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Queen Anne's County History

Queen Anne's county was erected in 1706, and the bounds of the four counties above the Great Choptank were described and fixed by the Assembly of that year with definiteness.

Queen Anne's takes in the territory between the Delaware line and the bay, (including Kent Island), south of the Chester and north of the Wye and Tuckahoe rivers. Kent is its northern, and Talbot and Caroline its southern neighbors. Agriculturally, the county is highly favored, the soil being very fertile, and the surface rolling. The area of the county is 375 square miles. Kent Island is opposite Anne Arundel, and its wooded shores are visible from the State House at Annapolis. Although under cultivation for two and a-half centuries, the island is the delight of agriculturists, its rich soil producing in profusion all the staple Maryland crops. Oysters, crabs, fish and water fowl are plentiful in Queen Anne's waters. Practically all the arable land of the county is under cultivation. The industrial establishments are chiefly flour mills and canneries. The Queen Anne's Railroad runs from Love Point, on Kent Island, through the southern part of the county to Lewes, Delaware, and the Queen Anne's and Kent Railroad, of the Pennsylvania system, terminates at Centreville, the county-seat, (population 1,231), to which point a spur of the Queen Anne's has been extended. Steamboats bring the water-sides of the county within a few hours' trip of Baltimore city. Queenstown, on the eastern water-front, was the colonial county-seat, and has an interesting history. A school here attained some reputation before the Revolution. In provincial times Queen Anne's and Talbot were favorite places of summer residence for leading men of Maryland, who cultivated broad estates in these counties in the intervals between their official duties at Annapolis or participation in its social gaieties. Queen Anne's rivals St. Mary's as the favorite field of writers of historical romances.

Contributed 2024 Jan 17 by Norma Hass, extracted from Leading Events of Maryland History, by J. Montgomery Gambrill, published in 1903, pages 222-223.

Colonial Churches

Christ Church at Kent Island

Enrollment of Parishioners February 4th, 1801

1. James Ringgold
2. James M. Elliott
3. Edward Browne
4. Samuel Smith
5. Bejnamin Walters
6. John Walters
7. Christopher Earickson
8. Sol. Harrison
9. Alexander Walters
10. Jones Goodhand
11. Jos. Barnes, Jr.
12. John C. Legg
13. John Stevens, Jr.
14. Thomas Elliott
15. Moses C. Legg
16. William Osborn
17. John Price
18. John Stevens, Sr.
19. Aquilla Brown
20. Samuel Blunt
21. Samuel White
22. Henry Weedon, Jr.

St. Luke's at Church Hill

The list of pewholders of St.Luke's at Church Hill in 1731 is considered the "Who's Who" of early Queen Anne's County.

Reading desk, lectern, and pulpit
1. Rev. & Mrs. John Lang
2. James Hollyday
3. James Earle, Sr.
4. John Gould
5. John Collins
6. Thomas Hynson Wright
7. Thomas Peacock & S.Betts
8. John Hollingsworth & Humphrey Wells
9. Charles Wilkinson & John Primrose
10. James Brown & William Tanner
11. Nathaniel Cleave
12. William Radcliff
13. Jonathan Ripley
14. William Carman
15. Edward Broan & Richard Collins
16. Hercules Cook & John Kersey
17. Henry Wilsox & Daniel Wilcox
18. James Hynes
19. Nathaniel Wright & Thomas Frisby
20. John Nevil
21. John Collins,Jr.& Thomas Bailey
22. Thomas Hanson & Henry Johnson
23. Walter Nevil
24. John Carpenter & John Chairs
25. Willim Pinder & Thomas Bryan
26. Edmund Wright & Fairclough Wright
27. Robert Whorton & William Burton
28. Augustine Thompson
29. Robert Wright
30. James Salisbury
31. Mary Wright
32. John & Hans Hamilton
33. John Hawkins
34. John & Thomas Hackett
35. Widow Davis & Widow Murphy
36. John Demster
37. Solomon Clayton
38. William Edwards
39. Thomas Sherbrook & Joseph Harris
40. George Ellicott & William Ellicott
41. John Wright & Edward Roe
42. Joseph Whittington & Nathaniel Wright
43. Richard Broadway
44. John Sparks
45. Solomon Wright, Sr.

Cabinet maker, Matthew Kirby, and carpenter James Valiant were contracted in 1730 for construction.

Old Wye Church

The register of pews recorded by the vestry September 17, 1723, lists the following allotments:

1. John Emory and Tr'm Thomas
2. Robert Noble
3. William Elbert
4. Charles Stevens
5. William Clayton
6. pulpit
7. Thomas Emerson
8. Tristram Thomas, Sr.
9. Charles Neale
10. William Finney
11. James Knowles
12. R'gr Cl'yla'd and John Pursley
13. Henry Costin and Rich'd Costin
14. Arthur Em'ry
15. William Cockin and William Brown
16. Thomas Yewell
17. William Cole
18. W.Cl'yt'n, Sr. and William Ratcliffe
19. Jno.Blackwell and Jas. Saunders
20. John Morgan and Jas.Morgan
21. John Miller and John Welch
22. Thomas Murphy and William Durden
23. William Clayton
24. John Fitzpatrick
25. William Camell
26. William Hemsley and James Earle
27. William Turbutt
28. Edward Thomas
29. Edward Harris
30. Joseph Earle
31. Jno.Emerson and John Downs

There is a space allotted at the West Side of the Door "for strangers"

Tuckahoe Chapel - St. John's Parish

November 6th, 1770, the pews were drawn and paid for at the Parish Church at Nine Bridges as follows:

1. the Rector's pew
2. Robert Brady and P. Robertson
3. Thomas Baggs
4. John Pratt
5. John Price
6. Amos Jarman
7. Isaac Baggs and Anthony Cox
8. Daniel Cummings
9. John Tillotson, Jr.
10. Thomas Wright
11. Nathaniel Wright
12. Thomas Hughlett
13. Richard Mason
14. Chr.Cross Routh
15. John Atkinson
16. -
17. Rachel Roe for her son William
18. Charles Murphy
19. John Meeds
20. John Tolson
21.-
22. William Elliott Griffith
23. Joseph and Benjamin Elliott
24. Matthew Griffith
25. William Cannon
26. -
27. George and Rachel Baynard
28. Mary Sylvester and son Benjamin
29. Solomon Mason
30. William Cannon
31. [paper torn here]
32. William Emory
33. Hannah Boone and son
34. William Wrench
35. James and David Sylvester
36. -
37. Moses,James and John Boone
38. John Walker
39. -
40. Richard Bishop
41. William Smith
42. John Costin
43. William Richardson
44. Nathan Harington
45. James Chetham

St.Paul's Parish - Old Chester Church

In 1836 the pews in the church were rented by the following:

1. Sexton
2. Pere Wilmer
3. William H. Emory
4. Thomas A. Emory
5. Thomas Wright 3d
6. Mrs. E.A.Feddeman
7. William Y. Bourke
8. Pere Wilmer
9. Dr. Robert Goldsborough
10. Richard C. Tilghman
11. W.H.D.C.Wright
12. Capt. Thomas Wright
13. Thomas C. Earle
14. Thomas Hemsley
15. Mrs. Ann Nichols
16. Pere Tilghman
17. Dr.Jas. Bordley
18. Miss Valeria Wright
19. William A.Spencer
20. William A.Spencer
21. R.B.Carmichael
22. Henry Holyday
23. Richard T.Earle
24. Richard T Earle
25. William Carmichael
26. Col.Thomas Emory
27. Col.John Tilghman
28. Chas. C. Tilghman
29. Philip T. Davidson
30. Clayton Wright
31. Richard E. Clayton
32. Gerald Coursey
33. Thomas Sutton
34. Stephen L.Wright
35. William Grason
36. Edward Tilghman
37. John P. Paca
38. Dr. Robert Goldsboro'

1923 Newspaper Tidbits

• In 1811 Nathan Jackson's tavern is spoken of in the levy court record as Robinson's Old Tavern. It was situated at the intersection of the road from Holliday's with the post road to Church Hill.
• In 1812 Samuel Denny has an ordinary at Hall's Cross Road.
• In 1814 a license was granted to John Wright to keep an ordinary at Kent Narrows.
• Cleaves' Tavern stood in 1812 somewhere in the vicinity of Beaverdam Causeway.
• In 1825 John K.B. Emory of Queen Anne's county was treasurer of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
• In 1803 Major Richard Harrison was sheriff of Queen Anne's County.
• In 1777 Turbitt Wright was in the Senate of Maryland from Queen Anne's County.
• In 1835 a license was granted to R. H. Gardner to retail merchandise at Sharptown, Kent Island.
• In 1801 Robert Wright of Queen Anne's county was in the United States Senate from Maryland.
• Thomas H. Nicholson who for many years had been Clerk of the Senate was in October 1835 appointed Secretary of the State of Maryland.
• In 1841 Thomas Wright the third of Queen Anne's County was appointed the Secretary of the State.

Contributed by Trish Surles, extracted from Centreville Record January, 1923

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