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The St. Mary's County tract map of 1705 is in the process of being
digitized and placed on the St. Mary's Families web page. This map
was prepared by Russell Menard in 1971 for the St. Mary's County
Historical Society and they have very generously granted permission
for us to use it.
The preparation of the Menard map was based on the following sources:
| Chaptico Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 58-52 |
| Harvey Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 53-55 |
| Newtown Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 24-41 |
| Poplar Hill Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 20-24 |
| Resurrection Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 55-63 |
| St. Clement's Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 41- |
| St. George's Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 71, 6-20 |
| St. Inigoes Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 15 |
| St. Mary's Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 1-12 |
| St. Michael's Hundred |
1704 Rent Roll, Rent Roll 7, 16-20 |
The loss of land records by the burning of the St. Mary's County
Court House in 1831 was tragic. In the absence of other records,
land ownership is often the key to establishing family relationships.
Once the map is posted, you will note that there is information
missing and there are some difficulties with the map:
- Some of the tracts are named, but their location is not specified,
- Some of the properties fall outside of the boundaries of the
Hundred in which they were said to have been located,
- Some owners are named but the tract is not identified,
- Some tracts are identified without owners,
- There are tracts which appear on other maps but not on the Menard
map.
What information can be gleaned from the tract map?
- There were 562 surveyed tracts in 1705.
- Twelve tracts had been surveyed by 1639.
- Giles Brent, Margaret Brent , Mary Brent , Cuthbert Fenwick,
Thomas Cornwallis, Thomas Gerrard, John Lewgar, and Thomas Green
owned surveyed traxts in 1639.
- The smallest tracts contained only 32 acres.
- The two largest tracts were 3000 acres in St. Inigoes Hundred,
owned by Thomas Copley, and 5700 acres inSt. Michael's Hundred,
owned by William Hawley.
- Twenty-six percent of the tracts contained 100 acres.
- Twelve percent of the tracts contained 200 acres and five percent
of the tracts contained 300 acres.
- Sixteen tracts contained more than 1000 acres and were owned
by twelve different individuals which represents 3 % of the number
of tracts.
- Forty-six percent of the tracts were less than 100 acres and
fifty-four percent were greater than 100 acres..
The number of tracts in each Hundred in 1705 varied considerably:
| Chaptico Hundred |
37 |
| Harvey Hundred |
23 |
| Newtown Hundred |
157 |
| Poplar Hill Hundred |
44 |
| Resurrection Hundred |
75 |
| St. Clement's Hundred |
53 |
| St. George's Hundred |
44 |
| St. Inigoes Hundred |
4 |
| St. Mary's Hundred |
107 |
| St. Michael's Hundred |
17 |
We would like to expand this project to show land ownership, as
completely as possible, from 1704 to at least 1831. Your input will
be needed to make this valuable tool even more so. To give you an
example of what it will look like , Linda Reno tracked "Sothoron's
Desire" and found:
- "Sothoron's Desire", 125 ac., patented for Richard Sothoron
on 12/28/1680. He owned this property until his death about 1702.
Died intestate.
- 1702-1712: John Sothoron, son of Richard. He had the property
in his possession in 1707 and devised it by name in his will in
1712.
- 1712-1782: Richard Sothoron, son of John. Inherited property
from his father, John. Devised to him by name.
- 1782-1794: Richard Sothoron, Jr., son of Richard. Inherited
property from his father, Richard, Sr. who devised it to him by
name.
- 1794-1828: William Sothoron, son of Richard, Jr. His father
devised the property (unnamed) to him by his will.
- 1828: Deed from William Sothoron to Jacob Gilliams for 125 ac.
"Sothoron's Desire".
- 1828-at least 1850: Jacob Gilliams (married a sister of William
Sothoron).
The grand plan is to provide this information for as many of the
tracts as possible.
Remember that this is a "work in progress".
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