On Dec 21, 2003, at 2:49 PM, BonnieAnne437(a)aol.com wrote:
Can you tell me what the Maryland Middlesex 100 refers to?
Thanks.
Baltimore County Hundreds & Boundaries
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When researching Baltimore county before ca 1820, you will encounter
two
terms referring to an area of land. One of the terms is Hundreds and
the
other is parishes. Hundreds as a political subdivision date back to
the Roman
occupation of Britian. Their are several variations of the orginial
meaning
of the term. The most commonly accepted is that is was an area that
contained 100 families. Another variation is that it was an area that
was
large enough to raise an army of 100 men. From the late 1600s to early
1800s
in Maryland the term was applied as a political subdivision of the
county
primarily for tax purposes and judicial affairs. The latter being that
there
was a constable appointed for each hundred and a justice of the peace
for
each hundred. The 1790 and 1810 Federal census for Baltimore county
are at
least partially broken down by hundreds. The equivalent term today for
a
hundred is an election district within the county. Although Maryland
was
founded by Catholics (the family of Lord Baltimore), its religion was
dominated by Puritans in the 1650s and then later the Church of
England. In
June of 1692 the General Assembly passed an act that essentially
established
the Church of England as the "state church", required the
establishement of
parish boundaries and also required each parish to establish a
register of
births, marriages, and deaths within the province.
When Baltimore county was first settled, there were no roads, except a
few
indian paths; thus, travel was mostly by water, and you will find
persons
styled in terms of where they lived. For example in early deeds,
people are
styled as: William Boulton of Bush River, Richard Ball of Patapsco,
John Lee
planter of Bush River. The early Hundreds were thus often named for
rivers.
When Baltimore county was fist formed, its boundaries ran from the
ridge
dividing the watershed of the Magothy and Patapsco Rivers around to the
Sassafras River. Thus it included todays Cecil county, and Harford
county,
parts of Carroll, Anne Arundel, and Howard counties. Also since the
early
boundaries were not fixed it probably also extended into Delaware and
Pennsylvania. Cecil County was formed in 1674 at which point the
northern
eastern boundary of Baltimore county became the Susquehanna River. A
formal
boundary between Baltimore and Anne Arundel county was initially laid
out in
1698.
By 1698 is appears there were three hundreds in Baltimore county, the
Patapsco Hundred (which ran from the south side of the Patapsco River
to the
north) the Gunpowder Hundred, and the Spesutia Hundred. The original
county
seat was at Spesutia Island off the Bush River. Apparently there was a
town
of Baltimore in this location in 1683. In 1707 the General Assembly
directed
that a twon be erected on 50 acres called "Taylors Choice" and that the
county courthouse be erected there. This land was off the Gunpowder
river.
However in November 1712 an act of the Assembly directled that the
courthouse be erected in the town of Joppa.
There were three parishes established in Baltimore County in the 1690s.
These were St Pauls, St Johns, and St Georges. The parish boundaries
roughly
corresponded to the boundaries of the three hundreds:
St Paul's Parish was the Patapsco Hundred
St John's Parish was the Gunpowder Hundred
and St George's Parish was the Sesputia Hundred
In 1727 the Boundary between Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties was
changed
so that all land on the south side of the Patapsco river was to be in
Anne
Arundel county.
As the county's population grew, new hundreds were created. Also
because of
the distances to the churches, "chapels of ease" were built. These
later
became their own parish. St Thomas Parish was created in 1742 and the
chaple
was built near Garrison Forest as part of St Paul's Parish for the
western
part of the county, and St James was created at Monkton in 1750 as a
chapel
of ease for St John's Parish. St James was recognized as an independent
parish in 1777.
From the 1737 Tax lists: the Hundreds and Parishes for Baltimore county
were:
Hundred Parish
Patapsco Lower Hundred St Paul's
Patapsco Upper Hundred
Soldiers Delight Hundred
Back River Lower Hundred
Back River Upper Hundred
Middle River Hundred St John's
Gunpowder Lower Hundred
Gunpowder Upper Hundred
Lower Spesutia Hundred St George's
Upper Spesutia Hundred
Deer Creek Hundred
By 1776 the following Hundreds existed:
Hundred Parish
West Hundred - of Baltimore Town St Paul's
East Hundred-of Baltimore Town
Patapsco Lower Hundred
Patapsco Upper Hundred
Midlesex Hundred
Back River Hundred
Back River Lower Hundred
Back River Upper Hundred St Thomas' Parish
Soldiers Delight Hundred
Delaware Hundred
Pipe Creek Hundred
Middle River Lower Hundred St John's Parish
MIddle River Upper Hundred
Gunpowder Lower Hundred
Gunpowder Upper Hundred
North Upper Hundred
North Lower Hundred
Spesutia Lower Hundred St George's Parish
Spesutia Upper Hundred
Susquehanna Hundred
Deer Creek Hundred
>P> On 2 March 1774, Harford county was created out of Baltimore
county.
with the Little Gunpowder river serving as the dividing line between
the two
counties.
In the Federal Tax assessment of 1798 Baltimore County was divided
into the
following hundreds:
Patapsco Lower Hundred
Patapsco Upper Hundred
Middlesex Hundred
Soldiers Delight Hundred
Back River Lower Hundred
Back River Upper Hundred
Middle River Lower Hundred
Middle RIver Upper Hundred
Gunpowder Uppper Hundred
Mine Run Hindred
North Hundred
Pipe Creek Hundred
Delaware Lower Hundred
Delaware Upper Hundred
The town of Baltimore
The other major boundary changes occured in 1837 with the formation of
Carroll county from the western part of Baltimore county and the
eastern
part of Frederick county and in 1851 with the formation of Baltimore
City as
an entity separate from the county and in 1836. The county also lost
land
through annexations by Baltimore City, particularly in the early 1900s.
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