1 Introduction.

territory. In 1751 a chapel of ease had been erected by legislative authority
upon a two acre lot on Dividing Creek in Worcester County. An act [No.
XVI~\, passed at the 1762 session, directed the justices of Somerset and
Worcester counties to assess a tax of sixty-two thousand, four hundred pounds
of tobacco against the taxable inhabitants of Coventry Parish for the purchase
by the vestry and churchwardens of two acres of land between the head of
Coulbourne Creek and Annemessix Dams in Somerset County for the erection
by them of a chapel of ease to replace the chapel in Annemessix "so decayed
that it is dangerous to attend Divine Service therein", and to enlarge the chapel
on Dividing Creek which was "too small to accomodate the Parishioners in
a decent Manner" (pp. 187-189). In a similar way by another act [No. XXII~\
the vestry and churchwardens of Port Tobacco Parish in Prince George's
County were granted an appropriation of twenty-five thousand pounds of
tobacco to build an addition to the chapel of ease in that parish (pp. 194-195).
Another act, passed in 1762, directing the erection of a chapel of ease in
St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore County [No. XXF], is of interest as there is
no evidence that the law was ever put into effect (pp. 200202). An act passed
at the May-June, 1749, Assembly shows that certain commissioners named
in the act were to sell specified glebe lands of St. Paul's Parish lying in Balti-
more Town where the parish church itself was located, and were directed
with the £250 appropriated under the act to buy one acre of land and to erect
upon it a chapel of ease at a place called Red House (Arch. Md. XLVI;
311.312). Early maps show that Red House was located on the old Phila-
delphia Road about five miles to the northeast of the mother church in Baltimore
Town. Although the act was mandatory, the land records do not show that
the commissioners bought the acre which they were directed to do, nor is
there the least evidence that a chapel of ease was ever erected at Red House.
Thirteen years later as the result of a petition presented at the March-April,
1762, session, an act was passed appointing seven commissioners named in
the act, of whom Thomas Chase was the first named, who were directed to
buy two acres of land at a place called "T L", which was located on Middle
River Neck about two miles east of Red House, and to erect thereon a chapel
of ease at a cost of not more than £600 to be raised by a levy upon the taxable
inhabitants of St. Paul's Parish tor the erection of the chapel, where divine
service was to be performed every third Sunday by the incumbent of St. Paul's
Parish (pp. 200-202). There is every reason to believe that this chapel was
never built. There must have been some potent opposition to the erection of
a chapel in this neighborhood which twice prevented the enforcement of laws
passed by the Assembly directed to this end. Possibly this opposition came
from the inhabitants of Baltimore Town who felt that another church only
six miles away was unnecessary, and was aimed at their rapidly growing town.
The fact that the petition has not been preserved prevents us from learning
who were the inhabitants of Baltimore County who petitioned for the erection
of the chapel of ease at "T L", although it is probable that among them were
the commissioners appointed under the act to carry out its provisions.