MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY                          555

At the December session of the Legislature of 1704 petitions were
presented in the General Assembly from the inhabitants of Kent and
Talbot counties. No action was taken beyond referring the question to
the next General Assembly. This petition, however, resulted in the
enactment of Chapter 3 of the Laws of 1706, which was approved April
18, 1706. The Act ran as follows:

" An Act for the dividing and regulating several counties on the eastern
shore of this province, and constituting a county, by the name of Queen
Anne's County, within the same province."

From and after the 1st of May, 1707 the bounds of Talbot County shall
contain Sharp's Island, Choptank Island, and all the land of the north side
of Great Choptank River, and extend itself up the said river to Tuckahoe
bridge, and from thence with a straight line to the mill commonly called
and known by the name of Swetman's mill, and from thence down the south
side of Wye river to the mouth thereof, and from thence down the bay (in-
cluding Poplar Island) to the first beginning, also Bruff's Island, in Wye
river."

By this Act the obscurity regarding the boundary line between Tal-
bot and Kent was finally removed since the territory lying on either
side of it was used to constitute Queen Anne's County. One may recog-
nize a portion of the early boundary in that lying along the east bank of
the Front Wye River but beyond that nothing appears to indicate the
location of the limits intended by the proclamation of 1671. The act
really takes the entire territory between the Sassafras on the north and
the Choptank on the south and divides the same into three counties well
defined by natural boundaries with the exception of the short line which
runs from Wye Mills to Hillsboro, separating Queen Anne's and Talbot
counties. At least it is assumed that this arbitrary line is the one rep-
resented by the clause in the above line wherein Swetman's mill is
placed at Wye Mills and Tuckahoe Bridge at Hillsboro. This is con-
trary to some of the early maps while early records show that a settle-
ment was made by Mr. Sweetman about this time on the banks of Cor-
sica Creek, where the old mill may possibly have been. According to
the modern maps and modern usage Tuckahoe Bridge is situated not
at Hillsboro, but near the mouth of Tuckahoe Creek. It is therefore
possible that the original line was run from near the mouth of Tuckahoe