Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Cecil County, Maryland
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== Colonial era === [[File:Seal of Cecil County, Maryland (1674β1968).png|thumb|Former county seal, used from the 17th century to the 20th century]] The area now known as Cecil County was an important trading center long before the county's official organization in 1674 by proclamation of [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]]. It had previously been a northeastern part of a much larger [[Baltimore County, Maryland]], in the northeastern portion of the [[Province of Maryland|Province]]. This had included present-day [[Baltimore]] and [[Baltimore County]], and [[Harford County, Maryland|Harford]], [[Carroll County, Maryland|Carroll]], eastern [[Frederick County, Maryland|Frederick]], and portions of [[Howard County, Maryland|Howard]] and [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel]] counties. At the time of its founding, Cecil County also included modern [[Kent County, Maryland|Kent County]] and the border on the Eastern Shore of the [[Chesapeake Bay]] went as far south as the [[Chester River]], until its later formation in 1706. The [[Piscataway people|Piscataway]] traded with the [[Susquehannock]]s near [[Conowingo, Maryland|Conowingo]], and with [[Lenape]] of the Delaware valley and their [[Nanticoke people|Nanticoke]] allies near the [[Elk River (Maryland)|Elk River]] and [[Elk Neck Peninsula]]. A southern tribe sometimes called the Shawnace also moved into what later became [[North East, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ccgov.org/tourism/history.cfm |title=Cecil County Tourism: The History of Cecil County |access-date=December 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103153020/http://www.ccgov.org/tourism/history.cfm |archive-date=January 3, 2013}}</ref> [[Captain John Smith]] visited the area in 1608. [[William Claiborne]], a Puritan trader based in Virginia, earlier established a trading post at what is now known as [[Garrett Island (Maryland)|Garrett Island]] at the mouth of the [[Susquehanna River]] near what became Perryville. Bohemian immigrant [[Augustine Herman]] lobbied for Cecil County's creation, and drew the 1674 maps, in exchange for which Herman received extensive land grants, including one developed as [[Chesapeake City, Maryland|Bohemia Manor]], where he eventually died. Another early developer was [[George Talbot (surveyor)|George Talbot]], appointed Surveyor-General of Maryland in 1683,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/07/a-look-inside-the-history-of-cecil-county-maryland/|title=A Look Inside the History of Cecil County, Maryland|date=July 20, 2012|website=Accessible Archives Inc.|language=en-US|access-date=March 10, 2019}}</ref> who came from [[Ballyconnell]], County Cavan, Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000426/html/am426--797.html|title=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0426, Page 0797 - A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.|website=Msa.maryland.gov|access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> Talbot's original grant of land in Susquehanna, Cecil County is viewable online.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediasvc.ancestry.com.au/v2/image/namespaces/60623/media/b752c1ae-5154-4d04-a74d-7d110a39a2ae.jpg?client=Boards|format=JPG|title=Photographic copy of book page|website=Mediasvc.ancestry.com.au|access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> Its subsequent history is told in the Crofton Papers, page 153.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~charvey/Family/Crofton.pdf|title=Crofton Memoirs|page=153|website=Faculty.fuqua.duke.edu|access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> Until the [[American Revolution]], Cecil County was an important shipping center, both within the colonies and abroad. It exported not only its own agricultural products but also animal skins from the west and tobacco from the south. [[St. Francis Xavier Church (Warwick, Maryland)]] begun as a Jesuit mission in 1704 and rebuilt in 1792, is one of Maryland's oldest churches, though now a museum. [[St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church]], authorized in 1706 and rebuilt in 1742 is another (and still in use, as well as maintaining a historic graveyard). [[West Nottingham Academy]], founded by Presbyterian Rev. [[Samuel Finley]] in 1744, educated [[Benjamin Rush]] and [[Richard Stockton (Continental Congressman)|Richard Stockton]], both of whom signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], and still operates today (though disaffiliated from the Presbyterian church and with additional buildings). The [[Principio Furnace]], founded in 1719, became an important exporter of pig iron. During the [[American Revolution]] both British and colonial troops traveled through Cecil County, although no major battles occurred within its borders. The [[Battle of Cooch's Bridge]] occurred in nearby Delaware, and both [[General Howe]] and General [[George Washington]] stopped in Elkton during the summer of 1777. [[Robert Alexander (Maryland)|Robert Alexander]], the area's delegate to the Continental Congress of 1776, spoke with both sides but ultimately decided to go into exile in England without his wife. She remained a loyal Marylander and received a life estate in some of Elkton property that Maryland confiscated.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Cecil County, Maryland
(section)
Add topic