In Answer to your question, I found this on Google............ Tim Robinson Baltimore, Md. *********** Baltimore County Hundreds & Boundaries ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- When researching Baltimore county before ca 1820, you will encounter two terms referring to an area of land. One of the terms is Hundreds and the other is parishes Hundreds as a political subdivision date back to the Roman occupation of Britian. Their are several variations of the orginial meaning of the term. The most commonly accepted is that is was an area that contained 100 families. Another variation is that it was an area that was large enough to raise an army of 100 men. From the late 1600s to early 1800s in Maryland the term was applied as a political subdivision of the county primarily for tax purposes and judicial affairs. The latter being that there was a constable appointed for each hundred and a justice of the peace for each hundred. The 1790 and 1810 Federal census for Baltimore county are at least partially broken down by hundreds. The equivalent term today for a hundred is an election district within the county. Although Maryland was founded by Catholics (the family of Lord Baltimore), its religion was dominated by Puritans in the 1650s and then later the Church of England. In June of 1692 the General Assembly passed an act that essentially established the Church of England as the "state church", required the establishement of parish boundaries and also required each parish to establish a register of births, marriages, and deaths within the province. When Baltimore county was first settled, there were no roads, except a few indian paths; thus, travel was mostly by water, and you will find persons styled in terms of where they lived. For example in early deeds, people are styled as: William Boulton of Bush River, Richard Ball of Patapsco, John Lee planter of Bush River. The early Hundreds were thus often named for rivers. When Baltimore county was fist formed, its boundaries ran from the ridge dividing the watershed of the Magothy and Patapsco Rivers around to the Sassafras River. Thus it included todays Cecil county, and Harford county, parts of Carroll, Anne Arundel, and Howard counties. Also since the early boundaries were not fixed it probably also extended into Delaware and Pennsylvania. Cecil County was formed in 1674 at which point the northern eastern boundary of Baltimore county became the Susquehanna River. A formal boundary between Baltimore and Anne Arundel county was initially laid out in 1698. By 1698 is appears there were three hundreds in Baltimore county, the Patapsco Hundred (which ran from the south side of the Patapsco River to the north) the Gunpowder Hundred, and the Spesutia Hundred. The original county seat was at Spesutia Island off the Bush River. Apparently there was a town of Baltimore in this location in 1683. In 1707 the General Assembly directed that a twon be erected on 50 acres called "Taylors Choice" and that the county courthouse be erected there. This land was off the Gunpowder river. However in November 1712 an act of the Assembly directled that the courthouse be erected in the town of Joppa. There were three parishes established in Baltimore County in the 1690s. These were St Pauls, St Johns, and St Georges. The parish boundaries roughly corresponded to the boundaries of the three hundreds: St Paul's Parish was the Patapsco Hundred St John's Parish was the Gunpowder Hundred and St George's Parish was the Sesputia Hundred In 1727 the Boundary between Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties was changed so that all land on the south side of the Patapsco river was to be in Anne Arundel county. As the county's population grew, new hundreds were created. Also because of the distances to the churches, "chapels of ease" were built. These later became their own parish. St Thomas Parish was created in 1742 and the chaple was built near Garrison Forest as part of St Paul's Parish for the western part of the county, and St James was created at Monkton in 1750 as a chapel of ease for St John's Parish. St James was recognized as an independent parish in 1777. From the 1737 Tax lists: the Hundreds and Parishes for Baltimore county were: Hundred Parish Patapsco Lower Hundred St Paul's Patapsco Upper Hundred Soldiers Delight Hundred Back River Lower Hundred Back River Upper Hundred Middle River Hundred St John's Gunpowder Lower Hundred Gunpowder Upper Hundred Lower Spesutia Hundred St George's Upper Spesutia Hundred Deer Creek Hundred By 1776 the following Hundreds existed: Hundred Parish West Hundred - of Baltimore Town St Paul's East Hundred-of Baltimore Town Patapsco Lower Hundred Patapsco Upper Hundred Midlesex Hundred Back River Hundred Back River Lower Hundred Back River Upper Hundred St Thomas' Parish Soldiers Delight Hundred Delaware Hundred Pipe Creek Hundred Middle River Lower Hundred St John's Parish MIddle River Upper Hundred Gunpowder Lower Hundred Gunpowder Upper Hundred North Upper Hundred North Lower Hundred Spesutia Lower Hundred St George's Parish Spesutia Upper Hundred Susquehanna Hundred Deer Creek Hundred >P> On 2 March 1774, Harford county was created out of Baltimore county. with the Little Gunpowder river serving as the dividing line between the two counties. In the Federal Tax assessment of 1798 Baltimore County was divided into the following hundreds: Patapsco Lower Hundred Patapsco Upper Hundred Middlesex Hundred Soldiers Delight Hundred Back River Lower Hundred Back River Upper Hundred Middle River Lower Hundred Middle RIver Upper Hundred Gunpowder Uppper Hundred Mine Run Hindred North Hundred Pipe Creek Hundred Delaware Lower Hundred Delaware Upper Hundred The town of Baltimore The other major boundary changes occured in 1837 with the formation of Carroll county from the western part of Baltimore county and the eastern part of Frederick county and in 1851 with the formation of Baltimore City as an entity separate from the county and in 1836. The county also lost land through annexations by Baltimore City, particularly in the early 1900s. **************************************************************************** *********************** Subject: [BALTGEN-L] Del. Lower 100 - where? : Where exactly was the Delaware Lower Hundred? Does anyone know? : : : :