Thank you LT Riggin for your response. I really do appreciate your input and will keep it in mind. Old Rt. 13 is not the answer I was expecting and I want to provide some of the background to my question so you can see why I was surprised. I should have probably added all that follows to the first time I asked the question. The angle of the Laurel-Concord road on the 1823 drawing, which includes meridian line pointing north, is more on the order of a forward slash mark. Like this /. Maybe leaning a little more to the right. Old Rt. 13 would be a more vertical line wouldn't it? These are notes from some of the deeds I've been working on that relate to William Marvel and his father, Thomas of Broad Creek Hundred. William Marvel was involved in many land transactions and left 7 different farms in Broad creek Hundred to relatives in his will. I hope someone may recognize a family name or a tract name and have a different opinion on the location of this road. This is going to be long, but it is important to me to get this one right. I need some more opinions to be sure I am looking at the right area. Sussex Liber AK 33, f193, 30 August 1817, Caleb ROSS sold land to William MARVEL aka Big Billy. It is described as beginning at a post standing by the side of the county road as it formerly ran from Concord to Laurel and near the place where Hugh TAYLOR had his watering well. It included p/o RAMBLE INDEED (aka RAMBLING DEED), p/o WINWRIGHT'S PROMISE, p/o JOHNSON'S DELIGHT. RAMBLE INDEED is described elsewhere as being on the south side of Miry Branch at the south end of old mill dam. The >formerly ran< above makes this question even more complicated. This Miery Branch is located between Laurel and Concord, east of today's Rt. 13. There is another one near Millsboro. In Sussex Deed Liber 62, f76, 26 Sept 1854, William J. MARVEL sells land he inherited to Asbury HASTINGS. Asbury HASTINGS was William J. MARVEL's brother-in-law, married to Julia Ann MARVEL. William J. MARVEL was William MARVEL'S only son. This land is described as all the land on the east side of the county road leading from Concord to CHIPMAN's Mill or to the old church or chapel that is to say all the lands lying on the east side of said road. In Sussex Deed Liber AAN61, f433, 11 Oct 1854, William James MARVEL sells land to David H. BOYCE. William James is the only son of Big Billy. This land is in Broad Creek Hundred, land sold to Big Billy by Chloe BULL in 1832 (250 acres AT42 f255) . Chloe BULL was the mother of Manaen BULL and lived in New Haven, Connecticut and Chloe was sole heir after Manaen BULL's death in 1831. This land is described in 1854 as adjoining Tilghman SPICER until it intersects with land belonging to Thomas BENSON thence to lands belonging to John MOORE thence to the county road leading from Laurel to Concord then with said road to the corner of James WAINWRIGHT with his land to the lands formerly belonging to Tilghman SPICER but now in the possession of Curtis SPICER. All the lands found and lying on the west side of the road leading from Laurel to Concord and he agrees that David H. BOYCE may move or remove all the houses from the east side of the road to the west side of said County Road le! ading from Laurel to Concord. In Sussex Deed Vol. 71, f31, on 22 Aug 1863, William J. SHILES sells the 100 acre so-called SKINNER farm he inherited from his grandfather, William Marvel aka Big Billy. Wm. J. SHILES sells 104 acres in Broad Creek Hundred to David H. BOYCE in 1863. It is described as lying and being on the County Road leading from Laurel to Concord adjoining the lands of Doctor Stephen GREEN, Asbury HASTINGS, Gillis S. HITCHENS, William O'NEAL and Jany (sp?) FOOKS. William Marvel had bought the so-called SKINNER farm in 1824 (Sussex Deed AN36 f352) from the heirs of Thomas SKINNER. It was land that Thomas SKINNER bought from (1) David NEWBOLD and the (2) from William B. COOPER, Sheriff. The Newbold land was sold to Thomas SKINNER by David NEWBOLD on 11 June 1803. Thomas SKINNER bought the land from the Sheriff on 3 May 1809 and it was the 130 acres owned by Thomas MARVEL who lost his farm due to debt. Thomas MARVEL was the father of Big Billy so Big Billy got his family land back. In 1847, Big Billy describes this land in his will as adjoining Peggy ELLIGOOD and Josiah O'NEAL. In Sussex Deed Liber 93, f205, 9 March 1878, Smith BAKER et al sells to Gillis S. HITCHENS. The et al are the heirs of William MARVEL. Smith BAKER was married to Mary Ann KNOWLES, grand daughter of Big Billy and daughter of Eliza MARVEL and John KNOWLES. This deed concerns the former BOOTH tract. Big Billy bought this farm in 1817 from Caleb ROSS. It was willed by Big Billy to William T. KNOWLES and John KNOWLES, his grandsons by Eliza. They died before the will was probated. The land sold by Caleb ROSS to Big Billy included parts of the tracts RAMBLE INDEED (aka RAMBLING DEED), p/o WINWRIGHT's PROMISE, p/o JOHNSON's DELIGHT. William MARVEL added to these 124 acres with other smaller parcels and the farm sold in 1878 to Gillis S. HITCHENS contained 143 acres. In 1878, this land is described as being in Broad Creek Hundred on the east side of the public road leading from Concord to Laurel on the north side of and other public road leading from O'NEAL'S School House to the Bap! tist Church. O'NEAL'S School is marked on the 1915 topo map found on the Maptech website and would seem to have been located on what is today Firetower Road.The Baptist Church must be Broad Creek Baptist Church that was located on what is now Sycamore Road. The church no longer stands but the cemetery is still there. So I thought that today's Firetower Road must be at least part of the old Laurel-Concord Road. But near Laurel, is it Sycamore Road or Discount Land Road? The formerly ran comment made me think maybe earlier it was what is now called Sycamore Road and then later Discount Land Road was the preferred route. Both those roads existed in 1868 and are shown in the Beers atlas. Or should I be looking at other roads? Thanks for any and all help with this one! Nanette In a message dated 01/29/09 18:57:00 Eastern Standard Time, lower-delmarva-roots-request@rootsweb.com writes: Message: 8 Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:22:49 -0500 From: lt riggin <ltriggin@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [LDR] Laurel-Concord Road To: <lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com> old rt. 13 laurel to blades Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:15:15 -0500> From: imnetz@aol.com> To: lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com> Subject: [LDR] Laurel-Concord Road> > > Hi List,> > You might have read in my post about Manaen B. Marvel that I saw a drawing from 1823 with James Marvel's house on the Laurel-Concord Road. What roads do you think that would be today? The tract Snow Hill is described as about 2 miles from the Broad Creek wading place. James Marvel is living directly on the road and on the edge of the tract called Snow Hill. So at first I thought it is probably today's Sycamore Road and then Firetower Road. But the drawing has the road at more of an upright angle which fits better with Discount Land Road leading to Firetower Road. The oldest road map with any detail I have is the Beers Atlas and I've been comparing that to the 1915 topo maps on Maptech and modern maps. William Marvel, brother of James, owned several farms and most of them have the Laurel-Concord Road in their description. > > ! Where is the old Laurel-Concord Road?> > Thanks for any and all help,> > Nanette>

Nanette -- Your mention of the David Newbold property in your interesting post below caught my eye. In making an attempt to generally locate the property that David Newbold sold in 1803, I did a little research using Mr. Keddie's abstracts and found that this land was probably part of the following that David Newbold bought with Samuel Tulley in 1801: David Newbold and Samuel Tully were recorded buying land in Broad Creek Hundred in Sussex County from Peter Waples on December 12, 1801. This tract was for 208 acres and it cost them 300 pounds ["Sussex County Delaware Deed Records Volume X22 1800-1802", abstracted by Keddie, 2005, folio 173, p. 40]. The land had originally been owned by Robert Houston. The transaction was witnessed by Joseph Copes and Sarah Stafford -- the latter was David Newbold's mother. The 1803 David Newbold sale was for exactly half of the 1801 208 acre purchase: 104 acres. Samuel Tully and wife Elizabeth sold their 104 acres of land to William Dixeson only 3 months earlier in March of 1803 [Folio 308, Keddie, "Vol Y"]. Using the above information I looked for information on Robert Houston and Peter Waples. I'm pretty sure that this Robert Houston's father was John Houston. If true, then the land David Newbold obtained may have originally been part of a tract of land I found using plats.net in Worcester County: an 860 acre tract of land called "Round Pond Inlarged" patented by Robert's father John Houston in Worcester County Maryland on September 1, 1762. Its location was described as being near ". a county road leading from the head of Wicomico to Gravelly branch thence." This tract of land looked on the patent as being a large and "skinny" tract whose length was mostly north to south. The road itself would have been generally a north south road if coming from the head of the Wicomico up to Gravelly Branch off of the Nanticoke. Don't know if this helps or confuses....but if you ultimately can more precisely locate where this land, "Skinner's farm" was, I would like to know as it would tell me where David Newbold lived before he migrated to Kentucky circa 1806. Cheers, Cree Newbold -----Original Message----- From: lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of imnetz Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:14 PM To: lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: [LDR] Laurel-Concord Road Revisited Thank you LT Riggin for your response. I really do appreciate your input and will keep it in mind. Old Rt. 13 is not the answer I was expecting and I want to provide some of the background to my question so you can see why I was surprised. I should have probably added all that follows to the first time I asked the question. The angle of the Laurel-Concord road on the 1823 drawing, which includes meridian line pointing north, is more on the order of a forward slash mark. Like this /. Maybe leaning a little more to the right. Old Rt. 13 would be a more vertical line wouldn't it? These are notes from some of the deeds I've been working on that relate to William Marvel and his father, Thomas of Broad Creek Hundred. William Marvel was involved in many land transactions and left 7 different farms in Broad creek Hundred to relatives in his will. I hope someone may recognize a family name or a tract name and have a different opinion on the location of this road. This is going to be long, but it is important to me to get this one right. I need some more opinions to be sure I am looking at the right area. Sussex Liber AK 33, f193, 30 August 1817, Caleb ROSS sold land to William MARVEL aka Big Billy. It is described as beginning at a post standing by the side of the county road as it formerly ran from Concord to Laurel and near the place where Hugh TAYLOR had his watering well. It included p/o RAMBLE INDEED (aka RAMBLING DEED), p/o WINWRIGHT'S PROMISE, p/o JOHNSON'S DELIGHT. RAMBLE INDEED is described elsewhere as being on the south side of Miry Branch at the south end of old mill dam. The >formerly ran< above makes this question even more complicated. This Miery Branch is located between Laurel and Concord, east of today's Rt. 13. There is another one near Millsboro. In Sussex Deed Liber 62, f76, 26 Sept 1854, William J. MARVEL sells land he inherited to Asbury HASTINGS. Asbury HASTINGS was William J. MARVEL's brother-in-law, married to Julia Ann MARVEL. William J. MARVEL was William MARVEL'S only son. This land is described as all the land on the east side of the county road leading from Concord to CHIPMAN's Mill or to the old church or chapel that is to say all the lands lying on the east side of said road. In Sussex Deed Liber AAN61, f433, 11 Oct 1854, William James MARVEL sells land to David H. BOYCE. William James is the only son of Big Billy. This land is in Broad Creek Hundred, land sold to Big Billy by Chloe BULL in 1832 (250 acres AT42 f255) . Chloe BULL was the mother of Manaen BULL and lived in New Haven, Connecticut and Chloe was sole heir after Manaen BULL's death in 1831. This land is described in 1854 as adjoining Tilghman SPICER until it intersects with land belonging to Thomas BENSON thence to lands belonging to John MOORE thence to the county road leading from Laurel to Concord then with said road to the corner of James WAINWRIGHT with his land to the lands formerly belonging to Tilghman SPICER but now in the possession of Curtis SPICER. All the lands found and lying on the west side of the road leading from Laurel to Concord and he agrees that David H. BOYCE may move or remove all the houses from the east side of the road to the west side of said County Road le! ading from Laurel to Concord. In Sussex Deed Vol. 71, f31, on 22 Aug 1863, William J. SHILES sells the 100 acre so-called SKINNER farm he inherited from his grandfather, William Marvel aka Big Billy. Wm. J. SHILES sells 104 acres in Broad Creek Hundred to David H. BOYCE in 1863. It is described as lying and being on the County Road leading from Laurel to Concord adjoining the lands of Doctor Stephen GREEN, Asbury HASTINGS, Gillis S. HITCHENS, William O'NEAL and Jany (sp?) FOOKS. William Marvel had bought the so-called SKINNER farm in 1824 (Sussex Deed AN36 f352) from the heirs of Thomas SKINNER. It was land that Thomas SKINNER bought from (1) David NEWBOLD and the (2) from William B. COOPER, Sheriff. The Newbold land was sold to Thomas SKINNER by David NEWBOLD on 11 June 1803. Thomas SKINNER bought the land from the Sheriff on 3 May 1809 and it was the 130 acres owned by Thomas MARVEL who lost his farm due to debt. Thomas MARVEL was the father of Big Billy so Big Billy got his family land back. In 1847, Big Billy describes this land in his will as adjoining Peggy ELLIGOOD and Josiah O'NEAL. In Sussex Deed Liber 93, f205, 9 March 1878, Smith BAKER et al sells to Gillis S. HITCHENS. The et al are the heirs of William MARVEL. Smith BAKER was married to Mary Ann KNOWLES, grand daughter of Big Billy and daughter of Eliza MARVEL and John KNOWLES. This deed concerns the former BOOTH tract. Big Billy bought this farm in 1817 from Caleb ROSS. It was willed by Big Billy to William T. KNOWLES and John KNOWLES, his grandsons by Eliza. They died before the will was probated. The land sold by Caleb ROSS to Big Billy included parts of the tracts RAMBLE INDEED (aka RAMBLING DEED), p/o WINWRIGHT's PROMISE, p/o JOHNSON's DELIGHT. William MARVEL added to these 124 acres with other smaller parcels and the farm sold in 1878 to Gillis S. HITCHENS contained 143 acres. In 1878, this land is described as being in Broad Creek Hundred on the east side of the public road leading from Concord to Laurel on the north side of and other public road leading from O'NEAL'S School House to the Bap! tist Church. O'NEAL'S School is marked on the 1915 topo map found on the Maptech website and would seem to have been located on what is today Firetower Road.The Baptist Church must be Broad Creek Baptist Church that was located on what is now Sycamore Road. The church no longer stands but the cemetery is still there. So I thought that today's Firetower Road must be at least part of the old Laurel-Concord Road. But near Laurel, is it Sycamore Road or Discount Land Road? The formerly ran comment made me think maybe earlier it was what is now called Sycamore Road and then later Discount Land Road was the preferred route. Both those roads existed in 1868 and are shown in the Beers atlas. Or should I be looking at other roads? Thanks for any and all help with this one! Nanette In a message dated 01/29/09 18:57:00 Eastern Standard Time, lower-delmarva-roots-request@rootsweb.com writes: Message: 8 Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:22:49 -0500 From: lt riggin <ltriggin@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [LDR] Laurel-Concord Road To: <lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com> old rt. 13 laurel to blades Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:15:15 -0500> From: imnetz@aol.com> To: lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com> Subject: [LDR] Laurel-Concord Road> > > Hi List,> > You might have read in my post about Manaen B. Marvel that I saw a drawing from 1823 with James Marvel's house on the Laurel-Concord Road. What roads do you think that would be today? The tract Snow Hill is described as about 2 miles from the Broad Creek wading place. James Marvel is living directly on the road and on the edge of the tract called Snow Hill. So at first I thought it is probably today's Sycamore Road and then Firetower Road. But the drawing has the road at more of an upright angle which fits better with Discount Land Road leading to Firetower Road. The oldest road map with any detail I have is the Beers Atlas and I've been comparing that to the 1915 topo maps on Maptech and modern maps. William Marvel, brother of James, owned several farms and most of them have the Laurel-Concord Road in their description. > > ! Where is the old Laurel-Concord Road?> > Thanks for any and all help,> > Nanette> *************************************** QUESTIONS about POSTING GUIDELINES, SUBSCRIBING or UNSUBSCRIBING? 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