of record title to Cole's Harbour was broken by a missing link;
if it could not be filled, Fell would be entitled to a warrant of
escheat to Cole's Harbour.35

Under a prevailing legal fiction of the day, however, proof
of twenty years possession by Carroll's predecessors in title
created a presumption of validity of the patent to Todd's Range.
By proving such uninterrupted possession, Carroll perfected his
title, and the issued caveat denied Edward Fell his escheat
warrant.36

VIII. Establishment of Baltimore Town

While that dispute was still in litigation Charles Carroll
of Annapolis made his second move. In 1729 he joined with eight
of the leading men of Baltimore County in petitioning the upper
house of the Assembly, the governor's council, "for building of a
Town, on the North side of Patapsco River on land supposed to
belong to Messrs. Charles and Daniel Carroll."  The bill passed
and Carroll agreed on behalf of himself and his brother to
subdivide sixty acres and to sell the lots at a price of forty
shillings per acre.37

The erection of towns was authorized by a 1683 Act of the
Assembly for the "procuring of money and the advancement of
trade". The machinery of town government was to consist of seven
commissioners. Their first duty was to select land and divide it
into lots for houses and stores, with some open space left for

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