relied on a clause common to all warrants which precluded the
staking of a claim to land previously surveyed. But Jones didn't
get around to obtaining a warrant until 1677 (and his patent in
1678), long after the patent for Cole's Harbour. Hence, his title
to Jones' Range may have been junior to Thomas Cole's patent to
Cole's Harbour."

West of Cole's Harbour lay land more suitable for agricul-
ture. Two hundred acres, more-or-less, had been patented there to
Edward Lunn in 1673 and called Lunn's Lott. Adjoining  to the
south was Timberneck, a two hundred-acre tract of land with
frontage on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River which was
patented to John Howard of Anne Arundel County in 1668.12

Patents were also being issued on the peninsula of land
between the northwest branch and middle branch of the Patapsco.
In 1668 Upton Court, containing five hundred acres, was patented
to David Poole. Subsequently, in 1672, David Williams was granted
a one hundred-acre parcel called David's Fancy, between Upton
Court to the east and John Howard's Timberneck to the west. And
earlier, in 1661, fifty acres called Whetstone Point at the tip
of the peninsula had been patented to Charles Gorsuch. These
first patents, which turned out to be within the precincts of
Baltimore, are represented on Figure I.13

IV. The State of Land Titles

Title to these lands was by no means settled, however. The
system of granting patents led to irregularities. Monuments were