Talbot County's history is linked to its coastal location. With over 600 miles of tidal shoreline, more than any U. S. county, it retains a maritime flavor.
Talbot County History
Maryland’s first English settlers, arriving in the 1630s, established tobacco plantations along the Choptank, Wye, Tred Avon and St. Michaels rivers, on the Chesapeake Bay, and on its creeks and coves.
Its size shrunk with the 1706 establishment of Queen Anne County to the north and the 1773 creation of Caroline County to the east.
Talbot County was Claiborne’s headquarters for trading with Indians along the Chesapeake Bay. It was named for Sir Robert Talbot’s wife, Grace, by her brother, Caecilius Calvert (1605-1675), the second Lord Baltimore, who had received a 1632 charter from England's Charles I for the Maryland colony.
Calvert issued most of these grants before the county was formed in 1661.
- John Salter, 100 acres surveyed 13 Oct. 1658.
- William Granger, 150 acres surveyed 15 Oct. 1658.
- Henry Morgan, 300 acres at St. Michael surveyed 19 Oct. 1658.
- Zachary Wade, 400 acres at Wades Point, 19 Oct. 1658.
- William Hatton, 500 acres, 19 Oct. 1658.
- James Scott, 200 acres at Scott’s Close, 5 Nov. 1658.
- Edward Lloyd, 600 acres called Linton, 5 Nov. 1658.
- Anthony Griffin, 100 acres called Harbor Rouse, 26 July 1659.
- Nicholas Pickard, 200 acres called Pickburn, 26 July 1659.
- Thomas Emerson, 400 acres called Hemersly, 26 July 1659.
- William Champ, 224 acres called Williston, 28 July 1659.
- Martin Kirk, 350 acres called Kirkham, 29 July 1659.
- William Hambleton, 200 acres called Martingham, 28 July 1659.
- Thomas Miles, 400 acres called Mile End, 28 July 1659.
- Seth Foster, 1200 acres at Choptank Island, 11 Aug. 1659.
- Cuthbert Phelps, 400 acres called Cudlington, 11 Aug. 1659.
- Edward Lloyd, Esq., 3,050 acres called Hir-Dir-Lloyd, 11 Aug. 1659.
- Thomas Read, 800 acres called Readly, 11 Aug. 1659.
- Henry Morgan, 600 acres called Plimhimmon, 15 Aug. 1659.
- John Anderton, 600 acres called Anderton, 15 Aug. 1659.
- William Taylor, 500 acres called Ottwell, 15 Aug. 1659.
- William Turner, 400 acres called Turner’s Point, 15 Aug. 1659.
- John Harris, 1,000 acres called Grafton Manor, 20 Aug. 1659.
- Thomas Seymour, 200 acres called Summerton, 20 Aug. 1659.
- James Adams, 700 acres called Marshy Point, 23 Aug. 1659.
- Richard Tilghman, 1,000 acres called Canterbury Mannour, 23 Aug. 1659.
- Robert Jones, 300 acres called Eastwood, 24 Aug. 1659.
- Samuel Tilghman, 1,000 acres called Tilghman’s Fortune, 24 Aug. 1659.
- Capt. Robert Morris, 800 acres called Ratcliffe Mannour, 25 Aug. 1659.
- Philip Calvert, Esq., 1,000 acres called Woolsey or Chancellor Point, 25 Aug. 1659.
- Robert Hopkins, 800 acres called Hopkins Point, 25 Aug. 1659.
- Thomas Todd, 400 acres called Todd-Upon-Dirwan, 30 Aug. 1659.
- Richard Jennings, 1,000 acres called Jennings Hope, 31 Jan. 1660.
- Job Nutt, 1,000 acres called Job’s Content, 31 January 1660.
- William Hemsley, 300 acres called Meersgate, 24 June 1659(?).
- Patrick Mullican, 200 acres called Patrick’s Choice, 30 March (1663?).
- William Dickinson, 200 acres called Come Whitton, 4 January (1694?).
These tracts were laid out between 1665 and 1672:
- Peter Sharp, 1,000 acres called Chestnut Bay.
- William Corwin, 1,400 acres called Scarborough.
- Miles Cook, 1,000 acres called Cook’s Hope.
- Nicholas Lowe, 1,440 acres called Lowe’s Ramble.
- William Hemsley, 1,030 acres called Hemsley’s Arcadia.
- Major Peter Sayer/Sawyer, 2,250 acres called Sawyer’s Forrest.
Four of these tracts--Linton, Martingham, Patrick’s Choice and Come Whitton--remained in the possession of male descendants for over 200 years.
SOURCE: This list of grants may be seen at the Annapolis land office. It is printed here as given in Vol. 17, No. 3 (Spring, 1998) of The Second Boat, Machias, ME.
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