Today Cecil County is divided into nine minor political subdivisions called election districts (ED). But in the earliest times the equivalent intra-county areas were known as a hundred. Having its origin in Saxon history, the name was derived from the concept of having a territory that could provide a hundred men to serve in the militia. In the colony, it was used as an administrative area for the administration of local government, which included the work of tax assessor and the appointment of constables. In 1798 the General Assembly enacted a law requiring the division of the then nineteen counties of Maryland into EDs in the place of the antiquated hundred. Cecil County was divided into four EDs in 1800.
Several decades ago, Darlene McCall and Lorraine Alexander published a most helpful title, the “Genealogical Research Guide for Cecil County, Maryland.” It included a map drawn by Jon Harlan Livezy, which shows the fully developed system of hundreds in Cecil County in the late 1700s. Darlene has given us permission to share the helpful depiction here as we often get questions about the placement of those civil units. Thanks Darlene
