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ROADS
IN QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, 1709-1765
by Pat Melville
As with previous counties,
information about roads in Queen Anne's County appear as short entries
in the court minutes, recorded in (Judgment Record) in series C1416. The
earliest extant minutes date from 1709, three years after the county was
established. The (Judgment Record) contains the administrative and judicial
minutes and the recorded criminal and civil proceedings of the county court.
Images of the contents of the first book in the series, ET B, 1709-1716,
are available online as part of plats.net for Queen Anne's County. That
record plus four others were surveyed for the types of road information
found within the minutes.
In the first entries about
roads, the court in November 1709 appointed three overseers of roads, including
John Pemberton for the area from the Talbot County line to Edward Satterfoot's
plantation, Maj. John Hawkins for the area from Queens Town to Chester
Church, and Thomas Fisher for the area from Elizabeth Town to Tuckaho Bridge.
The earliest records showed the justices appointing overseers whenever
a vacancy occurred or new roads were established. In 1710, only two new
overseers were named, and they were John Johnson for the road from Collins
Mill over the head of Double Creek Marsh and James Bennett for the rest
of the road to the head of the Chester River. In addition, Bennett was
directed to clear Rawlings Road from his plantation to Nicholas Massey's.
By 1715, the clerk was recording
many appointments of overseers without a description of the area or road.
The entries for March 1715 listed Edmund Thomas replacing Robert Walter,
William Mounsier in place of Gilbert Tate, and Thomas Hynson Wright in
place of George Jackson. In one instance a term of office was given. In
June 1729, the court appointed James Earle, Jr. as overseer for two years. |
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Provincial
law required an annual compilation of public roads and the one for Queen
Anne's County first appeared in March 1730. By the next decade, the list
was being recorded on the mandated annual basis. The records also included
the names of the overseers. The 1730 list contained the following road
and overseers:
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From Queens
Town to Richard Bennett's plantation to the wading place of Kent Island
and back to Queens Town. John Smith, overseer.
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From Queens
Town to Wye Mill to William Coursey's plantation back to Queens Town and
from Arthur Emory's to William Merson's plantation. William Dawson, overseer.
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Lower
Kent Island Hundred. James Hutchins, overseer.
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From Collins
Mill to White Marsh Branch. William Burton, overseer.
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From Thomas
Burk's plantation to the branch between Solomon Yewell's and William Hemsley's
plantations. Thomas Routh, overseer.
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From the
widow Mounsieur's plantation into the Forrest, from Frenches Landing to
the rolling road into the Forrest, and from Coppinge's old field near Red
Lyon Branch to the Chappel in Red Lyon Forrest. Daniel Newman, overseer.
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From Whittels
Branch to the prize house opposite New Town and to Augustine Thompson's
plantation. John Dempster, overseer.
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From Chester
Mill to Wye Mill and from Thomas Yewell's plantation to William Clayton's
bridge. Arthur Emory, Jr., overseer.
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From the
main road at Thomas Punny's to the ferry over the Chester River at Old
Town to the road over Elliots Branch to the road from Punny's to Collins
Mill and from that last mentioned road back to the ferry. John Earle, overseer.
By
1741, the list of roads had grown to include twenty-seven areas and remained
at that level through at least 1765.
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