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Archiver > LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS > 2000-04 > 0954639507


From: "Carlene Campbell" <>
Subject: Re: [LDR] Questions of list and boundaries of Delaware
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 20:38:27 -0500


Dear John,
I do not usually have much to offer to the list, but much to learn. I can
not tell you how exciting this "newsflash" is! I am now counting the days
until 2002. Do I need to tell you that I have ancestors in the area you are
describing?????? I wish I could win the Lottery, I would offer my help in a
heartbeat . . .But anyway, thank you for undertaking such a daunting task,
you have my undying admiration!
Carlene Campbell

researching Matthews, Clogg, Jones, Cordrey, Dickerson, Cannon in Sussex Co.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Lyon <>
To:
<>
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: [LDR] Questions of list and boundaries of Delaware


>Message text written by Dave K
>> Maybe someone who is well versed in the boundary changes could post a
>timeline pointing out the relevant dates, etc. when the various boundary
>disputes/changes were occurring? Or maybe post (re-post?) a good website
>for learning about the changes, from both the temporal and geographical
>perspectives? Some map overlays would be nice, eh?
><
>
>One of the troubles with responding to a request like Chey's
>is sometimes having too much information, not too little.
>I admit I could have fielded it, Chey, but I suffered from
>the hope that someone else would give a simpler and
>quicker answer than I would be inspired to.
>
>I can't begin to tell you how complex the matter above is.
>It certainly isn't a topic which lends itself to a ready e-mail,
>and in fact - despite "authoritative" understandings and
>publications - turns out to be ill-understood in many
>important details. There's still research to be done,
>requiring a huge, huge amount of work.
>
>Let me make a public announcement here that a few folk on
>the list are aware of, but I've chosen not to discuss openly,
>mostly out of fear of being deluged with requests, even a
>smattering of which I could not possibly field. (I've certainly
>dropped some strong hints.) Anyway, I'll just come clean.
>There's no real reason not to, and I'm sure it will be of interest
>to a number of you.
>
>Even having done so, I'm going to have to maintain a policy
>drawn from one of the tract names I sent last night: "LET
>ME BE". Answering queries on details of what I'm about
>to describe will be out of the question for the time being.
>
>So:
>
>My major project at this time is a complete colonial mapping
>of all lands surveyed and patented across a substantial
>fraction of "Old Somerset". This will include all of present-day
>Wicomico and that portion of Sussex formerly Somerset. It
>may eventually go beyond this into (even all of) Worcester.
>This quixotic adventure, like Topsy, "just growed" from original
>limited interests in my own families, and finally became the
>Hydra before me now: several thousand original patents and
>resurveys from the 1660s to the 19th century.
>
>After a couple of years of this, the product is beginning to
>take real shape, but there is much, much left to do. I'll
>have this summer the added benefit of two graduate
>student interns to share the labors with me at (and thanks
>to the generous encouragement and support of) the MD
>Archives. Even so, it is still hard to predict what a completion
>date for this project is, though "2002" makes a certain amount
>of sense. (And has the appeal of being "sometime in my
>lifetime".)
>
>Such a product exhibits settlement patterns and a rich
>variety of connective tissue between other records and
>information on families and the community as a whole.
>It will also expose the "Final Truth" about boundaries --
>and I'll repeat here, that ain't as simple or as settled
>as believed.
>
>Neither is the actual set of properties that "belong"
>in Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester and Sussex.
>There are errors of misassignment in Archives files
>and - correspondingly - in works like Ruth Dryden's
>books. There are also many, many omissions. This
>is not a criticism, just an observation. Even the indexing
>of tracts is a terribly arduous task in the presence of the
>several boundary changes and the misunderstandings
>on boundaries. I have statistics, but rather than
>terrify you, let me just say "substantial" corrections
>will need to be made in property assignments. The
>upside is that I believe that the errors will be finally
>down in the noise with the completion of this project.
>
>I'm hopeful of being able to resolve on a means of
>electronic access to this material and ways to unify it
>with certain other comprehensive data sets from other
>records that also have yet to go public (being done by
>others, and we're trying to coordinate on the ways to
>put it all together). Our hope is to bring to bear the
>full arsenal of information technology and visualization
>techniques to present a Real Picture of a significant
>and fascinating colonial region.
>
>There was discussion this evening about the unique
>nature of this List. I absolutely agree - it's a delight,
>and I'm delighted to share what I know or think.
>Beyond the people on LDR, there's another reason
>it's a great list: its subject matter is completely
>fascinating. The colonial Lower Shore has a
>charm and and appeal unlike any other of my
>peoples' ancestral territories across this country
>and the world. I admit I've just adopted the whole
>thing -- even to the exclusion of most of my own
>broader genealogy.
>
>I'm frankly more excited about the mapping project
>the deeper I get, as things become clearer and clearer,
>the countryside filling up with lands and people familiar
>from the tax lists (not alphabetized, but sitting right there
>on a map where they lived). A few years hence, I hope
>to share it with everybody.
>
>John Lyon
>
>
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