2 6 INTRODUCTION 



quehanna river. The latter line makes Garrett Island part of Cecil 

 county, but excludes Spencer, Roberts, and Amos Islands. 



Cecil county as an independent division of the State was first recog- 

 nized on June 6, 1674, by the proclamation of Governor Charles 

 Calvert. The limits of the county at first included all that portion 

 previously constituting part of Baltimore county, which lay between 

 the Susquehanna on the west, the Chester river on the south, and the 

 limits of Maryland on the east and north, which were then held to be 

 at Delaware river and the 40th parallel, respectively. A second 

 proclamation, issued a few days later (June 19th), revoked so much 

 of the first proclamation as affected the lands previously regarded as 

 part of Kent county. This separation of Cecil and Kent counties 

 was reiterated in the Acts of Assembly for 1695, and yet terms of 

 separation were not clearly set forth until in the Acts of 1706, Chap. 

 3, Sect. 1, when it is definitely stated that " Cecil county shall con- 

 tain all the land on the north side of Sassafras river and Kent county, 

 and shall be bounded on the east and north with the exterior bounds 

 of this province, and on the west with Susquehanna, river and Chesa- 

 peake Bay, and on the south with Sassafras river and Kent county/' 



The region now embraced by Cecil county was explored, and trad- 

 ing stations were probably established before the settlement was 

 made by Lord Baltimore's party at St. Mary's. As early as 1608, 

 Captain John Smith explored the region and mapped its shore line. 

 The earliest mention of Cecil county as such occurs, according to 

 Johnston, 1 in Augustin Herrman's journal, which refers to the record- 

 ing on 13th September, 1659, of a survey and of Lord Baltimore's per- 

 mit to have the town and county which he proposed to erect called 

 Cecilton and Cecil county. The former was never built, but left its 

 record in the name Town Point. During the seventeenth century the 

 inhabitants of the county were often harassed by the Indians, and 

 during the early part of the eighteenth much time was lost in border 

 feuds, yet in spite of these distractions Cecil county very early in 

 its history became one of the wealthiest and most progressive coun- 

 ties of the State. To-day it is the home of prosperous, enterprising 

 agriculturists, descendants in very many cases of the original settlers. 



] Geo. Johnston, History of Cecil county, Maryland, Elkton, 1881, 548 pp. 



