Newsletter of
The Maryland State Archives
Vol. 15, No. 7
April 9, 2001
www.mdsa.net
PRIMARY SCHOOL DISTRICTS: ANNE ARUNDEL AND HOWARD COUNTIES 
by Pat Melville 
[Continuation of boundary descriptions, as surveyed in 1827 and recorded in (Land Records) WSG 13, pp. 123-129 in series C97 and abstracted in Vol. 15, No. 6.] Descriptions for districts 20-38: 

No. 20. Beginning at the Indian Landing and bounding on the Severn River until it intersects the stage road leading from Baltimore to Annapolis; then with the road to Poultons Tavern; then with a straight line to intersect the road from Elk Ridge to Annapolis at the Piney Woods Meeting House; then down the road to school district 10 and with that line and the one for school district 12 to the beginning. 

No. 21. Beginning at Poltons Tavern and running with the Baltimore Road to Joshua Hawkins; then with the most direct road, the bridge road near Richard Martin; then bounding on the road from Elk Ridge to Annapolis and school district 19 to the beginning. 

No. 22. Beginning at Joshua Hawkins and running with the Baltimore Road to the bridge on the Patapsco River at Hammonds Ferry; then with the river and falls to the line of election district 5; then with that line to the Washington Turnpike; then with a straight line to Hammonds old paper mills; then with a most direct road to Richard Martin and with school district 20 to the beginning. 

No. 23. Beginning on the Little Patuxent River where it receives Towser Branch; then up the branch to the Huntington Mills; then with the direct road to the Piney Woods Meeting House; then bounding on school districts 19 and 10 to the beginning. 

No. 24. Beginning at the Huntington Mills and running with the Patuxent River to the Washington Turnpike; then with the turnpike to school district 21; then with school districts 20 and 19 to the beginning. 

No. 25. Beginning at the point formed by the junction of the two branches of the Patuxent River; then bounding on the larger branch to the Washington Turnpike; then with the road to the smaller branch; then down that branch and with school districts 22 and 23 to the beginning. 

No. 26. Beginning on the Patuxent River where the Washington Turnpike crosses; then northerly with the road to John Haslip; then with a straight line to the Columbia Turnpike opposite James Shipley; then southerly with that turnpike to the Patuxent River at Crows old mill; then down the river to the beginning. 

No. 27. Beginning on the Patuxent River near Crows old mill and running northerly with the Columbia Turnpike to Owens Road; then with that road to the road leading to Porters Tavern; then with that road to the tavern; then with the Montgomery Road to Snells Bridge; then down the Patuxent River to the beginning. 

No. 28. Beginning at Snells Bridge and running up the Patuxent River to the election district line; then with that line to the Frederick Turnpike; then easterly with that road, leading by Carrolls Mansion, to Porters Tavern; then with the Montgomery Road to the beginning. 

No. 29. Beginning at the Patapsco Falls and with the election district line near Sarah Brown 

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PRIMARY SCHOOL DISTRICTS
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to Carrolls Manor; then with the road to Porters Tavern; then easterly with the Montgomery Road to the Columbia Turnpike; then with that road to the Patapsco Falls; then with the falls to the beginning. 

No. 30. Beginning at the bridge near Ellicotts; then with the Columbia Turnpike to the crossroads where Davis formerly lived; then with the road leading by Dr. Thomas and Dr. Stockett and by the bridge where John Sullivan formerly lived until it comes to the road leading to where Robert Allcock lived; then with Deep Run to the Washington Turnpike; then with the election district line to the Patapsco Falls; then with the falls to the beginning. 

No. 31. Beginning at John Haslip; then with the Washington Turnpike by Merrills to Deep Run; then with the run to the road where Allcock lived; then with the road by Dr. Stockett to Porters Tavern; then with the road by Dr. James Dorsey to Owens Road; then to the Columbia Turnpike until it arrives opposite James Shipley; then with a straight line to the beginning.

No. 32. Beginning at the toll gate in Carrolls Manor; then with the line of election district 6 to Hambletons ford on the Patapsco; then up the falls to James Oneil; then to Major Dorsey; then to the meeting house; then down the branch to Randalls Tavern; then down the turnpike to the beginning. 

No. 33. Beginning at Roberts Tavern; then down the turnpike to the branch near Randalls Tavern; then up the branch to St. James Meeting House; then to Major Edward Dorsey; then in a straight line to James O'Neill on the Patapsco Falls; then up the falls to James Hoods Mill; then with the Westminster Road to the beginning. 

No. 34. Beginning at the Patuxent River where the Westminster Road crosses; then with the river to the factory; then with the lines of election district 6 to the Frederick Turnpike near Beale Manahan; then with that road to the Westminster Road; then with that road to the beginning. 

No. 35. Beginning at Messburghes Mill on the Patuxent River; then down the river to the Westminster Road; then with that road opposite Jasper Petticord; then up Charles D. Warfield's lane to the West End; then with a straight line to Buzzards Mill; then up the branch to Samuel Dorseys Spring; then with a straight line to the
old road where the line of school district 36 crosses; then with that district to Messburghes Mill. 

No. 36. Beginning at the mouth of Poplar Spring Branch where it empties into Patapsco Falls; then with the falls to James Hoods Mill; then with the Westminster Road until it arrives opposite Jasper Petticord; then up Charles D. Warfield's lane to the West End; then with a straight line to Buzzards Mill; then up the branch to Samuel Dorseys Spring; then with a straight line to the beginning. 

No. 37. Beginning at the ford at Messburghes Mill; then with the road to Edward Warfield; then with the road to Leonard Shaffer; then with a straight line to Miller on the turnpike; then with Poplar Spring Branch to the Patapsco Falls; then with the falls to the Montgomery County line; then with the line to the beginning. 

No. 38. The city of Annapolis. 


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Colonial Society Essay Contest

On Friday, March 23, the Maryland Colonial Society announced the winners of its annual essay contest at a ceremony attended by Ed Papenfuse at the Cecilius Calvert Monument, Clarence  Mitchell Court House in Baltimore.  The theme of this year's contest was The Body Politic Revisited...Maryland's Colonial Governors, 1634-1776 and entrants were to research and write about the life and administration of one of Maryland's colonial governors from 1634-1776. The first prize winner this years was Matthew James Simantel, in the 11th grade at Calvert Hall College Highschool, for his essay and his webpage entitled Leonard Calvert: Maryland's First Colonial Governor. The second prize went to Andrew Gertz, a sophomore at St. Mary's High School, for his essay entitled Governor Leonard Calvert:  Building the Colony. The Archives works with the Maryland Colonial Society every year on this contest and Dr. Papenfuse judges the entries, with assistance from Rocky Rockefeller. Mimi Calver helped to publicize it. 

ADDITIONS TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 

SC 5018: St. Mary's City Poster Collection, 1974. Conjectural drawings of St. Mary's City in 1634 and 1690's. 

SC 5020: Emmanuel Episcopal Church Collection, 1994. Emmanuel Day, a collection of speeches delivered by the parish historian on the anniversary of the founding of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in 1990-1994. Also includes short oral histories of some of the older parishioners. Book was assembled for the 150th anniversary of the church. 

SC 5021: A Royal Visit Collection, 1984. Booklet, Maryland's 350th Anniversary: A Royal Visit, printed to commemorate the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Kent to Maryland for Charter Day, June 21-23, 1984. Published by the Maryland Heritage Committee. 

SC 5023: Plainfield Public Library Collection, 1905. Wanted Poster from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad police offering a $100.00 reward for the arrest of Joe Sweeny and Frank Howell. 

SC 5026: Fort Frederick Collection, 1918-1934. Materials relating to Fort Frederick: Fort Frederick: Maryland's Historic Vacation Camp, published by the Title Guarantee and Trust Co, Baltimore, 1923; Fort Frederick, Washington County, Maryland, 1756, by Leonore Hamilton Wilson; page proofs for article, Fort Frederick, by W. McCulloh Brown; photographs taken on May 7, 1934 by W. McCulloh Brown of Fort Frederick; postcards of Fort Frederick made from photographs taken by W. McCulloh Brown in 1918. 


a most unique marker - a cannon ball. In December 1924 he surveyed Prices Quarter, 202 1/2 acres, for Thomas H. Price [Land Office (Certificates, Unpatented, SO) 506A in series S1229]. The metes and bounds description starts:  "Beginning at a buried cannon ball in the marsh about 100 yards to the north west of the County Road leading from Dames Quarter to Chance, at a point which bears South 78° 15' West from the Steeple of the M.E. Church in Dames Quarter (White), and South 81° 00' East, from chimney on home of Wilmer J. Price and North 70° 00' East from Steeple of M.E. Church in Rock Creek or Chance (white)...." 

After Price failed to pay the composition money, J. Leiper Winslow obtained a warrant to resurvey the land in 1927. That surveyor, Levin H. Hall, used the same beginning point and metes and bounds description [Land Office (Certificates, Patented, SO) 2553A in series S1206. 

Researchers delving into land records in Maryland are familiar with the boundary markers used by surveyors. Some of the more common ones consist of posts, stakes, and trees. For a project to map the lower Eastern Shore, John Lyon, a researcher and Archives volunteer, is reading through all patented and unpatented certificates of survey for Somerset County. Any attempt to establish markers in the vast expanses of marsh land in that area can provide quite a challenge. John found a record where the surveyor, Gordon T. Whelton, discovered and used