The HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of HARFORD COUNTY, Inc.
Harford County Chronology of Events
from Prehistory to 1799
1800 to 1899
1900 to the Present
This is primarily a chronology of significant events in Harford County, Maryland,
but other events outside the County are
included if they eventually influenced or elucidated events in the County. Considerable
emphasis is put on human rights since so much of our history revolves about that
subject from the beginning to the present. While some historians may not agree,
Maryland and Harford County
appear to frequently have been leaders in improving human rights.
| 13.7 bya | | The Universe formed
13.7 billion years ago (bya). (Walborn, N., Life Cycles of Massive Stars,
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, April 1, 2008.)
| | 4.6 bya | | The Earth formed
out of the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago (bya). (
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Courses/bio303/bigbang.htm, University of Cincinnati,
Clermont College, OH, 2005)
| | 3.5 bya | | The oldest microbe fossils found,
the earliest evidence of life on earth. (
Walborn, N., Life Cycles of Massive Stars,
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, April 1, 2008.)
| | 228 mya | |
At least 12 species
of dinosaurs roamed Harford County
from 228 million years ago (mya) until 70 mya.
Their fossils have been found along the fall line through the southern parts of the County.
( Dinosaurs!, Maryland Geological Survey, Baltimore, MD, 2001))
| | 150 mya | | The Atlantic sturgeons have
lived since dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Thus, they provide an interesting starting point for a history of Harford County. This fish can
weigh as much as 800 pounds and be as long as fifteen feet. It lives in salt water and spawns
in fresh water. It needs high oxygen levels and forest litter in the streams where it spawns.
It probably was an annual visitor to the Harford County area for many millions of years.
The colonists in Jamestown could not have survived had it been for an unlimited supply of sturgeon.
During the 1600s, sturgeons were exported to Europe. It was a valuable item providing the
ingredients for isinglass, jellies, caviar, adhesives, lubricants, and many other products.
Today, the annual harvest in the Chesapeake Bay is a small percentage of what it once was.
The story of many other species is similar to that of the Atlantic Sturgeon.
| | ~55 mya | | North America separated
by continental drift from other land masses.
(http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Courses/bio303/contdrift.htm, University of Cincinnati,
Clermont College, OH, 2005)
| | 0.20 mya | |
Homo sapiens (humans) originated in the African savanna. (O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, page 17, 2005.)
| | 20,000 ya | | At the end of the last ice age,
20,000 years ago (ya), sea level was 325 feet below where it is today.
At that time, the Susquehanna River ran to the Atlantic Ocean and local rivers probably
ran to what is the
center of the Bay. The Chesapeake Bay was formed as the sea level began to rise,
about 18,000 years ago, drowning the lower valleys of the Susquehanna River
and the lower portions of other rivers feeding the bay.
The rise slowed to about 0.3 feet per century for about the last 5000 years.
In the last hundred years, the rise increased to one foot per century. Global warming,
that started 20,000 years ago, is still a subject of debate.
| | 14,000 ya | | People reached Oregon.
The conclusion is based on DNA from
human coprolites found in caves in south-central Oregon.
(An international team, Science, Vol. 320. No. 5872, page 37, April 4, 2008.)
| | 12,000 ya | | Some archeologists think that
Native American hunters reached the Middle Atlantic Region about 12,000 years ago. The first
hunters lived off of big game.
(O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
| | 10,000 ya | |
Until 10,000 years ago, nearly all humans lived as hunter-gatherers usually in small roaming groups.
Some hunter-gatherers communities endure until now. Europeans transitioned
to farming between 10,000 and 2200 years ago with a population explosion.
The vast majority of people in the world
were farmers until around the 20th century. (O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, page 20, 2005.)
| | 4000 ya | | Roughly 4000 years ago
Abrahamic religions began. These are monotheistic faiths that trace their spiritual
traditions and origins to Abraham. Today, these religions include such western religions
as Judaism, Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Druze, Unitarianism, and Christianity.
| | 2000 ya | |
Archeologists working near
a lake in Nevada found nearly a dozen duck decoys made
by Native Americans from reeds about 2000 years ago. (
Native American Duck Decoys, NativeTech, www.nativetech.org/
decoy/DUCKDECOYS.htm, 2/30/2007))
| | 632 AD | | Muhammad, the founder of Islam died.
Afterwards, due to fighting between the
between Persian and Byzantine Empires and the ability of Arabs to fight effectively
in the desert; Islamic Arabs quickly created a vast Empire stretching from India
to Spain. This expansion produced many problems
for Europeans including reduced trade on the Mediterranean Sea. During the following centuries
as their expansion subsided, Arab scholars developed the
philosophy of Jihad.
(AD is an abbreviation for Anno Domini, which
is Latin for "In the year of (Our) Lord." The AD system of dating is the global standard for
international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union.
It is used hereafter in this chronology.)
(Daileader, P., The Early Middle Ages, Part 1, The Teaching
Co., Chantilly, VA, 2004. )
| | 1000 AD | | Native Americans of the Harford County
region started to
use ceramics and domesticated strains of maize, legumes, and squash
about 1000 AD.
| | 1100 | | King Henry I issued the Charter
of Liberties, the landmark forerunner of the
Magna Carta (1215), which protected the rights of certain nobles and church
officials and their subordinates. ( Halsall, P., Charter
of Liberties of King Henry I, 1100, Medieval Source Book, Fordham University, New York, NY,
www.fordham.edu/mvst, 1966.)
| | 1418 | | During the Middle Ages, at the enormous,
four year long Council of Constance,
Pawel Wlodkowiez, the Polish Ambassador and rector of the Jagiellonian University,
first proposed seventeen thesis of enlightened international law.
For example, that the
right of religious conversion "is not a license to kill or expropriate property, and that only voluntary
conversion is valid." In response, Iaonnes Falkenberg (a teacher of philosophy and theology
from Pomerania, Prussia) argued that all Poles deserve death for
defending infidels' and pagans' right to life. This may have been the first documented
formal proposal of genocide in western history.
(Pogonowski, I.C., Poland, An Illustrated History, Hippocrene Books, Inc.,
New York, NY, page 45, 2003.), (Council of Constance,
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., St. Petersberg, FL, en.wikipedia.org, 2006),
(Schroeder, J., [Transcribed by J.P. Thomas], John of Falkenberg,
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII, Robert Appleton Company, 1910.)
| | 1422 | | For the first time in Europe,
King Wladyslaw Jagiello, of Poland, started
issuing laws protecting individual rights such as property rights and freedom from unlawful seizure
and imprisonment. Soon thereafter, Poland started electing its kings. In the years immediately following
such reforms, Poland became the largest
and most powerful country in Europe. The Act of Habeas Corpus was not adopted until 1679 in England.
These rights were made part of our nation's individual rights when the Bill of Rights
of the United States went into effect in 1791.
(Pogonowski, I.C., Poland, An Illustrated History, Hippocrene Books, Inc.,
New York, NY, page 45, 2003.)
| | 1500 | | *The Little Ice Age began in Europe
which lasted until 1700. These cold conditions may have contributed to unrest in Europe and
the prompting of settlers leaving for America. (History of Climate Change,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
http:vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/global/climchng.html, 1997.)
*The world population was estimated to be 500 million. The average European
suffered with food shortage through part of the year.(Lindsey, B.,
The Age of Abundance, Collins, New York, NY, page 21, 2007.)
| | 1509 | | Henry VIII was named King of England.
He broke with the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Anglican
Catholic Church, also called the Episcopal Church and the Church of England.
(The Random House Encyclopedia, Random House, NY, 1983)
| | 1517 | | Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation
when he posted 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.
(The Random House Encyclopedia, Random House, NY, 1983)
| | 1524 | | The Spaniard, Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailed past the
Chesapeake Bay. The Spanish Governor of Florida, Pedro Menendez de Aviles,
probably explored
the lower part of the Chesapeake Bay (called the "Bahia de Santa Marie") in 1572.
(Virginia Places, www.virginiaplaces.org
, George Mason University, 1998) (Chronology, www.mdarchives
.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
| |
| | 1561 | | The Spanish abandoned attempts to
colonize the east coast of North America. (O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
| | 1562 | | English Queen Elizabeth granted John Hawkins
permission to begin slave trading, but this was not the beginning of slavery.
Actually slavery had existed
throughout history in most of the world
and continues today in some parts of the world. Slavery was commonly used as an alternate
to putting criminals or captured enemies in prison. ( Kelsey, H.,
Sir John Hawkins, Queen
Elizabeth's Slave Trader, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2003.)
| | 1575 | | Roughly at this time, the Susquehannocks moved into
the lower Susquehanna Valley wiping out the Shenks Ferry
Native Americans. Apparently, various tribes hunted and
fished in the Harford County area, including the: Delawares, Susquehannocks,
Piscataways, Senecas, and Nanticokes.
(Kent, B.C., Susquehanna's Indians, Anthropological Series, Number 6,
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, PA, 1993.)
| 1580 | | George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, was born.
He originated the idea that people of different religions should be able to live together peaceably.
(J.F. Fausz, The Legacy of Toleration, Country Magazine/ Maryland's 350, M-6)
| | 1588 | | The English defeated the Spanish Armada.
| | 1603 | | James I was named King of England.
He had difficulty obtaining support of either the Catholics or Puritans. (
The Random House Encyclopedia, Random House, NY, 1983)
| | 1605 | | *The French started
a colony at the location
of modern-day Annapolis. They returned to France, after three years of exploring.
( http://The Mariners' Museum, Newport News,
Virginia, www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/home.html, 2006)
*Cecil Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore
and the First Proprietor of Maryland, was born.
He advocated religious freedom, and put George Calvert's ideas into practice
by instructing the first voyagers to Maryland in the separation of church and state. Thus,
Maryland was the first Christian colony established on the foundation of religious liberty.
(J.F. Fausz, The Legacy of Toleration, Country Magazine/ Maryland's 350, M-6)
| | 1606 | | The Susan Constance, Godspeed,
and Discovery of the Virginia Company sailed out of London, with 140 colonists aboard.
| | 1607 | | In May 1607, the first
permanent British settlement in the new world began at Jamestown.
| | 1608 | | *Captain John Smith, (1580-1631)
of Willoughby in Lincolnshire, England, explored the Chesapeake
Bay. He represented the Virginia Company. Smith described the Susquehannocks, who
hunted and fished in the Harford and Cecil County region at that time, and he apparently
visited their permanent settlement in today's Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Also, he was first to map the Harford County area.
(Warner, C.D., Captain John Smith,
Project Gutenberg Text, www.gutenberg.org/etext/3130, 1881.)
(Hoobler, D., and Hoobler, T. Captain John Smith: Jamestown and
the Birth of the American Dream, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2006.)
(Kupperman, K.O. ed., John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings,
College of William and Mary, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, University
of North Carolina Press, Williamsburg, VA, 1988.)
*Meanwhile, Henry Spelman lived two years with the Powhatans. In
his writings, he reported observing "deer, goats, and stags
feedeth. There be in this country lions, bears, wolves, foxes, musk cats,
hares, flying squirrels and other squirrels being all gray like conies,
great store of fowl (only peacocks and common hens wanting), fish in abundance
whereon they live most part of the summertime." ( http://The Mariners' Museum, Newport News,
Virginia, www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/home.html, 2006)
| | 1619 | | *First African slaves arrived
in Virginia. (O'Brien, P., ed. Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
*The first representative legislative assembly was held in the Jamestown church.
*The first rebellion against British domination occurred when skilled Polish
craftsmen refused to work
until they got the right to vote. They promptly won their rights. (
Harrington, J.C., Glassmaking at Jamestown, Americas First Industry, Dietz Press,
Richmond, VA, 1952. )
(
Waldo, A.L., True Heroes of Jamestown,
American Institute of Polish Culture, Miami, 1977.)
*The isolation and abundance of the wilderness started resulting in
improved economic prosperity and an independent mind set for the new Americans.
| | 1627 | | An English trading post was
established on Palmer's Island. Now, it is called Garrett's Island. It is near
Havre de Grace in the Susquehanna River.
(History Notes, St. Mary Anne's Church, North East, MD )
| | 1631 | | At a
Virginian settlement on Kent Island, Rev. Richard James, an Anglican priest, held
the first Christian services in what was to become Maryland. (Dalmas, J.E.,
The Bicentennial of Christ Episcopal Church, Rock Spring Parish, Christ Episcopal Church
, Forest Hill, MD, page 1, 2005)
*For the first time, tobacco is grown in Maryland. It was grown
on Kent Island at the Claiborne Plantation. (Urban Dynamics:
Agriculture History, Patuxent River Watershed,
The USGS Land Cover Institute, www.usgs.gov, 2007.)
| | 1632 | | *The Maryland Charter was
granted to George Calvert and it quickly
passed to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore and Maryland's first Proprietor.
Maryland was named after
Queen Henrietta Maria. (Rollo,V.F., Henry Harford:
Last Proprietor of Maryland,
Maryland Historical Press, Lanham, MD, p 9, 1976.)
*The first three Lord Baltimores, the proprietors of Maryland,
tried to create a society where Catholics and Protestants shared power and lived in peace.
Over the many years, the principal grievance of the Protestants against the
Catholic Lord Baltimores was that while the lord proprietors persecuted no one for his religion,
they appointed only Catholics or relatives to higher government offices.
(Ross, S.B., Charles Carroll of Carrollton,
Cobblestone, Peru, Illinois, p 6, 2002.)
(Krugler, J.D. Letter to the Editor, Maryland Historical Magazine,
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD, page 524-526, Winter, 2004.)
| | 1633 | | In late October 1633, the Ark and Dove
set out for Maryland with about 140 people aboard, including Governor Leonard Calvert
and three Jesuit priests. (Carr, L.G., Menard, R.R., Peddicord, L., Maryland
at the Beginning Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD, 1991.)
| | 1634 | | *The first
Maryland landing of the Ark
and the Dove was on Saint Clement's Island where the first mass
in Maryland was offered by Jesuit priests
on March 25, 1634. This date is celebrated as "Maryland Day."
(Carr, L.G., Menard, R.R., Peddicord, L., Maryland
at the Beginning Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD, 1991.)
*Governor Leonard Calvert (brother of Lord Baltimore) purchased a village
near the Saint Mary's River from the
Yaocomicos Indian Tribe and renamed the village "St. Mary's." For 61 years thereafter,
Saint Mary's was the capitol of Maryland.
(Carr, L.G., Menard, R.R., Peddicord, L., Maryland
at the Beginning Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD, 1991.)
| | 1638 | | Margaret Brent, a woman of great dignity
and intelligence, arrived in Maryland with a
letter from Lord Calvert granting her ownership of choice land and privileges.
In spite of the facts that she acted as an attorney,
litigant, political force, executor of Governor Leonard Calvert's Estate, diplomat, and effective negotiator;
when she asked for the right to vote in the Maryland Assembly, the Governor denied her request.
She was the first American suffragist, 250 years ahead of her times.
(Cinlar, N., "Came Mistress Margaret Brent": Political
Representation, Power, and Authority in Early Maryland, Maryland Historical Magazine,
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD, page 405,
Winter, 2004.)
*The British Civil Wars began in 1638
and ended in 1660. (British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60,
www.british-civil-wars.co.uk)
| | 1639 | | *The fierce Susquehannocks
harassed the peaceable Patuxents and Piscataways.
*The Susquehannocks were at war with the Algonquin tribes
on the Delaware River.
*The early settlers in Maryland used tobacco as money to buy goods, pay taxes,
purchase land, and pay penalties.
(Semmes, R., Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland, Patterson Smith,
Mountclair, NJ, 1970.)
| | 1640 | |
In the early 1640s,
Palmer Island, near present day Havre de Grace, was fortified by Marylanders. Marylanders were
decisively defeated by the Susquehannocks.
(Shank, E., A Short History of Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
| | 1649 | | *
In 1649, Catholic King Charles I was executed
by the British Army. (Oliver Cromwell,
Cromwell Association, Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon, UK, 2005.)
*The Toleration Act was put into law in Maryland. It confirmed practices
of religious toleration which were in place
since the founding of Maryland. (Chronology, www.mdarchives.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
| | 1652 | | *Maryland enacted a treaty with
the Susquehannocks. (Shank, E., A Short History of Havre
de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
*George Fox began Quakerism which taught that every man is enlightened
by the divine light of Christ
and made equal under God. Quakers created a serious problem for governments of that period.
They refused to take oaths, obey laws, show respect to authorities, or perform duties in militias.
On the other hand, they expected their members to obey a strict code of conduct.
(de Mooy, K., In Truth's Service: The Roots of Quakerism in Maryland, 1655–1700,
The Washington College Review, O'Neill Literary House, Chestertown, MD 2000.)
*The British Parliament replaced Maryland's proprietary government
with commissioners.
(Chronology, www.mdarchives.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
| | 1653 | | Oliver Cromwell dissolved
parliament and he became
Lord Protector of England. He was a strict "Puritan"
who believed in "religious freedom" which meant he did not accept the divinity
of kings or the authority of clerics. Nevertheless, it was a period of many bloody, civil, religious
wars in Britain. (Oliver Cromwell,
Cromwell Association, Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon, UK, 2005.)
| | 1655 | | *
In 1655 or 1656, Elizabeth Harris of London, a Quaker, came to Maryland and converted
settlers in Calvert County, Anne Arundel County, and Kent Island.
She converted the acting governor of Maryland, William Fuller, and several provincial commissioners.
The conversion of Puritans while in office was an unusual event.
(de Mooy, K., In Truth's Service: The Roots of Quakerism in Maryland, 1655–1700,
The Washington College Review, O'Neill Literary House, Chestertown, MD 2000.)
| | 1657 | | *Quakers, Josiah Cole and
Thomas Thurston
came to Maryland from Virginia. Cole had been imprisoned in
Virginia. Thurston had been banished from Boston.
New England treated Quakers very harshly with severe penalties: brandings, ear-croppings,
fines, prison sentences, whippings, banishment, and hanging. Initially, Quakers were treated harshly
in Maryland.(de Mooy, K., In Truth's Service: The Roots of Quakerism in Maryland, 1655–1700,
The Washington College Review, O'Neill Literary House, Chestertown, MD 2000.)
*Lord Baltimore reestablished proprietary control over Maryland.
In a few years, Lord Baltimore invited hundreds of Quakers to come to Maryland,
dropped the required loyalty oath
and encouraged their participation in government. Soon many Quakers found their way to Maryland.
Women came to Quaker meetings in great numbers due to their emphasis on the
equality of men and women.
(de Mooy, K., In Truth's Service: The Roots of Quakerism
in Maryland, 1655–1700,
The Washington College Review, O'Neill Literary House, Chestertown, MD 2000.)
(Chronology, www.mdarchives.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
| | 1658 | | *Havre de Grace was settled.
(Shank, E., A Short History of Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
It was first known as Susquehanna Lower Ferry and was a stop on the Old Post Road,
which was the land route along the
East Coast.
*The Office of the Clerk of the Court of Maryland was established.
(Circuit Court for Harford County)
*Nathaniel Utie obtained a
license to trade with the Native Americans and a patent for Spesutie Island.
(Larew, M., Bel Air, The Town Through its Buildings, The Town of Bel Air and the
Maryland Historical Trust, 1980. )(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 22,1980.)
*This was the beginning of many land grants along or near the coasts
of present day Harford
County. (Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 22,1980.)
| | 1659 | | *In 1659/1660, Baltimore
County was established.
Baltimore County included what is now
Baltimore, Cecil, and Harford Counties and parts of Anne Arundel, Howard, and
Carroll Counties as well
as parts of present day Pennsylvania and Delaware.
(Chronology, www.mdarchives.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
*The Easton Quaker meetings are believed to have started in 1659.
Records of the Easton Meeting date back to 1676. George Fox sent a collection of
books in 1673 to the Easton Meeting which began their public library.
Thus, their library may be the oldest in the State or the Nation.
The Third Haven Quaker Meeting House in Easton was finished in 1682. It is believed to be the oldest
religious building in continuous use in America.
(Our History,
The Third Haven Quaker Meeting House, Easton, MD, 2006, www.thirdhaven.org)
| | 1661 | | *The town of
Old Baltimore on the east bank of the Bush River was established in today's Harford County.
*The Council of Maryland met at Nathaniel Utie's home on Spesutie Island to
hear testimony from many individuals of robbery, cruelty, and murder by the Susquehannocks.
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 41 and 23,1980.)
| | 1664 | | Maryland sanctioned slavery by law.
(Chronology, www.mdarchives.state.md.us
, Maryland Archives, 2005)
| | 1668 | | Settlers became established along the
shores of the Gunpowder and Bush Rivers. (6)
| | 1671 | | The first church in what was to become Harford
County was established on Spesutia Island, St. George Episcopal Church (Anglican).
(Dalmas, J.E.,
The Bicentennial of Christ Episcopal Church, Rock Spring Parish, Christ Episcopal Church
, Forest Hill, MD, page 1, 2005)
| | 1672 | | Quakerism’s founder, George Fox, visited
Betty’s Cove, Talbot County
and wrote, "We came to the General Meeting of all Maryland Friends, . . . and many
of the world were
at the public meetings, some" Catholics, "clerks of the courts,
and there were eight justices of the peace,
and one of the judges and his wife, . . . And they judged that there was a thousand people . . .
And there was never
seen there so many boats together . . . it was almost like the Thames."
(de Mooy, K., In Truth's Service: The Roots of Quakerism
in Maryland, 1655–1700,
The Washington College Review, O'Neill Literary House, Chestertown, MD 2000.)
| | 1674 | | *Old Baltimore,
on the Bush River in what is now Harford County,
was authorized as the first Baltimore County Seat (Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 42, 1980.)
*Cecil County was founded.
| | 1675 | | *The Susquehannocks were overthrown
and/or dispersed by their many Native American enemies. (6)
*The Maryland Assembly ordered rangers to patrol the forests of current
northern Harford County. (Kegley, F., Smith, A.L., and Johnson, L.,
Jarrettsville, Past and Present, Jarrettsville Lions Club, 1976)
*British King Charles II issued a "Proclamation for the
suppression of coffee-houses" in England,
complaining "that in such houses . . . divers, False, Malicious, and Scandalous Reports are
devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majestie's Government." The proclamation was
widely ignored. (Standage, T., A History of the World in 6 Glasses,
Walker & Co., New York, page 144, 2005.)
| | 1679 | | The procedures for protecting individuals
from unlawful seizure and imprisonment were codified under the English Act of Habeas Corpus in 1679.
(Pogonowski, I.C., Poland, An Illustrated History, Hippocrene Books, Inc.,
New York, NY, Page 45, 2003.)
| | 1682 | | King Charles II of England granted William Penn
a charter for Pennsylvania (Penn's forest) as a place for Quakers. He gave Penn land
previously given to Maryland creating a boundary dispute effecting Harford County
that was not settled until 1769.
| | 1684 | | *Maryland's first printers,
William and Dinah Nuthead,
moved from Virginia to Maryland and immediately started printing. The King did not allow printing in
Virginia, a royal colony, but Maryland, a proprietary colony, did not have to follow the King's orders.
(Cofield, R., Much Ado About Nuthead: A Revised History of
Printing in Seventeenth-Century
Maryland, Maryland Historical Magazine, Maryland Historical
Society, Baltimore, MD, page 9,
Spring, 2006.)
| | 1687 | | The road called "The
Kings Road," "Old Post Road" and now "Route 7"
was built.
(Important Dates in Maryland's History, Harford Historical Bulletin
, The Historical Society of Harford County, Bel Air, No. 46, page 91, Autumn 1990)
*Since King James II was an autocrat, Parliament proclaimed the
succession of his Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband,
William of Orange as Queen and King.
| | 1688 | | After King William III and Queen Mary
were placed on the throne in England, the Maryland Assembly
adopted the Church of England as the State religion. Many Protestants and Catholics
lost some of their rights. The Calverts lost their right to rule Maryland, but maintained
their property rights.
(The Random House Encyclopedia, Random House,
NY, 1983)
(Ross, S.B., Charles Carroll of Carrollton,
Cobblestone, Peru, Illinois, p 6, 2002.)
| | 1689 | | The British members of Parliament passed
a Bill of Rights that mainly protected their own rights, but it did guarantee the peoples right to
to petition the King, freedom from excessive bail, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
Also, it confirmed the right
of Protestants to possess arms for defense. Finally, it stated that no Roman Catholic could
be king or queen. (Bill of Rights 1689,
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., St. Petersberg, FL, en.wikipedia.org, 2006)
| | 1690 | | John Locke
(a British philosopher and statesman, 1632-1704)
wrote that all human beings have inalienable rights to be
equal and free to pursue life, health, liberty, and possessions.
These ideas have been debated, refined, expanded, and fought over by Americans and
Harford Countians
throughout our nation's history including the present.
(Goldie, M. [Editor], S.B., Locke: Political Essays,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2002.)
| | 1691 | | The Baltimore County Seat was
ordered to be
relocated to the Fork of the Gunpowder, Joppa.
| | 1692 | | *Maryland's first royal governor,
Sir Lionel Copley, arrived in Maryland. (Maryland State Archives,
Annapolis, MD, www.mdarchives.state.md.us, 2006)
*Maryland was divided into thirty parishes and
everyone was taxed to maintain
the Church of England. There was little resistance, except from the Quakers.
In 1692, church buildings were needed to serve the public as courts, meeting places,
and schools. In addition, many powerful men, like the founding fathers,
while not religious men, felt that
some Christianity was necessary to have a civilized society. Ben Franklin summarized the thought
succinctly as follows, "If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it."
(Sparks, J., The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. X, Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason,
Boston, pages 281-282, 1840.)
*Parliament, at the direction
of William and Mary, established Copley Parish, (Church of England) Gunpowder Hundred, Joppa.
*Governor Copley ordered the organization of a Company of
Rangers to police the wilderness from Garrison Forest, in present day Baltimore County,
to present day northern Harford County and on to the Susquehanna River.
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 14, 1980.)
| | 1693 | | Colonel Nicholas Greenberry
was Royal Governor of Maryland from September 1693 until 26 July 1694 (Archives
of Maryland 51: preface pp. 45-48)
. He was granted a warrant for 350 acres
of land located in Providence (now Annapolis) on July 29, 1674.
(Maryland Land Warrants, Annapolis Land Office, Liber 15,
folio 837)
| | 1694 | | The Capital of Maryland was moved from Saint
Mary's City to Annapolis, on the Severn River, a more central location.
Governor Francis Nicholson chose the site. He named the new capital Annapolis
in honor of Princess Anne, who became Queen of England in 1702.
| | 1695 | | *William York and Jacob Younger were given the first
official permit to build a ferry,
Susquehanna Lower Ferry, at "The King's Road" or the location that became Havre de Grace.
It ferried travelers across the Susquehanna River for 170 years thereafter.
(Shank, E., A Short History of
Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 311, 1980.)
*The Maryland General Assembly approved a tax on the export
of furs to raise funds for free schools.
( Colonial Education,
Maryland Manual On-Line, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD, 2004 )
| | 1696 | | The books for what is claimed to be
the first library in America were sent to Annapolis by
Reverend Dr. Thomas Bray; donated by Princes Anne. This was the first of 39
libraries that Bray founded in British North America.
He was motivated by a strong Christian zeal to educate the clergy,
educate African-Americans, free the slaves, help prisoners, strengthen the Church of England
and combat scandalous behavior. Some have called
Bray the "Father of American Libraries." (Gracy II, D.B., Editor,
The Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts,
Libraries and Culture, School of Information,
The University of Texas at Austin, 2006.)(Wilson,
J.B., Looking Backwards . . ., The Crab,
Maryland Library Association,
Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1978.) (February 15,1730 -
- Death of Thomas Bray, a Man Who Did Much, Christian History Institute, 2006.)
| | 1700 | | The Little Ice Age ended. (See the year 1500)
(History of Climate Change,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
http:vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/global/climchng.html, 1997.)
| | 1709 | | *Joppatown (called
Joppa at the time and located in Copley Parish) became the County Seat.
With a population as large as 300 and being a busy seaport,
it became the site of court hearings, hangings, elections, cockfights, and horse races.
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, page 48, 1980.)
*Large numbers of Germans began migrating to the Colonies.
(O'Brien, P., ed. Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
| | 1713 | | John Stokes, a resident of Joppa,
purchased Susquehanna Lower Ferry
(today's Havre de Grace). (Shank, E.,
A Short History of Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
| | 1715 | | After the 3rd Lord Baltimore's death in 1715, all the
proprietors of Maryland were Protestant. They continued to govern until the American Revolution.
(Ross, S.B., Charles Carroll of Carrollton,
Cobblestone, Peru, Illinois, p 6, 2002.)
| | 1717 | | The price of public lands in Maryland was
2 pounds of tobacco per acre.
| | 1720 | | Quiet Lodge was built about 1720. It is located in
the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground near the Gunpowder River. The first recorded meeting
of American Methodism took place at the Joseph Presbury home in 1772. (Smart,
J.K., Command Historian,
Gunpowder Meeting House: A Short History of the Old Methodist Church,
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.)
| | 1723 | | The Maryland General Assembly
provided that each county have one school. Baltimore County, that then included
present day Harford County, had a church school one half a mile east
of the Gunpowder River near Old Post Road, now Maryland Route 7.
(Washburn, D.,
One and Two Room Schoolhouses in Northern Harford County, Part 1: District 5 - Dublin
, Harford Historical Bulletin
, The Historical Society of Harford County, Bel Air, No. 94, page 4, Fall 2002)
| | 1726 | | Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire, a French writer,
was exiled to London. There, in coffeehouses, he encountered the revolutionary ideas of John Locke
(a British philosopher and statesman, 1632-1704). Locke had argued that
a government could only be legitimate
if it received the consent of the governed and protected their natural rights of life, liberty, health and property.
He also advocated freedom of religion. Many colonists read Voltaire's and Locke's books. Locke's
ideas and words inspired the colonists and found their way into the writings
of the founding fathers of the nation. One might argue that American revolution began in the
London coffeehouses or in the publishing of Locke's books.
(Standage, T., A History of the World in 6 Glasses,
Walker & Co., New York, page 251, 2005.)
| | 1727 | | Aquilla Hall, who held many
important positions and was first to sign the Bush Declaration, was born.
| | 1732 | | *George Washington was born.
*Lord Baltimore offered free lands in northern Maryland to the very
industrious Pennsylvania Germans.
| | 1734 | | The world famous
Peach Bottom slate was discovered in Pennsylvania, but it was not quarried commercially
in and near Cardiff, MD until 1785.
| | 1754 | | *Ben Franklin proposed a limited union
of the colonies against the French. (O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World
History, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
*The French and Indian War (1754–1763) began. It was mainly
between the French and British.
American Natives and Colonists fought on both sides.
| | 1756 | | Gabriel Christie was born in Perryman.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 to 1797 and from 1799 until 1801.
(Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org, 2005)
| | 1758 | | *
Frederick Calvert's mistress, Hester Rhelan,
gave birth to Henry Harford, Frederick Calvert's only son. Frederick was the Sixth Lord Baltimore.
(Rollo,V.F., Henry Harford: Last Proprietor of Maryland,
Maryland Historical Press, Lanham, MD, p 21, 1976.)
*Quakers banned anyone from membership who was involved in the slave
trade. In 1776 they banned
anyone who owned slaves. Soon the Congregationalists,
Presbyterians, Unitarians, Methodists, and
Baptists joined them in opposing slavery. (Carroll, V. and Shiflett, D.,
Christianity on Trail, Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry,
Encounter Books, San Francisco, Pages 41-42, 2002.)
| | 1759 | | The British
captured Quebec from the French.(O'Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History,
Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
| | 1761 | | During the French and Indian War,
Western Maryland settlers were murdered, terrorized, and driven from their lands.
Frederick Calvert's lack of interest and support prompted the Maryland
Governor to disobey his orders and
fueled anti-proprietary feelings. In addition, Frederick Calvert's self-indulgent behavior
encouraged rebellion.
(Rollo,V.F., Henry Harford: Last Proprietor of Maryland,
Maryland Historical Press, Lanham, MD, p 26, 1976.)
| | 1769 | | *King George
III ratified the Mason Dixon Line, settling a long-standing dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
This set the northern boundary of Harford County.
*
Robert Eden, Henry Harford's uncle, became Governor of Maryland. His goals were to
prepare the colony to accept Henry Harford as Proprietor, to diminish anti-proprietary feelings, and
to continue to keep Maryland profitable for the Proprietor. During his term, the debate
began to grow as to whether government power should be in the hands of the people, Proprietor,
or the King.
(Rollo,V.F., Henry Harford: Last Proprietor of Maryland,
Maryland Historical Press, Lanham, MD, p 52-52, 1976.)
*Work on Jerusalem Mill, eventually a five story building located along the
"Little Falls of the Gunpowder," was begun. It was built by Isaiah Linton, millwright,
and David Lee, owner.
It was originally called Lee's Mill and located in Baltimore County, now Harford County.
(Wright, C.M.,Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, 1980.), (Peden, H., Private
Communication, October 07, 2008)
| | 1771 | | Henry Harford, son of Fredrick Calvert the
Sixth Lord of Baltimore, inherited the Province of Maryland. He
was the last Proprietor of Maryland.
| | 1772 | | Slavery was declared illegal in England.
| | 1773 | | *Governor of Maryland, Robert Eden, introduced
and the State Assembly
approved the formation of the new county -"Harford" in honor of the new Proprietor: Henry Harford,
age 15.
Harford County, until 1773, had been part of Baltimore
County. (Rollo,V.F., Henry Harford: Last Proprietor of Maryland,
Maryland Historical Press, Lanham, MD, p 52, 1976.)
*The County was governed
thereafter by county commissioners until 1972.
*The County Seat was moved to Bush, a rest stop for travelers between Baltimore
and Philadelphia. Bush remained the County seat for nine years. The County Seat for Baltimore
County was moved to Baltimore City.
*The Gunpowder Meeting House, possibly the oldest standing Methodist Church
in America, was directed to be built by Bishop Asbury. Colonel William W. Stone, commander of
Edgewood Arsenal, saved the building from demolition in 1966.
(Smart,
J.K., Command Historian,
Gunpowder Meeting House: A Short History of the Old Methodist Church,
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.)
| | 1774 | | *In the spring King George III approved
the "Intolerable Acts" that closed the Port of Boston, outlawed town meetings in Massachusetts
without Royal approval, permitted the Royal Governor to remove trials to England, and required citizens
to quarter Royal troops. These acts enraged many colonists.
| | 1775 | | *In March, after being ridiculed and humiliated
by the King's closest advisors, Ben Franklin left London in March 1775 ending hopes
for a peaceful solution.
*The Bush Declaration was signed
on March 22. While it was not
a declaration of independence, it appears to have
supported "opposition by arms to the British troops."
Also, it provided the County motto -- "at the risque of our lives and fortunes."
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, 1980.)
*More than 3,600 Harford County men assumed a military role in
the war for American
independence between 1773 and 1783. That probably was most of the
healthy men of military age. (Peden, H., Revolutionary
Patriots of Harford County, Maryland, Heritage Books,
Westminster, MD, 2000.)
*The Revolutionary War began with the April 19, 1775
battles at Lexington and Concord Massachusetts. In these battles, the 1800
British troops had extensive losses.
The war lasted for eight years, and
ended 143 years of governance of Maryland by a British Proprietor.
(Hibbert, C., Redcoates and Rebels, The American Revolution
Through British Eyes, W. W. Norton and Co., Inc., NY, NY, 2002)
*A meeting to select the Bush River Upper Hundred
Revolutionary Committee was held at Frances Dines
Tavern in Jarrettsville. (Kegley, F., Smith, A.L., and Johnson, L.,
Jarrettsville, Past and Present, Jarrettsville Lions Club, 1976)
*In November of 1775, Virginia's royal governor, John Murray, Lord Dunmore,
a slave owner, issued a proclamation offering freedom to slaves who fought for the King
against the American rebels. The proclamation was the first mass emancipation
of slaves in American history. While many slaves and free African-Americans rushed
to join the British, most supported the rebels or remained neutral.
The choice to join the British or embrace the rebels was one that certainly tore apart
some slave families and communities, just as it divided the white citizenry.
Taken as a whole, the proclamation aligned most undecided and moderate Americans
against the British.
(Dunmore's Proclamation: A Time to Choose,
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA, 2006,
http://history.org/foundation/about.cfm)
)
*Schama claims that “at least thirty thousand” slaves
“had escaped the Virginia plantations in
attempts to reach the British lines.”
The slaves apparently followed Virginian, rebel Patrick Henry’s dangerous advice “Give me liberty or
give me death.” Slaves began disappearing from states,
between and including, Georgia and New York.
(Schama, S., Rough Crossings, Britain, the
Slaves and the American Revolution,
HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2006.)
*Many black and white loyalists ended up leaving the country during or after
the war. Most loyalists seemed to remain silent. Quakers opposed independence
because it led to war.
Many loyalists felt that a revolution would not lead to a government better
than the King's government. Actually, most revolutions are
national disasters, but, fortunately,
we had many excellent, well educated
leaders who had too much character to allow the revolution to result in a monarchy or dictatorship.
They had read the theories of the European "enlightenment" from such authors as
John Locke (1632-1704), Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Voltaire (1694-1778),
Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755) and J.J. Rousseau (1712-1778),
and wished to put them into practice.
For example, George Washington saw himself as a
servant of the people. Accordingly, he signed his letters "Your most humble and obedient servant."
(Gergen, D., Bad News for Bullies,
U.S. News and World Report, page 54, June 19, 2006.) )
(Reill, P.H., and Wilson, E.J., The Encyclopedia of The Enlightenment,
Facts on File, page , 2004) )
*From Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington wrote John
Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, that there were claims that
the British were working to spread
smallpox to his troops. This was never proven, but during the
course of the war, more American troops
died from smallpox than were killed by the British. (Military
Origins of a Modern Fear,
U.S. News and World Report, page 47, July 24, 2006.) )
| | 1776 | | *The population of Harford County was 12,765. (6)
*The American Colonies, including the Harford County area,
were the world's largest producer of raw iron. (
Hampton Nat. Historic Sites, Nat. Park Service, U.S. Dept. of Interior, GPO, 404-952/40077, 1996.)
*On January 1st, British ships, including the Otter,
bombarded Norfolk and destroyed it.
*In March, the British warship Otter and a flotilla
were heading up the Bay toward the Patapsco River,
Harford County, and Baltimore. Maryland hastily awoke from its loyalist leanings,
prepared for war, and armed a number of ships.
A delay, caused by the Otter running aground near the Patapsco River,
gave the "Maryland Navy" time to prepare and drive the British back down the Bay without a fight
and without their captured ships.
(Tinder, R.W., Shattered Isolation: The Raid
of the Otter and Maryland's Chaotic Turn to Independence, March-July 1776, Maryland
Historical Magazine, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD, page 429,
Winter, 2004.)
*On July 4, 1776, at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
twelve states approved
the Declaration of Independence (from Britain). New York approved five days later.
| | 1777 | | *Havre de Grace, a village with a few houses, was
burned by the British. (2)
*Joppa repulsed an attack. (Important Dates in
Maryland's History, Harford Historical Bulletin
, The Historical Society of Harford County, Bel Air, No. 46, page 94, Autumn 1990)
*In the period 1777 to the Civil War, as northern states abolished slavery,
many Maryland slaves gradually
won their freedom through various processes: manumission, apprenticeship, self purchase,
and indentured servitude. The Churches were the driving force for abolition.
Total abolition came to neighboring, northern states, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
in 1847 and Delaware in 1865.
(Cofield, R., Manumission and Apprenticeship
in Maryland, 1770-1870, Maryland
Historical Magazine, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD, page 56,
Spring, 2006.)
| | 1778 | | *A Maryland British supporter and spy wrote
British General Howe
that Baltimore was the "only town of any consequence the Rebels now possess,
from Boston to
Charles Town. It's astonishing the Commerce that is carried
on there, tis from Baltimore mostly the Rebel Army
is supplied . . ." (Tinder, R.W., Book Reviews,
Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Vol. II
, Maryland Historical Magazine
, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Vol. 101, No. 1, page 118, Spring 2006)
* France (1778), Spain (1779), and Netherlands (1780) declared war
on Britain to support the American rebellion. (O’Brien, P., ed.
Oxford Atlas of World History
, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
| | 1780 | | The Town of Bel Air was first laid out by
Aquilla Scott on a portion of his inheritance called Scott’s Improvement
Enlarged, also known as Scott’s Old Fields.
| | 1781 | | *Revolutionary War troops camped in Havre de
Grace in September in route to Yorktown and once again after Cornwallis’
surrender. As Washington’s troops came through Maryland, they were fully re-supplied.
*The Continental Congress declared the Articles of Confederation to be in
force, following ratification by Maryland.
*Slaves began a 13 year revolt in Haiti, creating many thousands
of refugees and killing over a thousand whites. This was the only successful slave
rebellion in history. (O’Brien, P., ed. Oxford Atlas of World
History, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY, 2005.)
(Haitian Slave Revolt, Encarta Premium, Encyclopedia,
Microsoft, 2006. )
(Corbett, B., The Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803,
Webster University, St. Louis, MO, 2006. )
| | 1782 | | *Plans for the Bel Air Courthouse were laid
out by Daniel Scott. Under the name "Scott’s Old Fields," Bel Air became the County Seat.
(Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, 1980.) (
Private communication with Henty Peden, Aug. 2006)
*
An old stone building at the intersection of Main Street and Baltimore Pike (now Alternate Route 1)
was used as the courthouse. (Bel Air, Guide to Our Historic Town, Town
of Bel Air, Bel Air, MD, page 8, 2006)
*William Paca (1740-1799)
became the third governor of Maryland. He was born at Chilbury Hall in the
Abingdon area of Harford County. He was an early
revolutionary, and he was similar
to Thomas Jefferson in many ways. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty, delegate
to the Colonial Assembly, member of the Committees of Correspondence
and Public Safety, delegate to the Continental Congress, signer
of the Declaration of Independence, member of the State Legislature,
advocate and contributor to the Bill of Rights,
and made his home on a rural farm (on Wye Island) which he purchased about 1760.
He built the William Paca House in Annapolis (Open to the public). He raised funds for
the founding of Washington College
and for Revolutionary War soldiers. He wrote the General Assembly about the soldiers, in 1783,
"when it is considered how
much we are indebted to them" that they should be compensated. Paca added that the soldiers
are "returning without cloths, without money, without friends -- and rendered by their wounds and
infirmities totally destitute of means of substance."
(Silverman, A., William
Paca, Signer, Governor, Jurist, The Maryland Historical Magazine,
The Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Vol. XXXVII, No.1, March 1942.
)
*Robert Young Stokes sold the first leases in the area around Susquehanna Lower Ferry.
Claude Blanchard, returning from the American victory at Yorktown with Rochambeau's
troops, wrote on August 29, 1792, "It has been proposed to build a city here on the right bank
near the ferry where we crossed.
It should be called 'Havre de Grace.'" A year later the new town had seven houses and a warehouse.
(Shank, E.,
A Short History of Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.) (
Private communication with Henty Peden, Aug. 2006)
| | 1783 | | *The Revolutionary War ended
with the Treaty of Paris where
Great Britain conceded independence to 13 colonies -- The United States.
(Sept. 3, 1783)
*James Turner, a farmer, was born near present day Bel Air,
attended the Classical Academy in Madonna,
and served as Captain of militia in the War of 1812.
As a Jacksonian, he served in the U.S. Congress from 1833 to 1837.
(Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress)
*After the last of the British soldiers went home,
what may have been the most
important event in human history occurred on December 23, 1783.
Instead of becoming a king,
George Washington resigned as Commander
and Chief of the American Army
before the Continental Congress in Annapolis, Maryland, and returned to civilian life.
This simple act cleared the way for the formation of the greatest republic
based on democratic principles in human history. (Wan, W.,
Maryland to Unveil the Page That Began a New Chapter, Washington Post,
Washington, D.C., Feb., 18, 2007.)
| | 1784 | | *The Act of 1784 changed the name of Scott’s
Improvement Enlarged to “Belle Aire.”
*The Anglican Church of England was
disestablished as a result of the American Revolution. The church was virtually shut
down by the Revolution. Many Anglicans left the Country.
(History Notes, St. Mary Anne's Church, North East, MD )
(Dalmas, J.E.,
The Bicentennial of Christ Episcopal Church, Rock Spring Parish, Christ Episcopal Church
, Forest Hill, MD, page 1, 2005)
| | 1785 | | Havre de Grace was incorporated.
| | 1786 | | The current spelling of Bel Air was adopted.
(Bel Air, Guide to Our Historic Town, Town
of Bel Air, Bel Air, MD, page 8, 2006)
| | 1787 | | The first African American denomination
began in an old blacksmith shop in Philadelphia; it was called the African Methodist
Episcopal (AME) Church.
( Historical Perspective, African Methodist Episcopal Church,
Los Angles, CA, 2005. )
(Carroll, V. and Shiflett, D., Christianity on Trail,
Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry Encounter Books,
San Francisco, Pages 41-42, 2002.)
| | 1788 | | *The Hays House was built. The Hays House
was named after Thomas Archer Hays, Sr. who was not the original owner. He owned the house between
1813 and 1861, the longest time.
*Maryland’s
Convention ratified (by a vote of 63 to 11) the proposed new Constitution for
the United States. Samuel Chase, William Paca (born in the Abingdon Area),
and Luther Martin argued that it must be amended to include individual rights.
*To provide a proper Courthouse, a tax of two shillings, six pence was
imposed on county citizens
per 100 pounds (monetary pounds) of property.
(Bel Air, Guide to Our Historic Town, Town
of Bel Air, Bel Air, MD, page 8, 2006)
| | 1789 | | The first President of the United States
was elected: George Washington.
| | 1790 | | Congress authorized the first U.S. Census. Baltimore
was a boomtown, ranking in population only behind Philadelphia, New York, and Boston
among American cities (It had 13,500 inhabitants in the census of 1790).
| | 1791 | | The Bill of Rights (ten amendments to the United States
Constitution) was adopted. It was adopted to protect the individual citizens
from abusive tyrants and governments.
(The Constitution Society (www.constitution.org) Austin, Texas, 2005.)
| | 1794 | | *Rock Run Mill was built.
It was next to the Susquehanna River, the Susquehanna
and Tidewater Canal, and one of the longest covered bridges in America. (Boehm, J.,
Mill's past kept alive,
The Aegis Weekender, South Bay, Homestead Publishing Co., Page 1, August 22, 2003.)
*Martha Griffith, a Harford County resident, filed a suit that re-affirmed the right of
Maryland widows to claim a portion of the real and personal property of their deceased husbands.
Also, the action demonstrated that women had the right to own property and use the courts. When
Martha Griffith died in 1835, she was a very wealthy woman.
(Sawyer, Jeffrey K., Women, Law, and the
Pursuit of Happiness in Early Harford County, Harford Historical Bulletin, Harford County,
Maryland, Number 81, Summer 1999.)
| | 1795 | | To defeat scurvy, the British Navy required
that lemon or lime juice
be added to sailor's rations of grog (watered down rum) . This simple remedy
helped Britain establish supremacy of the seas and become the world's first superpower.
(Standage, T., A History of the World in 6 Glasses,
Walker & Co., New York, pages 108-111, 2005.)
| | 1796 | | In his farewell address, President George
Washington declared, "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of the foreign world." Isolationism, a deep longing for peace,
was the United States' basic foreign policy, with a few brief interruptions, until 1941
when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
(Standage, T., A History of the World in 6 Glasses,
Walker & Co., New York, page 251, 2005.)
| | 1798 | | *Federal tax
assessors found 657 taxable houses in Harford County.(12)
*Havre de Grace had 40 houses.
(Shank, E.,
A Short History of Havre de Grace, Lock House News,
Susquehanna Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, Summer 2004.)
| | 1799 | | *There
was a bid to bring the capital of the nation, under the new Constitution, to
Havre de Grace. Supporters of the plan commissioned H. P. Hardecoeur to
do a detailed survey and mapping of the area.
*George Washington died.
| |
1800 to 1899
1900 to the Present
Return to Historical Society of Harford County
REFERENCES
- The Harford County Directory, State Directories
Publishing Company, (432 pages with illustrations), 1953.
- Jay, P.A., Havre de Grace, an Informal History, Susquehanna Publishing Company, (194 pages
with illustrations), 1986.
- Jones, E.C., Sr., Recollections . . . , Fairmont,
West Virginia, (161 pages with illustrations), 1936.
- Jones, F.C., The Village of Darlington in Harford County,
Maryland, Darlington, MD, (42 pages with illustrations), 1947.
- Larew, M., Bel Air, The Town Through its Buildings,
The Town of Bel Air and the Maryland Historical Trust, (151 pages and
illustrations, maps, and plans), 1980.
- Leslie, W.B., Aberdeen Proving Ground, Harford County,
Maryland, Colonial Days, 18 Pages, 1952.
- Mason, S., Historical Sketches of Harford County,
Maryland, Second Edition, Little Pines Farm, (177 pages with
illustrations), 1955.
- Mitchell, C.D., Historical and Industrial Edition,
1856-1920, The Aegis Magazine Edition,
Bel Air, Maryland, 102 pages, 1920.
- Morgan, R. H., Jr., Harford County Wills, 1774-1800, Harford County, Maryland,
Family Line Publications, Silver Spring, MD, 160 pages, 1990.
- Preston, W.W., Historical
Sketches of Harford County, Maryland, from 1608 to 1812, Press of Sun Book
Office, Baltimore, Maryland, (360 pages and photos), 1901.
- Weeks, C., An Architectural History of
Harford County, Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
Maryland, (385 pages with several hundred photographs) , 1996.
- Wright, C.M., Our
Harford Heritage, a History of Harford County, Maryland, French-Bray
Printing Company, Glen Burnie, Maryland, (462 pages with photographs and maps),
1980.
______________________________
Most of these books are not in print, but they are
available for examination but not borrowing at the Library of the Historical Society of
Harford County, Inc. |