on the scene. The historical records tells little about Todd --
all that is known is that he was a gentlemen of Baltimore County
with a wife named Penelope. But the land records say a great deal

--between 1695 and 1701 he first acquired all of the land north
of the Baltimore basin, and then parceled it out among various
purchasers.

James Todd claimed to be "seized in fee simple" of three
tracts of land. One was called Todd's Range, and originally laid
out for five hundred ten acres; another was the two hundred-acre
Mountney's Neck. The third was called Bold Venture, and said to
contain one hundred sixty acres. The three tracts were
contiguous. Since Todd made his acquisitions prior to 1715, when
the public registry of the ownership of land was first mandated
by the Assembly, it is unclear as to how he consolidated the
parcels.20

Todd's Range was a 1698 resurvey of Cole's Harbour with the
size reduced from five hundred fifty to five hundred ten acres.
Left unexplained was the missing link in the chain of title
between Cole and Todd, though there is some evidence of a general
reputation that Todd was in possession "under authority of his
mother under some contract, not under any other title".21

James Todd received a deed from Robert Blunt to the two
hundred-acre Mountney's Neck in 1695, but Blunt's claim to title
was itself undocumented. Some documents of title were in evidence

-- Alexander Mountney's original patent from 1663, and a deed
from Samuel and Ann Wheeler to David Jones in 1685. These indicia

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