HISTORY OF SUSSEX COUNTY
BY DICK CARTER
JULY 1976
DELAWARE COAST PRESS
ABSTRACT
PENN AND THE THREE LOWER
COUNTIES
England, no date given, was
firmly in control of the mid Atlantic areas, having had the return
of previously conquered
possessions from the Dutch and the Duke of York was the proprietor
of
New York, Pennsylvania and
the Delaware lower counties, but not for long.
William Penn, eldest son of
Admiral Sir William Penn of the Royal Navy, had become the
'stalwart' of the not so respectable new sect, Society of Friends.
As early Quakers went, however,
Penn was in an advantageous
position with many powerful friens, such as The Duke of York. Also,
Penn, upon the death of his
father, inherited considerable wealth, and a 15,000 pound debt ,
unpaid, against the English Monarchy. Penn, who had become interested
in establishing a Quaker Colony
in the new world, suggested
that insread of payment of the debt, he be granted by the King a part
of the Duke of York's
domains, petition for roughly the area of Pennsylvania to the liking
of King
Charles II, who was debt
ridden , and the Duke of York. The King granted the land, which
was
named 'Pennsylvania', to
Penn who immediately petitiond the Duke of York for the “three
lower Counties on the Delaware “, which he needed to protect the
Delaware Bay coast and keep it out of the hands off
Lord Baltimore .
The Delaware territories
which were united with Pennsylvania were loosely known as two
counties under the Dutch
and the Swedes were first called New Castle and The Whorekills by
the
Duke of York. While still
under control of the Duke of York , the lower and largest county was
divided into St. James
County to the north and Whorekill , later New Deal, to the south.
On the
25th of
December, 1682, Kent and Sussex, became the names, as did the town
of Whorekill become
Lewestown, which was the
only 'fullfledged' town in the country. Charter Laws of England
called
for establisment of a
General Assembly, with a Lower Assembly and Upper Governors Council.
It was decades before the
Assembly was a 'working' governmental body.
Also passed was the “Great
Law” which in 16 sections gave the colony for the first time a
basis of civil and criminal law which could be established without
confusion as to what faction held
power in the colony. Some
offense's were punished with “ time in the stocks”, “
public whipping” ,
and “imprisonment”.
Selling rum to the Indians was an offense, hogs had to be 'ringed' ,
sheriffs
and “Justice of the
Peace”, coroners, were elected. A 16 x 24 foot structure was
erected in each
county as 'house of
correction”. Grazeing cattle were ear marked and certain fields
needed to be
fenced.
Life in Sussex was becoming
more settled, civilized, and less the rough pioneering
experience as in past years.
There was one problem along the coast, that was “pirates”,
from the
the bays and rivers. Lewes,
other communities and farms were plundered and military force was
unfavorable to the Quakers
and not provided.
PAGE 2
Residents of the Delaware
colony felt they were not getting representation in the council's
as was Pennsylvania colony
and that Penn was working harder to develop that colony than they
were
the Lower Three Counties.
These feelings of
resentment , used by the agents of Lord Baltimore to seek a revolt
of the
Delawareans against Penn,
did cause a seperation of the lower counties from Pennsylvania in
1702
and creation of a Delaware
colony, although still under Will Penn and his sons, John, Richard
and
Thomas.
In a general sense, it
might be said that Delaware owes its independent statehood to
coastal Pirates' and the Lord Calverts.
Seperate colony or not,
the dispute between Penn and the Calvetrs,which began in 1632,
with the grant of all land
between the 38th and 40th parallels west of
Delaware River to Cecilius
Cavert, Second Lord
Baltimore, which was to run on more that a century and in final
analysis
was no benefit to neither
set of proprietors.
Abstract to
delmarvahistory.blogspot.com, September 5, 2017. Har
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