MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY                          553

TALBOT COUNTY.

The first settlement of whites on the eastern shore of the Bay was
near Stevensville on Kent Island where the inhabitants were relatively
free from sudden attacks of the Indians. For nearly two decades after
the settlement on the island no attempts at gaining a foothold on the
mainland are on record, although it is probable that when the Mary-
landers reduced Kent Island in 1647 some of the former inhabitants
moved across the straits to the adjoining shore. On July 5, 1652, by a
treaty the Susquehanna Indians granted to the whites the right of settle-
ment along both sides of the Bay from the head of it to the Patuxent on
the western shore and the Choptank on the eastern. The prospect of
relative security seems to have stimulated migration landward along the
shores of the Choptank, Chester, and intervening estuaries. In 1658
land was taken up on the Chester River and by 1665 grants are found
recorded of land as high as Southeast Creek lying about five miles below
Chestertown.

The growth of population on the mainland was met by the erection
of Talbot County about 1661, the exact date is unknown as the order for
its creation has not been found. The earliest record referring to the
county is that of February 18, 1661-2, when the Council records the
order "that Moises Stagwell be Sherriffe of Talbott County till the
County Co^rt can meete to p^rsent other persons to the Gouernor & Coun-
cell." This would indicate that the county had just been erected and that
the date assigned should be 1661-2 rather than 1660-1, as suggested by
McMahon and others who have perhaps overlooked the differences in
style of calendars. Nothing is known of the limits of the territory which
was intended to be included within the new county, although it was
limited on the Choptank River when Dorchester County was erected
in 1668-9. The first suggestion of its western limits are found in the
proclamations of the Governor appointing landing places for vessels
during the years 1667 to 1669. From these it would appear that the
northwestern boundary of Talbot passed along the eastern shore of the
Front Wye River northward to the head of Harris Mill Branch and
thence down Tanyard Branch and possibly up Langford's Bay toward
Wharton Creek on the Bay shore. To the west of this line would be