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A Brief History of Cecil County
Named for Cecilius
Calvert , the first Proprietary of the Province
of Maryland, Cecil County was erected by
proclamation on June 6, 1674. The present county
of Kent was in the original bounds for two weeks,
until the inhabitants of Kent demanded their
territory be returned.
John Smith sailed the
Chesapeake, the Susquehanna, the Shannon, the Elk
and the Sassafras in 1608, mapping the area and
learning of it's native (The
Native Americans of Maryland: Great Contributors
Underappreciated -a lovely essay by a young
historian) inhabitants.
The Dutch commissioned
Augustine Herman to purchase land for them in the
area now known as Bohemia. A few years later, he
agreed to make a survey for the Calvert family.
In 1672, beautiful map drawn by Herman was
engraved in London and presented to the
Calverts, for which work Herman was granted
lands.
The first
settlement was on Palmer's Island, now known as
Garrett's Island at the mouth of the Susquehanna
River, in what was then Virginia. The first
permanent settlement was at Carpenter's Point
near the mouth of the Principio Creek. A court
was standing by 1679 when the
Labadist
missionaries, Sluyter and Dankers visited
Ordinary Point in Sassafras Rive. in 1717, the
court was moved to Court House Point on Bohemia
Manor; then on the Charlestown ; and in 1778 to
"Head of Elk" a village at the head of
the Elk River. In 1787 a new courthouse was built
here and the village's named was changed to
Elkton.
 | Original Will of
Augusteen Herrman
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| 2nd Will of Augustine Herman
(1)Herman,
Augustine,Bohemia Manor,
27th Sept., 1684;
10th Aug., 1686.
Will devises that his estate shall be
equally enjoyed by all his children.
Overseers William Dare, Edward Jones,
George Oldfield to look after the estate and
protect the entail. Testator sets forth that he so
appoints overseers because his eldest Ephrian has
attached himself to the Labadist faction of
religion and is seeking to persuade his brother
Casparus and sisters –– to join him.
Test: Samuel Wheeler, Robert Kemble,
Richard Edmonds, Geo. Oldfield. 4. 228. Skinner, Robert,. Calvert Co.,
8th Mch., 1685)
(NOTE: This Will has been disputed, lacking his signature, and
written at a time of illness)(2)"The
Labadist Communities, New York, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania, 1683-1725. The Labadists were German
Separatists, who took their name from Jean de Labadie, a former Catholic
priest. The Labadists came to America and founded several colonies in New York,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland. One group, near Philadelphia, was known as
"The Society of the Woman of the
Wilderness". The community in Maryland, later known
as "Bohemia Manor", was established in 1683. It had a maximum membership of
100 and owned nearly4000 acres of land. The Labadists were religious mystics
who hoped to emulate the early Christian Church communism, although in Maryland
they held slaves. Their administration was in the hands of a dictator named Peter
Sluyter. Soon after his death (in 1722), the community disbanded and the members
melted into the individualistic American scene. "
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