Whereas, a considerable body of the inhabitants of Dorchester and Queen Anne's counties, by their petition to this General Assembly, have prayed that an Act may be passed for a division of the said counties, and for erecting a new one out of parts thereof; And whereas it appears to this General Assembly, that the erecting of a new county out of such parts of Dorchester and Queen Anne's will conduce greatly to the ease and convenience of the people thereof: Be it therefore enacted, by the right honorable, the Lord Proprietary by and with the advice and consent of the Governor and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the authority of the same. That after the Monday of the second Tuesday in March next such parts of the aforesaid two counties of Dorchester and Queen Anne's as are contained within the bounds and limits following to-wit: Beginning at a point on the north side of the mouth of Hunting Creek in Dorchester County, and from thence running up and with the said creek to the main road at James Murray's Mill, thence by that road by Saint Mary's White Chapel Parish Church to the northwest fork bridge, thence with the main road (that leads to Cannon's Ferry) to Nanticoke river, thence with said river to and with the exterior limits of the aforesaid county of Dorchester to the exterior limits of Queen Anne's County to intersect the main road that leads from the Beaver-dam causeway to Dovertown, in Kent County upon Delaware, thence with the said road to the Long Marsh, thence with the said marsh and stream of the branch of Tuckahoe creek to Tuckahoe bridge, thence with the said creek to Great Choptank river and with the said river to the first beginning at the mouth of Hunting Creek, shall be and is hereby erected into a new county by the name of Caroline County.

THE HUNDRED

On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Talbot County, there is an election district which for many years has borne a name whose origin has been a mystery to most of the inhabitants, viz., the district of Bay Hundred. The name of this county subdivision is all that survives of an institution which dates back to the very beginning of the history of the State, so says Dr. Lewis W. Wilhelm in bis admirable paper on the "Local Institutions of Maryland" published by Johns Hopkins University in 1885.

The first civil divisions of the infant settlement were called hundreds. Before the county, the town, the manor or the parish were instituted or erected the hundred had been adopted by the freemen of the province as the territorial division most suitable to them in their peculiar isolation in the New World. It is an interesting coincidence that the colonists of Maryland were led to adopt an institution identical, at least in name, with the institution first framed by bands of Angles and Saxons

upon their arrival in old England, a thousand years before. The hundreds in Maryland were in origin a geographical division, and so they continued to remain. A personal hundred, as an association of a hundred families or a hundred soldiers, was unknown in the history of this province. It was not until writs were issued, in legal form and through regular officers to the freemen, to meet in regular assembly, that the necessity was felt for the separation of the province into civil districts of some kind. These original election districts were called hundreds. Kent Island before it became the Isle of Kent County was a hundred of St. Mary's County. After the province was divided into counties, writs of election were no longer issued to the constables of each hundred, but to the sheriffs of the several counties; but the hundreds still continued to be used as polling places. It is probable that the deputies were still chosen by hundreds and not by counties.

The court proceedings in the early land records of Talbot disclose the fact, that in 1696 just before that part of Talbot County, lying north of Corsica or Coursey's Creek, was given to Kent County, there were nine Hundreds in Talbot County, named as follows:

1. Treadhaven Hundred;

2. Bolenbroke Hundred;

3. Mill Hundred.

4. Tuckahoe Hundred;

5. Worrell Hundred;

6. Bay Hundred;

7. Island Hundred;

8. Lower Kent Island Hundred;

9. Chester Hundred.

After Talbot County was reduced to the present limit by the erection of Queen Anne's County, in 1707, it contained but seven hundreds, viz., 1. Island Hundred;

2. Tuckahoe Hundred;

3. Kingscreek Hundred;

4. Bolenbroke Hundred;

5. Thirdhaven Hundred;

6. Mill Hundred;

7. Bay Hundred.

An Act of Assembly of the Province of Maryland passed at the session of 1715 "For the appointment of Constables and what relates to their office, and ascertaining what persons are taxable," required, "That the Justices of Peace in every respective county of this Prov

ince, at the first county Court held after Michaelmas, shall appoint constables in each Hundred of their respective counties," (here follows the oath to be taken by such constables).

That every Constable shall, on or before the twentieth day of June in every year respectively, repair in person, to every House or Habitation within his Hundred and there require of the Master, Mistress, Dame or other chief Person of the Family, a true list from under their hands, of all their taxable persons, distinctly to be named; they and every of them have within their respective Families, out of which List the said Constable shall make two fair Lists, under his Hand, and one he shall send to the Sheriff of the County, and the other he shall present to the next County Court to be set up.

On November 25, 1682, William Penn, the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, who, through the Duke of York claimed title to the three Lower Counties which later became the State of Delaware, wrote to the magistrates of Sussex County as follows:

By the Proprietary and Governor of Pennsilvania and the Teritorys thereunto belonging:

Having duly Considered the present State of your County to the end that all obstructions to the due improvement thereof may be removed and reasonable encouragement given to invite planters to settle amongst you; I do think fitt to order and appoint as follows: That you, in open Court shall receive all peticons from time to time that may be made by such persons as design to take up Land among you and that you grant them a Warrant to the Surveyor to admeasure the same provided always that you exceed not three hundred acres to a master of a family, nor a hundred acres to a single person, at one single penny per acre of value thereof in the produce of the country.

That you endeavor to seal the lands that shall hereafter be taken up in the way of townships as three thousand acres amongst tenn familys, if single persons one thousand acres.

The suggestion of Penn in this letter as to the division of lands among ten families is in accordance with the Old English custom of dividing land among ten families—assuming that each family with its servants was ten in number—making one hundred, and from which fact the title Hundred was originally derived, and this suggestion of Penn's is is doubtless the reason why the term obtained in this State (Scharf's History of Delaware, Vol. II, page 1203).

FIRST PUBLICK ROADS

The first law for the laying out and marking of public roads in Talbot County before there were any wheeled vehicle in use was passed

At a Session of Assembly, begun and held at the Town and Port of Annapolis, in Ann-Arundel County, the Fifth day of September in the third year of the Reign of our Sovereign, Lady ANNE, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc., and in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Four, entitled, An Act for the marking of High-ways, and making the heads of Rivers, Creeks, Branches and Swamps, passable for horse and foot.

Whereas, it is thought convenient, and very much for the benefit of the inhabitants of this Province that roads and paths be marked and the heads of Rivers, Creeks, and Branches be made passable.

Be it enacted, by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of her Majesty's Governor, Council and Assembly of this Province, and the authority of the same,

That all Publick and main roads be hereafter cleared and well grubbed fit for travelling, twenty foot wide; and good and substantial bridges made over all heads of Rivers, Creeks, Branches and Swamps, where need shall require, at the discretion of the Justices of the County Courts, and for the better ascertaining what is or shall be deemed publick roads. Be it likewise enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the Justices of the County Courts shall set down and ascertain in their Records, once every year, What are the publick roads of their respective counties, and appoint overseers of the same; and that no person whatsoever shall alter or change any such publick road, without the leave of license of the Governor and Council, or Justices of the County Courts upon Penalty of Five Hundred Pounds of Tobacco. And that all the roads that lead to any Ferries, Court House of any County, or to any church, or leading through any county to the Port of Annapolis, shall be marked on both sides the road with two notches; if the road lead to Annapolis. The road that leads there at the leaving of the other road shall be marked on the face of a tree in a smooth place cut for that purpose, with the letters A. A. set on with a pair of marking irons, and coloured, and so with two notches all along the road; and where at any place it leaves any other road, it shall be again distinguished with the mark aforesaid on the face of the tree with a pair of marking irons, and coloured as aforesaid; and any road on the Eastern Shore in Talbot County, that leads to the Port of "William-Stadt," (Oxford) at the entering into the same, and upon parting with, or dividing from any other road, shall be marked on the face of a tree in a smooth place, cut for that purpose, with the letter W. and so with two notches all along the road; and the roads that lead to any Court House, shall have two notches on the trees on both sides of the road, as aforesaid; and another notch at a distance above the other two. And any road that leads to a Church

shall be marked at the entrance into the same, and at the leaving any other road, with a slip, cut down the face of the tree near the ground; and any road leading to a Ferry, and dividing from the other Publick Roads, shall be marked with three notches of equal distance at the entrance into the same. And these rules and methods the several Justices of the County Courts, shall from time to time, give in charge of the overseers of the highways, by them to be appointed for that purpose, who are likewise enjoyned carefully and strictly to observe and perform the same, under the penalty aforesaid. And where any Road shall lead through any plantation or old Fields;

Be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, by and with the Advice and consent aforesaid, That the several and respective overseers within the several and respective Precincts, do set up Posts, so many as may be perceived from one to the other, which posts shall be marked and notched according to the place they lead to, as before in this Act, for the Marking and Notching of roads have been appointed; and that the posts of all gates through which any such road shall lead, as aforesaid, be marked and notches as aforesaid; under the penalty aforesaid, anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. And the said overseers, shall from time to time, as often as occasion shall require, fall all dead trees on each side of all main roads where limbs hang over, to prevent any damage that may happen by falling on Travellers.

Note. At this date, 1704, Annapolis and William-Stadt, (Oxford) were then the two most important towns in the Province.

POST ROUTES IN EARLY COLONIAL DAYS

The following Act of the Assembly of the Province of Maryland, passed fifty-two years after the founding of Talbot, shows the uncertainty of our mail facilities in early days.

At a Sessions of Assembly begun and held at the city of Annapolis, in the County of Ann-Arundel, the twenty-seventh Day of October in the Eleventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Anne, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., Annoq. Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirteen, the Honourable Edward Lloyd, Esq., being President of her Majesty's Council of the Province aforesaid; were enacted the Laws following, viz.: An Act for the more speedy conveying publick Letters and Pacquets of this Province, and defraying the charge thereof, and to prevent the Abuses of breaking open and concealing any Letters whatsoever.

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of her Majesty's President, Council and Assembly of this Province, and the Authority of the same, That the Sheriff of each respective County is hereby Enjoyned and Commanded to take Care of all Publick Letters and Pacquets and expeditiously convey them according to their respective Directions to the next Sheriff or Under