History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf

      CARROLL COUNTY.

      CHAPTER XXXVIII. INTRODUCTORY.

      The territory embraced within the limits of Carroll County was settled at an early period in the history of Maryland. The first settlers were Scotch-Irish, Germans, and the descendants of the English from Southern Maryland. The Indians, before the advent of the whites, had retired across the South Mountain into the Cumberland Valley. A remnant of the " Susquehannocks,'" numbering between sixty and seventy, lived within less than a mile of Manchester (then a part of Baltimore County) until 1750 or 1751, and were probably the last aborigines residing in the county. About that period, without any stir or apparent preparation, with the exception of two, they all disappeared in a single night. The exceptions were a chief named Macanappy and his wife, both old and infirm, and they survived the departure of their race but a few days. The similarity of names has given rise to the impression that this tribe found its way to Florida, and that Miconopy, the celebrated chief, who afterwards gave the United States so much trouble, was one of the descendants of the old Indian left to die near Manchester. In the Land Office at Annapolis patents are recorded for land grants in this portion of the State as early as 1727. In that year " Park Hall," a tract of land containing two thousand six hundred and eighty acres, was surveyed for James Carroll. This land .was then situated in Prince George's County, between New Windsor and Sam's Creek. In 1729 "Kilfadda" was granted to John Tredane, and subsequently sold to Allan Farquhar. It now embraces a part of the town of Union Bridge and the farm of E. J. Penrose. " Brierwood" was surveyed for Dr. Charles Carroll in 1731. " White's Level," on which the original town of Westminster was built, was granted to John White in 1733. " Fanny's Meadow," embracing the " West End" of the present town of Westminster, was granted to James Walls in 1741. "Fell's Retirement," lying on Pipe Creek, and containing 475 acres, was granted to Edward Fell in 1742. " Arnold's Chance," 600 acres, was granted to Arnold Levers in 1743. " Brown's Delight," 350 acres, situated on Cobb's Branch, near Westminster, was granted to George Brown in 1743. " Neighborly Kindness," 100 acres, to Charles Carroll in 1743. " Cornwell," 666 acres, on Little Pipe Creek was patented in 1749, and afterwards purchased by Joseph Haines and his brother. "Terra Rubra" was patented to Philip Key in 1752, for 1865 acres; "Ross' Range" to John Ross in 1752, for 3400 acres; " Spring Garden," on part of which Hempstead is built, to Dunstan Dane in 1748; " Brothers' Agreement," near Taneytown, to Edward Diggs and Raphael Taney in 1754, for 7900 acres; " Foster's Hunting Ground" to John Foster, 1439 acres; " German Church" to Jacob Schilling and others in 1758, for a German Reformed and Lutheran church at Manchester; "Five Daughters" to Carroll's daughter, 1759, for 1500 acres; "New Market,'' on which Manchester is built, to Richard Richards in 1754; " Rattlesnake Ridge" to Edward Richards in 1738; " Caledonia" to William Lux and others in 1764, for 11,638 acres; " Bond's Meadow" to John Ridgely in 1753, for 1915 acres (Westminster is partly situated on this tract); " Brother's Inheritance" to Michael Swope in 1761, for 3124 acres; " Ohio," north of Union Mills, to Samuel Owings in 1763, for 9250 acres; " New Bedford," near Middlebury, to Daniel McKenzie and John Logsden in 1762, for 5301 acres; " Gilboa" to Thomas Rutland, 1762, for 2772 acres; " Runnymeade," between Uniontown and Taneytown, to Francis Key and Upton Scott in 1767, for 3677 acres; " Hale's Venture" to Nicholas Hale in 1770, for 2886 acres; "Windsor Forest" to John Dorsey in 1772, for 2886 acres; " Rochester" to Charles Carroll of Carrollton in 1773, for 4706 acres; and " Lookabout," near Roop's mill, to Leigh Master in 1774, for 1443 acres.

      Among the earliest settlers in this section of Maryland was William Farquhar, whose energy, thrift, and wisdom aided materially in the development of the country. His ancestors emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, where he was born July 29, 1705. When sixteen years of age he left Ireland with his father, Allen Farquhar, and settled in Pennsylvania. Allen Farquhar, as was mentioned above, acquired from John Tredane a large tract of land on Little Pipe Creek; but there is no evidence that he actually resided there. In 1735 he conveyed this tract, known as " Kilfadda," to his son William, one of the conditions of the gift being that he should remove from Pennsylvania to " ye" province of Maryland. In compliance with the terms of the deed, William Farquhar, with his wife Add, came to Maryland and entered into possession of his estate. The country was then a wilderness and destitute of roads, except such paths as were made by wild beasts and Indians, and no little intrepidity was required for such a journey, clogged with a helpless family. Farquhar had learned the trade of a tailor, and by his skill and industry in making buckskin breeches, the garments then most in vogue, he prospered. He invested his savings in land, and in 1768 he was the possessor of two thousand acres, in which was included ail the ground upon which the present town of Union Bridge is built. He was a counselor and peace-maker, and it is related of him that upon one occasion he rode home in the evening and found his house surrounded with emigrant-wagons belonging to settlers who had been driven from their homes by the Indians and had fled to him for protection. They had their stock and movable property with them, and were afraid to go back to their lands. Farquhar visited the Indians and soon pacified them, and the settlers returned to their homes and were never afterwards molested. Between the years 1730 and 1740 great advances were made in the settlement of what is now known as Carroll County. " The Marsh Creek settlement," in the western section of York County, Pa., including the region around Gettysburg, composed almost exclusively of Scotch-Irish, furnished a number of industrious and enterprising immigrants, and Hanover and Conewago, in the same county, settled entirely by Germans, provided a large contingent. The latter located principally in the Manchester and Myers Districts, where many of their descendants now live.

      Many were attracted thither also from St. Mary's, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore Counties, on the Western Shore of Maryland. The dispute concerning the boundary line between the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland was a fruitful source of trouble to those who possessed interests in the debatable ground. A strip of land six or eight miles wide was claimed both by the province of Pennsylvania and the proprietary of Maryland. John Digges obtained a Maryland grant of six thousand eight hundred acres in the vicinity of Hanover, and Charles Carroll procured