CHAPTER XXVIII.

1663.

Report of Edmund Scarburgh, Surveyor-General, of his Proceedings in establishing the Boundary Line between Virginia and Maryland on the Eastern Shore—The Bear and the Cub—Extracts from Records of Accomac.

A controversy existed between Virginia and Lord Baltimore relative to the boundary line on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The dispute turned on the true site of Watkins' Point, which was admitted to be the southern limit of Maryland on that shore. The Virginia assembly, in 1663, declared the true site of Watkins' Point to be on the north side of Wicocomoco River, at its mouth, and ordered publication thereof to be made by Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, his majesty's surveyor-general, commanding, in his majesty's name, all the inhabitants south of that Point, "to render obedience to his majesty's government of Virginia." A conference with Lord Baltimore's commissioners was proposed in case he should be dissatisfied, and Colonel Scarburgh, Mr. John Catlett, and Mr. Richard Lawrence were appointed commissioners on the part of Virginia. Lawrence will reappear in Bacon's Rebellion. The surveyor-general was further directed "to improve his best abilities in all other his majesty's concerns of land relating to Virginia, especially that to the northward of forty degrees of latitude, being the utmost bounds of the said Lord Baltimore's grant, and to give an account of his proceedings therein to the right honorable governor and council of Virginia."[259:A]

Colonel Scarburgh's report of his proceedings on this occasion is preserved.[259:B] He set out with "some of the commission, and about forty horsemen," an escort which he deemed necessary "to repel the contempt" which, as he was informed, "some Quakers and a fool in office has threatened to obtrude." The party reached Anamessecks on Sunday night, the eleventh of October. On the next day, at the house of an officer of the Lord Baltimore, the surveyor-general began to publish the assembly's commands by repeatedly reading the act to the officer, who labored under the disadvantage of being unable to read. He declared that he would not be false to the trust put in him by the Lord-Lieutenant of Maryland. To this Colonel Scarburgh replied, "that there could be no trust where there was no intrust," (interest.) The officer declining to subscribe his obedience, lest he might be hanged by the Governor of Maryland, was arrested and held to security (given by some of Scarburgh's party) to appear before the governor and council of Virginia, and "the broad arrow" was set on his door. This matter being so satisfactorily adjusted, the colonel and his company proceeded to the house of a Quaker, where the act was published "with a becoming reverence;" but the Quakers scoffing and deriding it, and refusing their obedience, were arrested, to answer "their contempt and rebellion," and it being found impracticable to obtain any security, "the broad arrow was set on the door." At Manokin the housekeepers and freemen, except two of Lord Baltimore's officers, subscribed. "One Hollinsworth, merchant, of a northern vessel," at this juncture, "came and presented his request for liberty of trade;" which, Scarburgh suspecting to be "some plan of the Quakers," to defeat their design, "presumed, in their infant plantation, to give freedom of trade without impositions." Scarburgh gives a descriptive list of those who stood out against submitting to the jurisdiction of Virginia: one was "the ignorant yet insolent officer, a cooper by profession, who lived long in the lower parts of Accomac; once elected a burgess by the common crowd, and thrown out of the assembly for a factious and tumultuous person." George Johnson was "the Proteus of heresy," notorious for "shifting schismatical pranks." "He stands arrested," and "bids defiance." "Thomas Price, a creeping Quaker, by trade a leather-dresser," and "saith nothing else but that he would not obey government, for which he also stands arrested." "Ambrose Dixon, a caulker by profession," "often in question for his Quaking profession," "a prater of nonsense," "stands arrested, and the broad arrow at his door, but bids defiance." "Henry Boston, an unmannerly fellow, that stands condemned on the records for fighting and contemning the laws of the country; a rebel to government, and disobedient to authority, for which he received a late reward with a rattan, and hath not subscribed; hides himself, so scapes arrest." "These are all, except two or three loose fellows that follow the Quakers for scraps, whom a good whip is fittest to reform."

On the 10th day of November, 1663, the county court of Accomac authorized Captain William Thorn and others to summon the good subjects of Manokin and other parts of the county, so far as Pocomoke River, to come together and arm themselves for defence against any that might invade them, in consequence "of the rumors that the Quakers and factious fools have spread, to the disturbance of the peace and terror of the less knowing."

The following extracts, from the records of the county court of Accomac, exemplify the simplicity of the times, and the quaint orthography, and the verbosity of the records of courts; while the final decision of the case is not less equitable than those of Sancho Panza, sometime Governor of the Island of Barataria, or those celebrated in Knickerbocker's History of New York.

"At a Court held in Accomack County, y^e 16^th of November, by his ma^ties Justices of y^e Peace for y^e s^d County, in y^e Seaventeenth yeare of y^e Reigne of o^r Sovraigne Lord Charles y^e Second, By y^e Grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of y^e Faith, &c.: And in y^e Yeare of o^r Lord God 1665.

"Whereas, Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard, and William Darby, were this Day accused by Mr. Jno. Fawsett, his ma^ties Attory for Accomack County, for acting a play by them called y^e Bare & y^e Cubb, on y^e 27^th of August last past; upon examination of the same, The Court have thought fitt to suspend the Cause till y^e next Court, & doe order y^t the said Cornelius Watkinson, Phillip Howard, & W^m. Darby, appeare y^e next Court, in those habilemts that they then acted in, and give a draught of such verses, or other speeches and passages, which were then acted by them; & that y^e Sherr detaine Cornelius Watkinson & Philip Howard in His Custody untill they put in Security to performe this order. It is ordered y^t the Sherr. arrest y^e Body of William Darby, for his appearance y^e next Court, to answere at his ma^ties suit, for being actour of a play commonly called y^e Beare and y^e Cubb.

"At a Court held in Accomack County, y^e 18^th of December, by his ma^ties Justices of y^e Peace for y^e s^d County, in y^e Seaventeenth yeare of y^e Raigne of o^r Sovraigne Lord Charles y^e Second, By y^e Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, & Ireland, King, Defendr of y^e Faith, &c.: And in y^e yeare of o^r Lord God 1665.

"Its ordered y^t y^e Sherr sumons Edward Martin to y^e next Court, to show cause why hee should not pay y^e charges w^ch accrued upon y^e Information given by him against Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard, & William Darby.

"At a Court held in Accomack County, y^e 17^th of January, by his ma^ties Justices of y^e Peace for y^e s^d County, in the Seaventeenth year of y^e Reigne of o^r Sovraigne Lord Charles y^e Second, By y^e Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.: And in the year of o^r Lord God 1665.

"Whereas, Edward Martin was this day examined concerning his information given to Mr. Fawset, his ma^ties Attory for Accomack County, about a play called the bare & y^e Cubb, whereby severall persons were brought to Court & charges thereon arise, but the Court finding the said p'sons not guilty of fault, suspended y^e payment of Court charges; & forasmuch as it appeareth upon y^e Oath of y^e said Mr. Fawsett, that upon y^e s^d Edward Martin's information, the Charge & trouble of that suit did accrew, It's therefore ordered that y^e said Edward Martin pay all y^e Charges in y^e suit Els. Exon."[262:A]

FOOTNOTES:

[259:A] Hening, ii. 183.

[259:B] This document, entitled "The Account of Proceedings in his Majt's Affairs at Anamessecks and Manokin, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia," is preserved in the records of Accomac County Court, and a copy, furnished by Thomas R. Joynes, Esq., the clerk, (himself a descendant of Colonel Edmund Scarburgh,) was published in 1833, by order of the legislature of Maryland. I am indebted to William T. Joynes, Esq., of Petersburg, for the use of this report, and for some other interesting particulars relating to the Eastern Shore.

[262:A] "The foregoing are true transcripts from the Records of the Court of the County of Accomack, in the State of Virginia."—Test: J. W. Gillett, C. A. C.