill.
. This last is merely the corrupted
form of n Dutch name, meaning mother
stream. but a legend has been invented
70 explain the name in its corrupted
English form q legend to the effect
that white settlers on the creek per-
;. suaded a number uf Indians TO get in
lin, in front of a cannon and then
touched it of, with the result that
much savage blood was she'd, and the
, water Of the creek was reddened.
! Some hundreds are named from old
| post road tayerns. about which vii
lagcs grew up, as Red Lion, Black Birt
and probably st. Georges. Most oI
the hundreds have English names
One, however, has a Swedish name
ChriStinha. in honor Of the Swedish
queen who ruled when the Swcdcs cs
tablis he'd their first settlement in Della
ware, in iG3s. At least one is Indian
AphoquinEimink. One or two arr
Dutch; one. lichoboth. is Hebrew
though the accent has been i%mproperl,
shifted from the first TO the secon,
syllable, and n is Welsh.
This last is the hundred Of Pencader
more accurately, Pencade, the nam,
meaning "the great HILL" was given {,
the region by Welsh settlers who cam,
Lin the first decade Of the Eighteenth
century and established themselve
within the shadow Of Iron Hill, whicI
they naturally enough called Pen
codor, as il is the most notable emf
nence within sight.
Several of the hundreds of Delawar
have well recognized social peculiari
y ties. inherited from the settlers of tn
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
, The lands in Pcncadcr hundred ar
still occupied in considerable part b
persons bearing Welsh names. Chri,
tiana hundred and its neighbor, Wi
- mington. still contain many descend
ants Of the original Swedish settlers