the earliest settlement of the lower Eastern Shore, a brief summary of
occurrences will suffice for our purposes here today.

Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, was concerned about possible
encroachments on his dominions lying east of the Chesapeake Bay and
encouraged permanent settlements there to protect his rights. In the
fulfillment of that purpose, he received assistance from an unexpected
source. The General Assembly of the colony of Virginia met in James-
town in March, 1660, and passed a drastic law against Quakers, de-
scribing them as "an unreasonable and turbulent sort of people, teaching
lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and doctrines tending to disturb
the peace, disorganize society and destroy all law. and government and
religion. " This Act forbade any further entrance of this "faith and
practice" in Virginia, ordered the exile of the Quakers then resident in
the colony and exacted heavy penalties for violations of its provisions.

Quakers living in Northampton and Accomack counties, the two
Virginia counties lying on the Eastern Shore peninsula, petitioned
authorities in the colony of Maryland for permission to settle there, and
on November 6, 1661, Philip Calvert, the Governor of Maryland, issued
a. proclamation giving them that permission.

In any event, the two groups, and the Presbyterians and other sects
that followed them, lived in complete harmony as this new region in the
colony of Maryland grew rapidly, prospering under a government that
afforded them the free exercise of conscience in matters of religion. This
is to me a most inspiring story. Maryland was founded by the Calverts
primarily as a place where English Roman Catholics could be free to
worship according to the dictates of conscience. At the same time, these
Calverts very carefully provided sanctuary for Quakers and noncon-
formists who at the time represented the very extreme of Protestantism.
Together, all lived in serene unity, completely dedicated to the principle
of religious liberty.

It is usually possible in history to find an individual whose character
epitomizes the thinking and the feeling of his era—whose soul embodies
the spirit of the time in which he lives. Such a person in the period about
which we are talking, I think, was one William Stevens, who lived in
Somerset County, or, perhaps we should say. on the "Eastern Shore
below the Choptank. "

Stevens, born in England, migrated to America, and, through
Northampton County in Virginia, settled at a residence he named
"Rehoboth" on the Pocomoke River in Maryland in 1664 or 1665. He
appears in the records of "the Eastern Shore below the Choptank" in

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