Salisbury/Fruitland, MD in 1756

As many of the readers here will now be able to tell, I love to research old land records to help ascertain how life was in the area I grew up 100, 150, 200 and even 300 years ago. In my journey, I stumbled across Mr. John Lyon one day in 2001 at the Hall of Records in Annapolis. I was there doing family history research and he was immersed in piles of documents relative to the old land records of Old Somerset Co., MD. John developed a monumental database of the land tracts and records covering old Somerset prior to the American Revolution. I was fortunate enough to offer some of my services, along with a gentleman named John Polk, to input data and make presentations with Mr. Lyon over the past dozen or so years.

I'll talk more about "old Somerset" and the Lyon database of land records in future blog posts. Many do not know that the area encompassed by old Somerset from its founding in 1666 to 1742 included all of modern-day Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties in Maryland and nearly 2/3rds of Sussex Co., in Delaware. Worcester peeled off the eastern half of the tract in 1742 and the Transpeninsular Line of 1750 and Mason/Dixon's work in the 1760s led to Sussex claiming the lands in the north to Delaware by the time of the Revolution. Finally, Wicomico County formed from the center of the area in 1867. This is key to understand if researching your family roots in the area for, it is entirely plausible that your ancestors lived on a piece of land continuously for many years but resided in Somerset, Worcester and Sussex Counties (or some other combination) and never have moved!

Again, more on this in a future post but, for now, I want to reflect upon an important land plat found in the old land record plats dating from 1756. In my earlier blog post on Fruitland, MD in 1772, I discussed how there was a large chunk of land - Wicomico Manor - that was surveyed in 1674 and set aside for the use of Lord Baltimore. In 1772, "His Lordship" began to open up the tract to be taken up by the citizens at the rate of 25 pounds sterling per 100 acres of land. Many surveys were conducted at that time that give us a nice snapshot-in-time of the 'lay of the land' in 1772. Many of these tracts never reached the full ownership/patent stage because the American Revolution intervened. After the Revolution, in 1782/1783, most of these tracts were distributed as "confiscated British property" to their rightful owners.

But, even before all this was taking place, a general survey of Wicomico Manor was conducted and entered into the records on Dec 20 1756. I offer two figures for the reader here, an image of the surveyor's plat from the Hall of Records and a mark-up of that same plat I created to show points of interest; land owners, roads and other key landmarks to help the reader get their bearings when comparing 1756 to the modern day. Remember that this is 1756 so, while we are looking at a portion of the heart of Wicomico Co., MD today, at that time is was Somerset and Worcester, Wicomico not being founded for another 111 years after this plat was made. In the second figure, the yellow line is the approximate track of modern-day Division Street (aptly named) that used to divide the counties of Somerset and Worcester. Finally, to more so help with bearings, note the indication of NORTH on the plat - approximately 45 degrees down and to the right and the Wicomico River flows at the bottom of this plat.

The surveyor writes at the top of the plat, "A Description of wicomoco Mannor in Som. and Worcester County, the ____ Double Brickd Line is the Road that Divides Somtt and Worcester Countyes, the easternmost side is Worcester in wch is contained 1716 acres in Somt 2241 acres in ab 3957 acres..." It also indicates the smaller land tracts taken up within the Manor and notably shows the boundary of the original Manor of 1674 larger in scope than the survey found here in 1756 (more on this in future blogs). Annotations in the second figure are as follows:

LINES

1. Yellow Line: As aforementioned, the county line then, which approximately equates to modern-day Division Street that runs from Fruitland to Salisbury

2. Darker Orange Line: the "Road to Snow Hill" - modern Snow Hill Road

3. Light Orange Line: the "Road to Princess Ann" which is modern Division Street extended in Fruitland down to where it meets with Business US 13 as it heads towards Princess Anne, MD

STARS

1. Blue Star: Venables' Mill. The mill dam of William Venables' mill in Salisbury. It was located approximately where the County Library sits today. The mill dam stood until it was washed away in 1909 and Humphreys Pond emptied in the process. The pond bed bottom of Humphreys Pond became part of downtown Salisbury (Main Street and its intersection with Business US 13) and the City Park in the 20th century

2. Purple Star: "Tondo Tank Creek," the area of the current upscale residential area of Tony Tank.

3. Orange Star: Shad Point at the end of Shad Point Road just to the west of Fruitland where it meets the Wicomico River

4. Yellow Star: Another mill which today corresponds to the location near modern Coulbourn Mill Pond. The land is owned by Graves Bashaw.

5. Green Star: The mill at modern day Morris Mill pond. In 1756, it is owned by Henry Toadvine.

6. Red Star: "Downtown" Fruitland, MD. This point is where Division Street and Meadow Bridge Road meet where the Fruitland City Hall now stands. John Disharoon (my 8x great grandfather), Robert Layfield and Robert Chambers were the only three households in the Manor at this time, on the north side of Fruitland. Disharoon's house was near where these two thoroughfares meet and hence, the little hamlet came to be known as Disharoon's Crossroads by the time of the Revolution up till the name changed to Forktown in about 1820 (you can even see the fork in the roads in the Figure below from where the name originated). The name Fruitland was adopted in 1873.

Thanks for reading!