Harford and Cecil counties Described in 1807 Publication

Harford and Cecil counties shown in the map published in 1807 in Joseph Scott's Geographical Dictionary
Harford and Cecil counties shown in the map published in 1807 in Joseph Scott’s Geographical Dictionary

In the decades before state directories and other similar resources appeared, there were gazetteers or geographical dictionaries.  These valuable titles, many over 200 years old, examined an area in some detail, presenting information about a community, its landscape, political economy, business enterprise, and natural resources.

Today Cecil and Harford county genealogists and local historians will find these works to be helpful as they offer detailed insights about the counties, towns and villages. Since hard to find details, such as social statistics, are contained in the works, I often consult the volumes when trying to understand the changes that have taken place in the area over the centuries.

In Maryland and Delaware “A Geographical Description of the States of Maryland” published by Joseph Scott in 1807 is helpful. As 18 pages focus on Cecil and Harford counties, it contains a large amount of productive information.  In addition to details on most of the towns and villages of any size, there is lots of copy discussing the state and each county.

To give you an idea of the content, here is some of what Scott said about Bel Air. “Bellair” is a post town and seat of justice, 23 miles from Baltimore. It ‘has an elegant court house and jail, and a Methodist meeting house” and in the vicinity a county poor house. The town contained about 160 inhabitants in 1800 and there were four licensed taverns, three stores, two blacksmith’ shops, two joiners, one chair maker, one shoemaker, one wheelwright, and one taylor. By comparison, Abingdon had abou5 56 dwellings and 240 inhabitants. It also had about eight stores filled “with the produce of the West India islands, and the various manufacturers of Europe,” along with one tanyard, and several tradesmen’s shops.

This title was once hard to access.  I purchased one from an antiquarian bookstore in New England decades ago so I could have it instantly available for my research needs.  Before that I had to make a trip to a special collections library.

But now thanks to the Digital Public Library of America and other public domain e-content providers, we all have instant access to this and many more titles.

Click here to go to the Digital Public Library of America’s catalog item for this product. DPLA links to the HathiTrust for the full text.  HathiTrust is another source for online books in the public domain.

Geographical Description of the State of Maryland and Delaware
A handy online gazetteer from 1807 describes the state of Maryland and Delaware in detail. Source: www.hathitrust.org

 

Cecil County described in Joseph Scott's Geographical Dictionary publisher in 1807.
Cecil County described in Joseph Scott’s Geographical Dictionary publisher in 1807.
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Harford County described by Joseph Scott in his book published in 1807

Links to High Quality Digital Content for Local & Family History Research in Cecil & Harford counties

Since there is an enormous, rapidly growing body of research information available on the web, there is a need for a curated landing page, a place in the public commons on the net, to help someone digging into the past. This opportunity to help researchers is something I encounter often during public lectures and courses as I get questions about how to find helpful e-information. As a result, I beta tested some curated social media products and apps, such as Learnist and Liiist.

I have decided that the best way to point someone to valuable e-resources is to simply create a series of web pages, based on that test. Thus I have established this series, which focuses on linking to quality family and local history research resources related to the Delmarva Peninsula. This section of my website provides links to digital repositories, which have richly organized information and provide access to collections of quality resources for family and local history resources.

The landing page has general resources and the supporting pages are divided into major regions on the Peninsula.  Select your region of interest and on the page you will find topical headings to direct you to rich content. The pages will concentrate on linking to high quality digital repositories of online data to help local and family history researchers.

Hopefully this helps you with your study of the past. If you have suggestions for additions or how to improve the product email me. I will continue to monitor the web and e-news outlets for developments, which should be added to the pages and add items as they come up, in order to help all of us with research in the region.

Click here to go to curated links site.

This curated site links to rich content digital pages, which help with family and local history research on Delmarva
This curated site links to rich content digital pages, which help with family and local history research on Delmarva

Large Collection of Topographic Maps of Harford & Cecil County Available on USGS Historical Map Explorer

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Esri, a geographic information technology company, have partnered to make the enormous collection of the Survey’s map readily available to everyone. While these resources have been downloadable on the Internet since September 2011, this new, user-friendly website is a significant improvement over the original system, which was more complicated.

The explorer brings to life more than 178,000 maps from 1884 to 2006, allowing users to easily access geo-referenced images, which can also be used in web mapping applications. The timeline allows visitors to easily explore the collection by place, time, and scale, and the sheets are easily downloaded.

Use of the landing page is simple. Visitors enter the desired location in a query box, and once you click on the map a convenient timeline comes up, showing the survey for that place. The user is able to visual see the products that were produced over time and move along the line to see the changes over time.

Check this out, as you will find lots to help with your local and family history research,

Click here to go to the map explorer.

Darlington in 1950, after the construction of the Conowingo Dam.
Darlington in 1950, after the construction of the Conowingo Dam.
The Darlington area before the Dam in 1900.  You are able to zoom in and download these products.  Note the timeline at the bottom showing the available products.
The Darlington area before the Dam in 1900. You are able to zoom in and download these products. Note the timeline at the bottom showing the available products.
The modern edition base map is used to locate your point of interest.
The modern edition base map is used to locate your point of interest.