The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-16
DISCOVERY OF THE SITE
OF AN OLD SETTLEMENT
Baltimore Professor and Friend
Find Place Where Claiborne
Once Lived.
HIS FORT WAS

BALTIMORE, Jan. B.-An event of inter
est to all students of colonial Maryland Is
the positive Identification of Capt. William
C~laiborne's settlement on Kent island, by
DR.. Bernard c. Steiner, associate in history
at Johns Hopkins University, and De Cour-
cey w. Thorn. of this city.
Few chapters of colonial history present
NOR wildly the struggles of early settlers
against untoward conditionst han the career
of William Claiborne. a persistent and sue
cessful contestant with Lord Baltimore for
the right of governing on Kent island.
The first settlement made by white men in
Maryland was that of Kent Fort. on Kent
island. Here Captain Claiborne and his lieu
tenant landed Aug. IL, 1851, with a company
comprising sixteen men and one woman, in
dentured to Cloberry & Co, London. in
which firm Claiborne was partner, and seven
hired servants. They built there a church.
windmill, palisaded fort and shed for the
storage of truck and furs. Within the
precincts of thief ort were cultivated corn
and tobacco.
Thither came Leonard Calvert, in Feb
ruary, 1898, with Captain CORVALLIS and a
body of musketeers, snd captured the fort
without bloodshed. in the name Of the lord
pIOpTltldIN. calvert lOullu a private pldn-
tation of Claiborne's, called Craford, in the
care of his servants. about five miles to the
north, probably on the west shore of the
island. There We're two other private plan
tations.
Bozman's History of Maryland and Da-
visis DAY Star" say that Kent Fort was
near the south end of the island and was
situated on the side toward Eastern bay,
on the bank of the first navfgable creek.
Claiborne was a Virginian, and his set
tlement was represented In the Virginia
House of Burgesses two years before the
settlement Of st. Mary's. After being seized
by Baltimore's followers the proprietary
gave the manor of Kent Fort TO his brother
Leonard as a reward for the expedition.
Later he transferred IL TO Giles Brent. From
of the same name, who resided in Virginia
then to the heir-at-law Of the last William
name. In 1877 the lessee of this last person
successfully maintained an action for eject
ment against Benjamin Tasker. who. with
his predecessors, had been in possession
forty years. 1t was held by the court that
the statute OF limitations did not run
against a person who resided in another
province.
The manor house was burned about 1850.
Another house was erected on the Same
foundation, but has long since disappeared.
Somewhere on the island also stood the first
the first on the Eastern shore. For a long
period the estate belonged In the Chew fam
lily. and has since been yariously divided.
Messrs. Thorn and Steiner last month
drove along the main road of the island,
trying TO identify the site OF Kent Fort.
The Island is somewhat less than twenty
miles in length from Love Point. the rail-
way terminus, TO Kent Point. and its great
est width may be ten TO twelve miles. The
southern part. however. is only about a
mile wide.
They went TO the house of ]. Frank Legg
and found that they were In Kent Fort
Manor. Mr.. Legg went with them to show
the point which tradition marked as the
site of Claiborne's settlement. They found
il on a slight elevation back OF an old land
ing on the bank of a navigable creek above
Kent Point. To the north of the site, now
known as Chew Gardens snd cultivated
as a field. Is a velley which was probably
once an inlet, 30 that the site was surround
ed on three sides by water. They found
several fragments OF glazed bricks about
seventy yards from the shore, which may
have been part Of the Brent manor house.