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MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE

Research Notes &
Maryland Miscellany

Parceling Out Land in the Vicinity of
Baltimore: 1632-1796, Part 2

GARRETT POWER

Editor's note: For' Part 1 (containing Maps 1-4) of this highly useful research essay, see
the winter 1992 issue, pp. 453-66.

Establishment of Jones Town. A rival to Baltimore Town was also corning on the
scene. The one hundred thirty-five and one-half acres of Cole's Harbour which lay
to the east of the Jones Falls had been conveyed by James Todd to John Hurst in
1701 and had been on the real estate market for almost three decades. In 1702
Hurst mortgaged the property to Richard Colegate. Colegate took ownership
under a foreclosure in 1705, and when he died passed it on to his orphaned sons,
John and Thomas. Such was the state of the title in 1726 when Edward Fell set up
shop there in a small settlement at the site of the original David Jones homestead
on the east bank of the Falls. The site thereafter has been nicknamed Old Town
in recognition of this first settlement41 (Map 3).

In 1732 the assembly passed an act formally erecting the settlement as 'Jonas
Town," "on a creek, divided on the east from the town lately laid out . . . called
Baltimore Town, on the land wherein Edward Fell keeps store." Four commis-
sioners were appointed and given the power to purchase ten acres from the owner.
A ten-acre survey was prepared and a new town was laid off into twenty rectangular
lots following the lay of the east bank of the Jones Falls4^ (Map 4).

When it came time to purchase the land, however, there was uncertainty as to
the title and value of the Jones Town settlement. William Fell was in actual
occupation of the ten-acre tract, but, perhaps having learned a lesson from his
brother Edward's failed escheat claim to Cole's Harbour, he disclaimed willingness
or ability to sell. The sheriff empaneled a jury of freeholders, who confirmed title

The author acknowledges the generous editorial advice provided by his colleague, David
Bogen. Special thanks go to Jacqueline Lewis and Edward Menger, who assisted in the
research while students at the University of Maryland School of Law. The maps were
prepared by John Berndt of Baltimore Typography and Design.

MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
VOL. 88, NO. 2, SUMMER 1993

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